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A  UTHOR : 


CICERO,  MARCUS 
TULLIUS 


TITLE: 


LETTERS  OF  MARCUS 
TULLIUS  CICERO  TO... 

PLACE: 

LONDON 

DA  TE : 

1804 


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Epistolae.  Ad  famtliares 
Cioerot  Marcus  TulliuB#       ^'^S*  Meiaotti 

The  Letters  of  Marous  Tullius  Cicero  to  several 
of  his  friends,  with  remarks  by  William  Melmoth  4., 
6th  ed.  to  which  is  now  added  a  general  index  ... 
London,  Laokington,  1804 # 

3  V.     plate,     211  cm*  I 


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MARCUS  TULLIUS  CICERO 


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SEYEIi.AX  pF..j[IIS.  FRIENDS.  , 


«     ••»     •  •    BY* 

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IN    THREE   VOLUMES. 


~ Quo  fit  lit  omois 

Votiva  pateat  veluti  descripU  tabella 
vita  senis.  i/bw-. 


THE  SIXTH  EDITION. 

To  which  is  now  added 

d  GENERAL  INDEX. 


VOL.  I. 


3^Q^- 


M/r.  rirKuo, 


LONDON: 

PRIflTED    POR    LACKINGTON,     ALLEN,,   AND  CO.    LONGMAN    AND   CO 

CUTHELL    AND  MARTIN,   VERNOR    AND    HOOD,    CADELL  AND 

DAVIES,  DARTON  AND  HARVEV,  J.  WALKER,  P.  LEi, 

J.  NUNN,  J.  ASPERNE,  E.  BOOKER,  W.  01  RIDGT 

AND  SON,  OGILVY  AND  SON,  AND  W. 

J.  AND  J.  RICHARDSON. 


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The  principal  design  of  the  following  at- 
tempt, is  to  trace  the  conduct  and  inquire 
into  the  character  of  Cicero.  For  this  pur- 
pose the  present  Letters  were  preferred  to 
those  which  are  xvritten  to  Atticus,  as  they 
shezv  the  Author  of  them  in  a  greater  variety 
of  conncvions,  and  afford  an  opportunity  of 
considering  him  in  almost  evefy  possible  point 

of  view. 

This  correspondence  includes  a  period  of 
about  twenty  years;  commencing  immedi- 
ately after  Cicero's  consulate,  and  ending  a 
few  months  before  his  death. 


;i 


Ag28'84 


60255 


SOCIETY. 


4  i-^.-^ 


LETTEES 


OF 


MARCUS  TULLIUS  CICERO 


TO 


SEVERAL  OF  HIS  FRIENDS*. 


BOOK  I. 


LETTER  L 

[A.U.691.] 

To  PoMPEY  the  Great:  tmperator\ 

Your  letter  to  the  senate  afforded  inexpres-. 
sible  satisfaction,  not  only  to  myself,  but  to 
the  public  in  general :  as  the  hopes  it  brought 

us 

♦  These  letters  are  placed  according  to  their  supposed 
dates :  The  reader  will  find  at  the  fend  of  each  of  these  vo- 
lumes an  index,  referring  to  the  order  in  which  they  stand 
in  the  common  editions. 

*  The  title  of  Impcrator,  duHng  the  times  of  the  republic, 
did  not  bear  the  least  relation  to  that  idea  which  is  affixed  to 
It  in  modern  language ;  but  was  merely  honorary  and  occa- ' 
sional.  It  was  conferred  on  the  Roman  generals  by  the  ac- 
clamations of  their  army  in  the  field,  after  some  signal  ad- 
vantage  gained  by  their  courage  and  conduct;  and  it  was 
immediately  dropped  again  as  soon  as  they  entered  int« 
ftome. 

Vol.  I.  B 


s 


The  letters 


Book  L 


Book  I. 


OF  CICERO. 


us  of  a  peace,  are  agreeable  to  those  expecta* 
tions,  which,  in  full  confidence  of  your  supe- 
rior abilities,  I  had  always  encouraged  the 
world  to  entertain*.  I  must  acquaint  you, 
however,  that  it  entirely  sunk  the  spirits  of  that 
party,  who,  from  being  formerly  your  declar- 
ed enemies,  have  lately  become  your  pretended 
friends :  as  it  utterly  disappointed  their  most 
sanguine  hopes\ 

Notwithstanding  the  letter  which  you  wrote 
to  me  by  the  same  express  discovered  but  very 
slight  marks  of  your  affection;  yet  I  read  it  with 
pleasure.  The  truth  is,  I  am  always  abundant- 

ly 

*  Pompey  was  at  this  time  carrying  on  the  war  in  Asia 
against  Mithridates,  kingof  Pontus  :  and  the  letter  to  which 
Cicero  alludes,  probably  brought  an  account  of  the  progress 
of  the  campaign.  Mithridates  was  a  cruel  but  brave  prince, 
who  had  given  employment  to  the  Roman  arms  for  more 
than  forty  years.  Pompey,  however,  had  the  good  fortune 
to  complete  what  Sylla  and  Lucullus,  his  predecessors  in 
this  command,  w^re  obliged  to  leave  unfinished :  and  he 
not  only  defeated  Mithridates,  but  annexed  to  the  Roman 
dominions  all  that  part  of  Asia  which  is  between  the  Red, 
the  Caspian,  and  ths  Arabian  seas.     Fhr.  iii.  5. 

^  It  is  doubtful  to  whom  Cicero  here  alludes.  Some  of 
the  commenlators  suppose  that  he  points  at  Lucullus,  who, 
fts  he  had  t)cen  recalled  from  the  command  in  which  Pom- 
pey was  now  employed,  would  not,  it  may  well  be  imagin- 
ed, be  greatly  pleased  with  the  success  of  bis  rival. — Others 
think  that  he  had  Caesar  in  view  :  and  what  renders  this 
conjecture  extremely  probable  is,  that  Caesar  and  Pompey, 
who  had  been  long  opposites  in  politics,  were  now  apparently 
reconciled  ;  the  former  (for  purposes  which  ^hall  hereafter 
be  explained)  falling  in  with  that  party  who  were  for  con- 
ferring the  highest  and  most  uncoastitmional  honours  on  iht 
latter. 


ly  satisfied  with  the  consciousness  of  having 
exerted  my  best  offices  tow^ards  my  friends ;  and 
if  they  do  not  think  proper  to  make  me  an  equal 
return,  I  am  well  contented  that  the  superiority 
should  remain  on  my  side.  But  if  my  utmost 
zeal  for  your  interests  has  not  been  sufficient  to 
unite  you  to  mine,  I  doubt  not  that  our  co-ope- 
rating together  upon  the  same  patriot-principles, 
will  be  a  means  of  cementing  us  more  strongly 
hereafter.  In  the  mean  time,  it  would  neither 
be  agreeable  to  the  openness  of  my  temper,  nor 
to  the  freedom  of  that  mutual  friendship  we 
profess,  to  conceal  what  I  thought  wanting  in 
your  letter.  I  will  acknowledge,  then,  that  the 
public  services  I  performed  during  my  late  con- 
sulship, gave  me  reason  to  expect,  from  your 
attachment  both  to  myself  and  to  the  common- 
wealth, that  you  would  have  sent  me  your  con- 
gratulations :  and  I  am  persuaded  you  would 
not  have  omitted  them,  but  from  a  tenderness 
to  certain  persons*.  Let  me  assure  you,  however, 

that 

*  Cicero  was  advanced  to  the  consular  office  the  year 
before  the  date  of  this  letter;;  that  is,  An.  Urb.  69O.  He 
particularly  alludes  to  the  part  he  acted  during  his  admi- 
nistration, wiih  regard  to  the  suppressing  of  Catiline's  con- 
spiracy. [See  rem,  6.  p.  13.  and  rent.  6.  p.  25.  of  this  vol.] 
And  he  had  undoubtedly  cause  to  complain  ot  Pompey's 
unexpected  coolness  in  the  present  instance  :  the  octasiun 
of  which  seems  to  have  been  this.     A  very  powerful  party 

B  2  was 


The  letters 


Book  I. 


that  what  I  have  performed  for  the  preservation 
of  my  country,  has  received  the  concurrent  ap- 
plauses of  the  whole  world.  You  will  find,  when 
you  return  hither,  I  conducted  that  important 
scene  with  so  much  spirit  and  policy,  that  you, 
like  another  Scipio,  tho' far  superior,  indeed,  to 
that  hero  in  glory,  will  not  refuse  to  admit  me, 
like  a  second  Laelius^  and  not  much  behind 
him,  I  trust,    in  wisdom,  as  the  friend  and 

associate 

was  now  forming  against  Cicero  by  Caesar  and  Metellus  the 
tribune  :  and  Pompey  was  considered  as  a  proper  person  to 
support  their  designs  of  destroying  the  great  authority  which 
Cicero  had  lately  acquired.  It  is  highly  probable,  there- 
fore, from  Pompey's  reserve  to  our  author,  that  he  had  re- 
ceived some  overtures  of  this  sort :  and  as  he  was  jealous  of 
every  power  that  might  obstruct  his  own,  he  was  by  no 
means  disposed,  it  should  seem,  to  advance  Cicero's  credit 
by  gratifying  him  with  those  applauses  which  bis  conduct  de- 
served.    Plut.  in  vk.  Cicero, 

'  Scipio  Africanus  the  younger,  to  whom  Cicero  here  al- 
ludes, was  consul  in  the  year  of  Rome  6'05  ;  as  Laelius  was 
in  the  year  6l2.  The  strict  intimacy  which  subsisted  be- 
tween these  disiinguibhed  Romans,  is  celebrated  by  several 
of  the  classic  writers  :  but  Cicero  has  paid  it  the  highest 
honours  in  his  Dialogue  upon  Friendship.  Scipio  and  Lae- 
lius used  to  retire  together  from  the  business  of  the  state,  to 
a  villa  situated  on  the  sea-shore,  n«ar  Laurentum  ;  where 
these  illustrious  friends  did  not  think  it  beneath  their  cha- 
racters to  descend  to  the  humblest  recreations.  The  rirtus 
Scipiadct  ct  mitis  sapientia  Latiij  the  heroism  of  Scipio  and 
the  wisdom  of  Lslius  could  unbend  in  gathering  shells  and 
pebbles  on  the  coast :  and  perhaps  it  js  some  evidence  of 
their  merit,  that  they  were  capable  of  being  thus  easily  di** 
verted.  Less  virtuous  minds  generally  have  recourse  to 
more  agitated  relaxations,  and  are  seldom  entertained  with- 
out carrying  their  passions  into  their  amusements.  Orat. 
pro  Muran,  36.  Hor,  Sat,  ii.  1.  ter.  72,     Cic,  de  Orat,  ii.  6, 


Book  I. 


OF  CICERO. 


associate  of  your  private  and  public  transac- 
tions.    Farewel. 

LETTER  II.    ^ 

[A.  U.  691.] 

QuintusMetellusCeler^,  Proconsul:  to  Cicero. 

As  I  persuaded  myself  that  our  reconciliation 
and  friendship  was  mutually  sincere,  I  never 
imao^ined  I  should  have  had  occasion  to  eom-^ 
plain  of  being  marked  out  in  my  absence  as 
the  object  of  your  ridiculed  For  the  same 
reason  I  was  equally  far  from  supposing  that  you 
would  have  acted  with  so  much  bitterness 
against  my  relation  Metellus^,  aa  to  persecute 

him 

^  Quintus  Metellus  Cfiler  exercised  the  office  of  Praetor, 
the  same  year  that  Cicero  was  consul.  Two  years  after  the 
date  of  this  letter,  he  was  himself  elected  to  that  supreme 
dignity  :  and  Cicero  speaks  of  his  administration  with  ap- 
plause. He  was  at  this  time  governor  of  Cisalpine  Gauh 
Ad  Att,  u,  \, 

'  The  reader  will  find  this  explained  by  Cicero's  answer 
in  the  following  letter. 

"The  person  here  alluded  to,  is  Quintus  Metellus  Ca- 
cilius  Nepos,  at  this  time  a  tribune  of  the  people.  He  had 
lately  attempted  to  procure  a  law  for  recalling  Pompey  out 
of  Asia ;  pretending  that  his  presence  was  necessary  in  order 
to  quiet  the  commotions  in  the  Republic.  But  his  real  view 
was  to  destroy  the  great  credit  and  authority  which  Cicero 
now  possessed,  by  throwing  the  whole  power  into  Pompey's 
hands.  Cato,  who  was  likewise  tribune  at  the  same  time, 
most  strenuously  opposed  this  design  of  his  colleague ;  and 
the  contests  that  rose  between  them,  upon  this  occasion,  were 
attended  with  great  and  dangerous  disturbances.  Metellus, 
however,  being  at  length  obliged  to  desist,  retired  in  dis- 

B3  %m 


LETTER  TO 


Book  I. 


Book  I. 


CICERO. 


f 


I! 


!t 


1 


him  even  to  the  loss  of  his  fortunes  and  his  dig- 
nities, merely  for  a  single  word.  If  the  regard 
which  is  due  to  his  own  character  could  not 
protect  him  from  the  unjust  resentment  of  the 
senate ;  at  least  the  zeal  I  have  ever  shewn  for 
the  interests  of  that  illustrious  order,  the  ser- 
vices I  have  rendered  the  commonwealth,  and 
the  consideration  which  is  owing  to  our  birth', 
should  have  powerfully  pleaded  in  his  favour. 
But  it-  has  been  his  fate  to  be  oppressed,  as 
well  as  mine  to  be  deserted,  by  those,  who  ought 
to  have  treated  us  in  a  very  different  manner : 
and  the  honour  of  that  important  command 
with  which  I  am  invested,  cannot  secure  me, 
it  seems,  from  having  cause  to  lament  the  in- 
dignities which  are  offered  both  to  myself  and 

to 

gust  with  his  coniplainti  to  Pompcy.  After  he  had  thus 
withdrawn  himself,  it  was  proposed,  that  the  censure  of  the 
senate  should  be  passed  upon  his  turbulent  conduct,  as  also 
that  he  should  be  deposed  from  his  oflTice :  and  it  was  these 
proceedings,  together  with  the  part  that  Metellus  Celcr  sup- 
posed Cicero  to  have  borne  in  them,  which  occasioned  the 
warm  remonstrances  of  the  letter  before  us.  Plutarch  as- 
serts it  was  owing  to  the  prudence  and  moderation  of  Cato, 
I  hat  the  mouon  against  Metellus  Nepos  was  not  carried. 
Suetonius,  osi  the  other  hand,  expressly  says  that  he  was 
actually  suspended  :  and  indeed  the  following  answer  of 
Cicero  renders  it  extremely  probable  that  some  decree  of 
that  kind  had  been  voted,  and  afterwards  repealed.  Flut. 
in  tU.  Caton.     Suet,  in  Jul.  Ccts.  \6. 

* 

•  Within  the  ^pace  of  twelve  years,  there  had  been  no 
less  than  twelve  of  this  family  who  were  either  consuls,  cen- 
sors, or  distinguished  with  the  honours  of  a  triumph. — 
Taterc.iuli. 


to  my  family.  Since  the  senate  have  shewn 
themselves  to  be  so  little  influenced  by  the 
dictates  of  equity,  or  those  principles  of  mo- 
deration which  distinguished  our  ancestors,  it 
will  be  no  wonder,  if  they  should  find  reason 
to  repent  of  their  conduct.  But  as  to  your- 
self, I  repeat  it  again,  I  never  had  the  least 
suspicion  that  you  were  capable  of  acting  with 
so  much  inconstancy  to  me  and  mine.  How- 
ever, neither  this  dishonour,  which  has  been 
cast  upon  my  family,  nor  any  injuries  which 
can  be  done  to  me,  in  my  own  person,  shall 
ever  alienate  my  affections  from  the  republic. 
Farewel. 

LETTER  III. 

[A.U.  691.]  ,, 

To  Quintus.  Metellus  Celer,  Proconsul 

I  HAVE  received  your  letter,  wherein  you  tell 
me,  that,  "  you  had  persuaded  yourself,  you 
*^  should  never  have  had  occasion  to  complain 
"  of  being  marked  out  as  the  subject  of  my 
"  railleries."  I  must  assure  you,  in  return,  that 
I  do  not  well  understand  to  what  you  allude.  I 
suspect,  however,  you  may  have  been  informed 
of  a  speech  I  lately  made  in  the  senate,  wherein 
J  took  notice  there  was  a  considerable  party 

B  4  amongst 


9  Thb   letters  BookL 

tmongst  us,  who  regretted  that  the  common- 
wealth should  have  owed  its  preservation  to  my 
hands.    I  added,  J  confess,  that,  in  compliance^ 
with  the  request  "  of  some  of  your  relations^ 
"  whose  desires  you  could  by  no  means  refuse^ 
''  you  suppressed  the  applause  with  which  you 
''  intended  to  have  honoured  me  in  that  illustri- 
*'  ous  assembly.  I  mentioned,  at  the  same  time, 
"  that  we  bad  shared  between  us  the  glory  of 
''  havmg  saved  the  republic :  and  that  whilst 
"  I  was  protecting  Rome  from  the  wicked  de- 
■'  signs  of  her  intestine  enemies,  you  were  de- 
''  fending  Italy  from  the  open  attacks  and  5e-» 
*'  cret  conspiracies  of  those  who  had  meditated 
*'  our  general  ruin.  But  that  some  of  your  fami- 
*'  ly,  nevertheless,  had  endeavoured  to  weaken 
"  this  our  illustrious  association,  and  were  un-. 
*'  willing  you  should  make  any  return  on  your 
*'  part,  for  those  high  honours  with  which  you 
^'  bad  been  distinguished  on  mine."    As  this 
was  an  open  confession  how  much  I  was  morti- 
fied in  not  receiving  the  applause  I  expected,  it 
i^ised  a  generaJ  smile  in  the  house :  not  indeed 
at  you,  but  at  myself,  for  ingenuously  acknow- 
ledging my  disappointment.     And  surely  what 
I  thus  said  ca^nol  but  be  considered  as  highly 
to  your  credit:  since  it  was  an  evidence  that, 
^id$t  the  higher  bonouis,  I  atill  thought  my 

glory 


Book  I. 


OF  CICERO, 


glory  incomplete,  without  the  concurrence  of 
your  approbation. 

As  to  what  you  mention  concerning  a  mu^ 
tual  affettion,  I  know  not  what  you  may  es- 
teem as  a  mark  of  that  disposition.  But,  accord- 
ing to  my  apprehension,  it  consists  in  an  equal 
return  of  those  good  offices  which  one  friend  re- 
ceives from  another.  If,  as  a  proof  of  this  gra- 
titude on  my  part,  I  were  to  tell  you  that  I 
gave  up  my  pretensions  to  your  present  govern- 
ment; you  might  well  suspect  my  veracity. 
The  truth  is,  I  renounced  it  as  being  inconsistent 
with  that  plan  of  conduct  I  had  laid  down  to 
myself' ;  and  I  find  every  day  more  and  more 
reason  to  be  satisfied  with  having  taken  this 
resolution.  But  this,  with  strict  sincerity,  I  can 
affirm,  that  I  no  sooner  relinquished  my  claim 

to 

*  Cicero  here  alludes  to  the  resolution  he  took  of  not  ac- 
cepting any  government  at  the  expiration  of  this  consular 
office  :  a  resolution,  it  must  be  owned,  worthy  of  a  generous 
and  disinterested  patriot.  Accordingly,  in  a  speech  which 
he  made  in  the  senate  on  the  day  of  his  inauguration,  he  de- 
clared  he  wo  •  d  receive  no  honours  at  the  close  of  his  mi- 
nistry, which  it  was  in  the  power  of  the  tribunes  to  obstruct  x 
and  indeed  it  was  in  tiieir  power  to  obstruct  every  honour 
the  senate  could  decree.  As  the  authority  of  these  popular 
magistrates  could  thus  disappoint  the  ambition  of  the  con- 
suls, it  had  often  influenced  them  iii  the  exercise  of  their 
functions.  But  by  this  self-denying  renunciation  which 
Cicero  made,  he  had  nothing  to  hope  from  their  favour,  or 
to  fear  from  their  resentment :  und  consequently  divested 
himself  of  every  motive  that  could  check  a  vigorous  opposi-» 
lion  to  theii:  factious  measures.     Orat,  cont,  RuL  i.  8. 


10 


The  letters 


Book  L 


to  your  province,  than  I  considered  how  to 
throw  it  into  your  hands.     I  need  not  mention 
the  management  which  was  employed  in  order 
to  secure   the   lot   in  your  favour :   but  this 
much  I  will  say,  that  I  hope  you  do  not  ima- 
gine the  part  my  colleague  acted  in  that  affeir 
was,  in  any  of  its  circumstances,  without  my 
privity  and  consent.    Let  me  desire  you  to  re- 
collect with  what  expedition  I  assembled  the 
senate  immediately  after  the  balloting  was  over, 
and  how  fully  I  spoke  upon  that  occasion  in 
your  applause.  Accordingly,  you  then  told  me, 
that  I  had  not  only  paid  an  high  compliment 
to  yourself,  but  at  the  same  time  cast  a  very 
severe  reproach  upon  your  colleagues.     I  will 
add,  that  so  long  as  the  decree  shall  subsist, 
•which  the  senate  passed  at  that  juncture,  there 
"Will  not  be  wanting  a  public  and  conspicuous 
monument  of  my  good  offices  towards  you. 
Remember  likewise  the  zeal  with  which  I  sup-, 
ported  your  interest  in  the  senate ;  the  encomi- 
ums with  which  I  mentioned  you  in  jhe  assem- 
blies of  the  people ;  and  the  afliectionate  letters 
I  wrote  to  you,  after  your  departure.     And 
when  you  have  laid  these  several  circumstances 
together,  I  may  safely  leave  it  to  your  own 
determination,  whether  your  behaviour  tome, 
upon  your  last  return  to  Rome,  was  suitable  to. 

these 


Book  L 


OF  CICERO. 


11 


these  instances  of  my  friendship.  However,  I 
know  not  what  you  mean  by  our  reconcile- 
ment :  an  expression,  it  should  seem,  which 
cannot,  with  any  propriety,  be  applied  where 
there  never  was  any  formal  rupture. 

With  respect  to  your  relation,  whom  I  ought 
not,  you  tell  me,  to  have  persecuted  so  severely 
in  resentment  of  a  single  expression,  I  have  this 
to  say :  In  the  first  place,  I  most  highly  ap- 
plaud the  affectionate  disposition  you  discover 
towards  him:  and,  in  the  next,  I  hope  you 
would  pardon  me,  if  that  duty  which  I  owe  my 
country,  and  to  which  no  man  is  more  strongly 
devoted,  had,  at  any  time,  obliged  me  to  op- 
pose his  measures.     But  if  I  have  only  defend- 
ed myself  against  his  most  cruel  attacks,  have 
you  not  reason  to  be  satisfied  that  I  never  once 
troubled  you  with  my  complaints?     On  the 
contrary,  when  I  perceived  he  was  collecting 
the  whole  force  of  his  tribunitial  power,  in  or- 
der to  oppress  me,  I  contented  myself  with 
endeavouring  to  divert  him  from  his  unjust 
purpose,  by  applying  to  your  ^vife*  and  sis- 
ter ; 

*  Sister  to  Claudius  :  a  woman  of  most  abandoned  lewd- 
ness, and  suspected  of  having  poisoned  Metellus,  who  died 
in  69^j  a  few  years  after  this  letter  was  written. — Cicero, 
who  auended  him  in  his  last  moments,  represents  them  as 
truly  heroic.  Metellus  saw  the  approaches  of  death  without 
the  least  concern  upon  his  own  account,  and  only  lamented 

that 


i'l 


12 


The  letters 


Book  I. 


Book  I. 


OF  CICERO. 


13 


II 


ter' ;  as  the  latter  had  often  indeed,  in  conside- 
ration of  my  connexions  with.  Pompey,  exerted 
her  good  offices  in  my  behalf.  Nevertheless  (and 
I  am  sure  you  are  no  stranger  to  the  truth  of 
what  I  am  going  to  say)  upon  laying  down  my 
consular  office,  he  prevented  me  from  making 
tlie  usual  speech  to  the  people :  and  thus,  what 
had  never  been  denied  to  the  lowest  and  most 
worthless  of  our  magistrates,  he  most  injuri- 
ously refused  to  a  consul  who  had  preserved 
the  liberties  of  his  country.     This  insult,  bow- 
ever,  proved  greatly  to  my  honour ;  for,  as  he 
would  only  suffer  me  to  take  the  oath*,  I  pro* 
nounced  the  sincerest  and  most  glorious  of  as- 
severations  with   an  uncommon  exertion  of 
voice :  and  the  whole  assembly  of  the  people 
as  loudly  called  the  gods  to  witness,  that  what 
1  had  sworn  was  most  religiously  true^     But 
tho'  I  received  this  signal  aff^ront  from  your  cou-i 
ain,  yet  I  had  the  very  same  day  sent  aiji  amir 

cable 

that  he  should  lose  his  life  at  a  time  when  his  friend  and  his 
country  would  hare  most  occasion  for  his  services.  Fro 
Ceclio  24. 

^  Mucia  :  she  was  married  to  Pompey,  but  afterwards 
divorced  from  him  on  occasion  of  her  gallantries  with  Ca&sar. 
Jd  Att.  i.  12.     Plut.  in  vit.  Pomp^ 

*The  consuls,  at  the  expiration  of  their  office,  took  an. 
oath  that  they  had  faithfully  and  zealously  discharged  their 
trust.     MoHut, 

^  Cicero  did  not  confine  himself  to  the  usual  terms  of  the 
oath  ;  but  swore  that  he  had  preserved  Rome  and  the  He- 
public  from  desiruciioo.     Plut.  in  vit.  Cicer» 


cable  message  to  him  by  our  common  friends, 
with  the  hopes  of  persuading  him  iiito  a  better 
temper*  The  answer  he  returned  w^as,  that  all 
applications  of  this  kind  were  now  too  late* 
He  had,  indeed,  asserted,  some  days  before,  in 
a  speech  which  he  made  in  a  general  assembly  of 
the  people,  "  that  the  man  who  had  punished 
**  others  without  suffering  them  to  be  heard^, 
**  ought  to  be  denied  the  privilege  of  being 
*'  heard  in  his  turn."  Excellent  and  judicious 
patriot  indeed !  to  maintain  that  the  same  punish- 
ment which  had  been  decreed,  and  with  the  ap- 
probation too  of  every  honest  man  in  Rome, 
to  those  rebels  and  incendiaries  who  had  at- 
tempted 

•  The  principal  conspirators  concerned  with  Cataline  be- 
ing taken  into  custody,  Cicero  convened  the  senate ;  when 
it  was  debated  in  what  manner  to  proceed  against  the  priso- 
ners. Silanus,  the  consul  elect,  advised  that  they  should 
all  be  put  to  death.  But  this  was  against  an  express  law, 
which  prohibited  the  taking  away  the  life  of  any  citizen 
without  a  formal  process.  The  proposal  of  Silanus  was 
opposed  by  Caesar,  as  being  a  stretch  of  the  senate's  power 
which  might  be  productive  of  very  dangerous  consequences 
in  a  free  state.  It  was  his  opinion,  therefore,  that  the  estates 
of  the  conspirators  should  be  confiscated,  and  their  persons 
closely  imprisoned.  Cicero,  as  Dr.  Middleton  observes, 
delivered  his  sentiments  with  all  the  skill  both  of  the  orator 
and  the  statesman ;  and  while  he  seemed  to  shew  a  perfect 
neutrality,  and  to  give  equal  commendation  to  both  the  opi- 
nions, was  artfully  labouring  to  turn  the  scale  in  favour  of 
Silanus's,  which  he  considered  as  a  necessary  example  of 
severity  in  the  present  circumstances  of  the  republic.  A 
vote  accordingly  passed  that  the  conspirators  should  suff^^r 
death  ;  which  Cicero  immediately  put  in  execution.  Life  of 
Cic.  Vol.  i.  219,  221,  230.     See  rem.  6.p,  2d.  of  this  Vol. 


u 


THfe  LETTERS 


Book  L 


Book  L 


OF  CICERO. 


15 


tempted  to  involve  thdr  country  in  the  most 
dreadful  calamities,  was  due  to  him  who  had 
preserved  the  senate,  the  city,  and  all  Italy  in 
general  from  destruction.  These  were  the  pro- 
vocations that  induced  me  to  oppose  your  cousin 
openly  and  before  his  face :  and  accordingly, 
in  a  debate  on  the  first  of  January,  concern- 
ing the  state  of  the  republic,  I  thought  proper 
to  let  him  see  that  he  had  declared  war  against 
a  man  who  did  not  want  resolution  to  return 
his  attack.     In  a   speech   which  he  made   a    / 
few  days  afterwards,  he  was  pleased  to  throw 
out  several  menacing  expressions  against  me : 
and  it  was  evidently  his  determined  purpose  to 
effect  my  ruin,  not  by  bringing  my  actions  to 
a  fair  and  impartial  trial,  but  by  the  most  ille- 
gal methods  of  violence.    Had  I  not  acted  then 
with  spirit  in  opposition  to  his  ill-considered 
measures,  would  not  the  world  have  thought 
(and  thought  too  with  reason)  that  the  courage 
I  exerted  in  my  consulate  was  merely  acci- 
dental, and  not  the  result  of  a  steady  and  ra- 
tional fortitude  ?     If  you  are  ignorant  of  these 
instances  of  your  cousin's  deportment,  he  has 
concealed  a  very  material  article  of  his  con- 
duct.    On  the  other  hand,  if  he  apprised  you 
of  them,  you  have  reason  to  look  upon  me  as 
having  acted  with  great  temper  and  forbear- 
ance 


ance  in  never  interrupting  you  wfth  my  ex- 
postulations. In  a  word,  you  will  find  my 
complaint  against  him  was  not  founded  on  a 
single  expression,  as  you  call  it,  but  on  a  conti- 
nued series  of  malevolence.  Let  me  now,  there- 
fore, shew  you,  that  my  conduct  in  return  was 
influenced  by  principles  of  the  greatest  good- 
nature :  if  good-nature  it  may  be  deemed,  not 
to  exert  a  proper  resentment  against  injuries  of 
so  atrocious  a  kind.  The  truth  is,  I  never  once 
made  a  motion  in  the  senate  to  bis  prejudice ; 
on  tlie  contrary,  as  often  as  any  question  arose 
in  which  he  was  concerned,  I  always  voted  on 
the  most  favourable  side.  I  will  add  (tho'  it  is 
a  circumstance,  indeed,  in  which  I  ought  not  to 
have  concerned  myself)  that  I  was  so  far  from 
being  displeased  with  the  decree  which  passed 
in  his  favour,  that,  in  consideration  of  his  be- 
ing related  to  you,  I  actually  promoted  it  to 
the  utmost  of  my  power. 

Thus  you  see  that,  far  from  being  the  ag- 
gressor, I  have  only  acted  a  defensive  part.  Nor 
have  I,  as  you  accuse  me,  betrayed  a  capri- 
cious disposition  with  regard  to  yourself:  on 
the  contrary,  notwithstanding  your  failure  in 
some  amicable  offices  on  your  side,  I  have  still 
preserved  the  same  unvariable  sentiments  of 
friendship  on  mine.     Even  at  this  very  instant 

when 


ff 


16 


The  letters         Book  1. 


Book  I. 


OF  CICERO.  ir 


when  I  have  before  me,  I  had  almost  called 
it  your  threatening  letter,  yet  I  will  tell  you 
that  I  not  only  excuse,  but  highly  applaud  thft 
generous  warmth  you  express  in  your  cousin's 
behalf :  as  I  know,  by  what  passes  in  my  own 
breast,  the  wonderful  force  of  family-affectioa. 
I  hope  then  you  will  judge  of  my  resentment 
with  the  same  candour,  ajid  acknowledge  that 
if,  without  the  least  provocation  on  my  part,  I 
have  been  most  cruelly  and  outrageously 
treated,  by  any  of  your  relations,  I  had  a  right, 
I  will  not  only  say  to  defend  myself,  but  to  be 
supported  in  that  defence,  if  it  were  necessary, 
even  by  your  whole  army.  Believe  me,  I  have 
ever  been  desirous  of  making  you  my  friend ; 
as  I  have  endeavoured  to  convince  you,  upon 
aU  occasions,  that  I  was  entirely  yours :  senti- 
ments which  I  still  retain,  and  shall  continue 
to  retain  just  as  long  as  you  desire.  To  say 
all  in  one  word,  I  am  much  more  disposed  to 
sacrifice  my  resentment  against  your  cousin, 
to  my  friendship  towards  yourself,  than  to 
suffer  the  former,  in  any  degree,  to  impair  our 
mutual  affection.     Farewel. 


LETTER 


LETTER  IV. 

[A.U.691.] 

To  Caius  Anton ius:  Imperator^ 

I  HAD  determined  not  to  trouble  you  with  my 
letters,  unless  of  the  recommendatory  kind :  not 
that  I  had  reason  to  expect  my  solicitations 
would  have  much  weight  with  you;  but  as 
being  unwilling  it  should  appear  to  those  who 
might,  apply  for  them,  that  any  coolness  had 
arisen  between  us.  However,  as  our  common 
friend  Atticus,  who  has  been  a  particular  wit- 
ness of  the  warmth  with  which  I  have  ever  pro* 
moted  your  interest,  is  coming  into  your  pro- 
vince, I  cannot  forbear  conveying  a  letter  to 
you  by  his  hand;  especially  as  he  very  strong- 
ly importuned  me  for  that  purpose. 

Were  I  to  claim  even  your  highest  services, 
the  demand  could  by  no  mean^  be  thought 
unreasonable,  after  having  contributed  every 
thing  on  my  part  for  the  advancement  of  your 
^ase,  your  interest,  and  your  honours^    But  I 

may 

*  The  person  to  xvhom  this  letter  is  addressed,  was  uncle 
to  the  celebrated  Mark  Antony.  He  had  been  consul  the 
year  before  with  Cicero,  and  was  now  governor  of  Mace- 
donia. 

^  The  consuls,  at  the  expiration  of  their  office,  used  to 

vlraw  lots  to  which  of  the  provinces  ihey  should  respectively 

Ypj*.  I.  C  succeed 


ts 


THr  LETTERS 


BooKli 


>^ 


may  safely  appeal  to  your  own  conscience, 
whether  you  have  ever  made  me  the  least  re- 
turn :  so  far  from  it,  indeed,  that  I  have  heard 
(for  I  dare  not  say  I  have  been  informe^y  as  it 
is  an  expression,  it  seems,  which  you  frequent- 
ly, tlio'  I  am  sure  injuriously,  object  to  me) 
I  have  heard  then  that  you  have  intimated 
something  as  if— But  I  leave  it  to  Atticus  to 
tell  you  the  rest :  as  the  report*  has  given  him 

no 

succeed  as  governors.  This  which  Antonius  possessed,  one 
of  the  most  desirable  in  all  the  Roman  empire,  having  fallen 
to  Cicero,  he  resigned  it  to  his  colleague. 

.  •  This  alludes  to  an  expression  which  Cicero  had  often 
occasion  to  employ  in  the  atfair  of  Cataline's  conspiracy.  As 
his  principal  intelligence  arose  from  some  of  the  conspirators 
Iheraselves,  who  communicated  to  him  from  lime  to  time 
the  designs  of  their  associates,  he  was  obliged  to  conceal  the 
authors  of  these  discoveries  :  and,  therefore,  in  laying  his 
allegations  before  the  senate  or  the  people,  he  was  under  the 
necessity  of  speaking  only  in  general  terms,  and  of  assuring 
them  that  he  had  been  informed  of  the  particular  articles  he 
mentioned.  But  tho*  the  event  proved  that  his  informations 
were  true ;  yet,  in  general,  this  method  of  accusation  was 
extremely  odious,  and  of  dangerous  example.  Cicero's  ene- 
mies, therefore,  did  not  fail  to  take  advantage  of  this  popu- 
lar objection,  and  were  perpetually  repeating  the  phrase,  I 
■cm  informed,  whenever  they  were  disposed  to  reproach  his 
conduct  in  this  transaction.  See  Mong.  rem.  ig.  on  the  ipih 
let.  of  the  first  book  to  Atticus.  Plut.  in  lit.  Cicer.  Sallusi. 
Declam.  in  Cic.  2. 

*  This  report  was  of  a  very  unfavourable  kind  indeed ; 
for  it  charged  Cicero  with  having  a  share  in  the  money  which 
Antonius  raised  by  his  exactions  on  the  unhappy  people  of 
his  province.  The  very  judicious  French  translator  of  the 
epistles  lo  Atticus,  seems  to  imagine  there  was  some  founda- 
tion for  this  report ;  as  he  thinks  it  probable  that  Antonius 
had  agreed  to  pay  Cicero  a  certain  sum  in  consideration  of 

his 


' ') ' 


Book  If 


OF  CICERO. 


19 


less  concern  than  it  gave  myself.  In  the  mean 
time,  I  wiH  only  say,  that  the  senate  and  the 
whole  Roman  people  have  been  witnesses  of  that 
uncommon  zeal  with  which  I  have  entered  into 
yourinterest.  What  sentiments  of  gratitude  this 
has  impressed  upon  your  mind,  you  yourself  are 
the  best  judge ;  how  much  you  owe  me  in  con- 
sequence of  it,  let  others  determine.  It  wasi 
friendship  that  first  engaged  my  good  offices 
in  your  favour ;  and  I  afterwards  was  induced 
to  continue  them  merely  from  a  principle  of 
constancy.  But,  believe  me,  your  present'  af- 
fairs 

his  having  relinquished  to  him  the  government  of  Macedo- 
nia :  but  this  is  a  conjecture  altogether  unsupported  by  any 
evidence.  Thus  much,  however,  is  certain ;  in  the  first 
place,  that  Cicero  had  some  demands  upon  Antonius,  of  a  na- 
ture which  he  did  not  choose  should  be  known  ;  as,  when- 
ever he  hints  at  them  to  Atticus,  it  is  always  in  a  very  dark 
and  enigmatical  manner:  and,  in  the  next  place,  that  he  sa- 
crificed his  own  judgment  and  the  good  opinion  of  the  world, 
in  order  to  support  Antonius  in  his  present  government. 
From  which  facis  the  reader  is  left  to  draw  the  conclusion 
that  he  shall  judge  reasonable.  Vid,  ad  At t.  L  xii,  13,  l^. 
See  the  following  remark. 

^  Pompey  had  declared  his  intentions  of  very  strenuously 
insisting  that  Antonius  should  be  recalled  from  his  govern- 
ment, in  order  to  give  an  account  of  his  administration: 
which,  it  seems,  had  been  extremely  oppressive.  It  was 
upon  this  occasion  that  Cicero  promised  him  his  service : 
and  it  seems,  by  the  following  letter,  that  he  kept  his  word. 
But  if  he  had  not,  his  honour,  perhaps,  would  not  have  been 
the  more  questionable  :  for  it  appears,  from  a  letter  to  At- 
ticus, that  Cicero  could  not  undertake  the  defence  of  Anto- 
nius without  suffering  in  the  opinion,  not  only  of  the  popu- 
lace, but  of  every  worthy  man  in  Rome.  Ad  Att,  u  1%^ 
See  remark  5th  on  the  following  letter. 


£0 


The   letters  Book  I. 


Book  I. 


OF  CICERO. 


SI 


fairs  require  a  much  larger  proportion  of  my 
zeal  and  pains  :  the  utmost  exertion  of  which 
shall  not  be  wanting,  provided  I  may  have 
reason  to  think  that  they  are  not  entirely 
thrown  away.  For  I  shall  never  be  so  absurdly 
officious,  as  to  employ  them  where  they  are 
not  acceptable.  Atticus  will  inform  you  iu 
what  particular  instances  you  may,  probably, 
have  occasion  for  my  good  offices :  in  the  mean 
while,  I  very  warmly  recommend  him  to  yours. 
I  am  well  persuaded,  indeed,  that  his  own  in- 
terest with  you  is  his  best  advocate  :  however, 
if  you  have  any  remaining  affection  for  me,  let 
me  entreat  you  to  shew  it  (and  it  is  the  most 
oblisiuff  manner  in  which  you  can  shew  it)  by 
your  services  to  my  friend.     Farewel 

LETTER  V, 

[A.  U.  692.1 

To  PuBLius  Sestius,  Qua:stor\ 

I  COULD  scarce  credit  your  freedman  Decius, 
as  highly  as  I  think  of  his  fidelity  and  attach- 
ment to  your  interest,  w^hen  he  requested  me 

in 

'  Every  proconsul,  or  governor  of  a  province,  ha^l  a 
quaestor  under  him,  who  acted  as  a  sort  of  pa>  master -gene- 
ral to  the  provincial  forces,  and  as  superiotendant  likewise 
of  the  public  revenues.  Sebtius  was  at  this  time  exercising 
that  office  under  Antonius,  in  Macedonia.  Some  further 
account  will  be  occasionally  given  of  hira  in  the  progress  of 
these  remarks. 


in  your  name  to  use  my  endeavours  that  you 
jpay  not  at  present  be  recalled.  Remembering, 
indeed,  the  very  different  strain  in  which  all  the 
letters  I  had  before  received  from  you  were 
written,  I  could  not  easily  be  induced  to  think 
that  you  had  so  greatly  altered  your  mind.  But 
after  Cornelia  s  visit  to  my  wife,  and  the  dis- 
course which  I  had  myself  with  Cornelius,  I 
could  no  longer  doubt  of  this  change  in  your 
inclinations  :  and  accordingly  I  never  failed  to 
attend  in  your  behalf,  at  every  subsequent  meet- 
ing of  the  senate.  The  question,  however,  did 
not  come  on  tillJanuary  last,  when  we  carried 
it  without  much  opposition :  tho'  I  found  some 
difficulty  in  persuading  Quintus  Fusius*,  and 
the  rest  of  your  friends,  to  whom  you  had  writ- 
ten upon  this  subject,  to  believe  me  rather 
than  your  own  letters. 

I  had  not  agreed  with  Crassus  for  his  house,- 
when  you  wished  me  joy  of  the  purchase:  but  I 
was  so  much  encouraged  by  your  congratula- 
tions, that  I  soon  afterwards  bought  it  at 
thirty-five  hundred  thousand  sesterces'.  I  am 
now,  therefore,  so  deeply  involved  in  debt  as 

to 

*  One  of  the  tribunes  of  the  people. 

^  About  28,0001.  Cicero,  il  is  said,  borrowed  a  consi- 
derable part  of  this  sum  from  a  man  whose  cause  he  had  un- 
dertaken to  defend.  But  eloquence  was  not  as  yet  profes- 
sedly venal  in  Rome  ;  and  it  was  looked  upon  as  highly  dis- 

C  3  honourable 


I 


r 


f2 


The  letters 


Book  I. 


Book  I. 


OF  CICERO. 


23 


w 


to  be  full  ripe,  you  must  know,  for  a  plot,  if 
any  malecontent  will  be  so  charitable  as  to  ad- 
mit me  into  one.     But  the  misfortune  is,  this 

sort 

honourable  for  an  advocate,  not  only  to  receive  any  reward, 
but  even  a  loan  of  his  client.  Cicero,  therefore,  being  pub- 
licly reproached  with  this  transaction,  most  confidently  de- 
nied the  charge ;  declaring  at  the  same  time  that  he  had  not 
the  least  intention  of  making  this  purchase.  However,  he 
soon  afterwards  completed  his  bargain :  when  being  taxed  in 
the  senate  with  this  unworthy  falsehood,  he  endeavoured  to 
laugh  it  off,  by  telling  his  censurers,  thsii  they  must  know 
very  little  of  the  world  indeed^  if  they  imagined  any  prudent 
nantcould  raise  the  price  of  a  commodity,  by  publicly  avowing 
iis  intentions  of  becoming  a  purchaser.  It  is  Aulus  Gellius 
who  gives  us  this  story,  which  Dr.  Middleton  supposes  he 
might  have  picked  up  from  some  spurious  collection  of  Ci- 
cero's jokes :  and  many  such,  it  is  certain,  were  handed 
about,  even  in  Cicero's  life-lime.  As  every  reader  of  taste 
and  learning  must  wish  well  to  the  moral  character  of  so  in- 
valuable an  author  as  Cicero,  one  cannot  but  regret  that 
neither  his  own  gcrieral  regard  to  truth,  nor  the  plea  of  his 
ingenious  advocate,  seem  sufficient  to  discredit  this  piece  of 
secret  history.  That  Cicero  was  capable  of  denying  facts, 
where  it  was  not  for  his  advantage  they  should  be  discover- 
ed, will  appear,  perhaps,  beyond  controversy  in  the  pro- 
gress of  these  remarks.  In  the  mean  time  a  very  strong  in- 
stance  of  this  may  be  produced  from  one  of  his  letter's  to 
Atiicus.  Cicero  had  written  an  invective  against  some  per- 
son whose  interest  he  had  occasion  to  make  use  of  in  the  af- 
fair of  his  restoration.  This  piece  of  satire  had  stolen  into 
the  world,  it  seems,  without  his  knowledge  ;  but  as  he  never 
had  any  formal  quarrel  with  the  man  against  whom  it  was  le- 
velled, and  as  it  was  drawn  up  in  a  style  by  no  means  equal 
to  the  usual  correctness  of  his  performances,  it  might  easily, 
he  tells  Atticus,  be  proved  not  to  have  come  from  his  hand  : 
^to  posse  probari  non  esse  meam.  The  truth  of  it  is,  sincerity 
does  not  seem  to  have  been  the  virtue  upon  which  Cicero 
was  very  solicitous  of  establishing  his  character.  Thus,  Plu- 
tarch assures  us,  that  our  author  having  made  a  speech  in 
public,  full  of  the  highest  encomiums  on  Crassus,  he  did  not 
•cruple  a  few  days  afterwards  to  reverse  the  panegyric,  and 

represent 


sort  of  patriots  are  all  disposed  to  ^xc^ude  me 
from  their  society  :  and  whilst  I  am  the  aver- 
sion of  some  of  them,  as  the  avowed  avenger  of 
,  conspiracies,  others  suspect  that  I  only  pleajd 
poverty  with  a  view  of  gaining  their  confi- 
dence, in  order  to  betray  them.  They  think  jt 
inci-edible,  indeed,  that  the  man  who  rescued 
the  bags  of  all  the  usurers  in  Rome  from  a  ge- 
neral attack,  should  ever  be  in  distress  for 
money*.  The  truth  of  the  matter  is,  there  is 
enough  to  be  raised  at  six  per  cent,  and  1  have 
gained  this  much,  by  the  services  I  have  done 
my  country,  that  I  am  considered  by  your 
money-lenders,  at  least,  as  a  good  man. 

I  must  not  forget  to  mention  that  I  have 
lately  looked  over  your  house  and  buildings, 
and  am  much  pleased  with  the  improvements 

you  are  making. 

Notwith- 

represent  bim  before  the  same  audience  in  all  the  darkest 
colours  of  his  invective.  Cicero  being  reminded,  upon  this 
occasion,  of  his  former  harangue,  very  gravely  replied,  "  it 
**  was  only  by  way  of  an  oratorical  exercise,  and  in  order 
'**  to  try  the  force  of  his  eloquence  upon  so  bad  a  subject." 
Jul.  QtlL  xii.  12.  See  Life  ofCic.  i.  259.  Svo.  Ed.  Ad  Att. 
.  iii.  12.     P/m^.  in  vit.  Cicer. 

♦  The  chief  of  those  who  engaged  in  Cataline's  rebellion, 
were  men  of  the  same  desperate  fortunes  as  himself :  Qtft- 
cunque  bona  patria  laceraverat,  says  the  historian  of  this  con- 
spiracy, quicunque  alienum  a:s  grande  con/luveraty  were  the 
worthy  associates  of  Cataline  in  this  infamous  enterpri^e: 
and  though  liberty  was,  as  usual,  the  pretence ;  the  true 
motive  of  their  taking  up  arms  was,  in  order  to  make  war 
upon  their  creditors.    SaUust.  Bell.  Cat.  14. 

C* 


V 


I 


f 


24  The  LETTERS  Book  1. 

Notwithstanding  all  the  world  is  sensible  that 
Antonius  has  by  no  means  acted  towards  me 
with  the  gratitude  he  ought,  yet  it  did  not  pre- 
vent me  from  being  his  advocate  lately  in  the 
senate  :  when,  by  the  influence  of  my  autho- 
rity, and  the  force  of  what  I  said,  I  greatly 
tlisposed  the  house  in  his  favour*.  I  will  only 
add  my  wishes  that  you  would  write  to  me 
oftener.     Farcwel, 

LETTER 

'The  question  in  this  debate  probably  turned  on  the 
recal  of  Antonius:  a  question,  which  seems  either  to  have 
been  carried  in  h.s  favour,  or  to  have  been  dropped  during  a 
consHlerable  t.me.  For  it  appears,  by  a  letter  to  Atticus, 
wniten  two  years  after  the  date  of  the  present,  that  Anto- 
nius was  st.ll  inhi,  government:  and  D.on  Cassius  assures 
n»,  that  he  was  not  brought  upon  his  trial  till  the  consulate 

then  arraigned  for  his  ill-conduct  in  Macedonia,  and  as  beinjj 
«ODcerned  likewise  in  Cataline's  conspiracy.  This  last  art"! 
«f  i,    n     ""P*"''^""'"'  '""'•'  •"'*  *>«  P'°*«d  ;  •»"  the  truth 

nUhmont  c  °"""'  ^"1^  Condemned  to  perpetual  ba- 
sioS  an^  ,  *'°  "PP'""*  "'  *■■'  '«'v°"te  upon  this  occa- 
sion and  ,t  was  an  occasion  which  contributed  more,  pet- 
baps,  than  any  other,  to  his  future  misfortunes.  For.  in  the 
warmth  of  hi,  speech,  he  indiscreetly  threw  out  some  reflec! 

SoTdid  n'oT'ti  I''"''  '"""-B'" •■"  g-t  masTer  :?his 
passions  did  not  think  proper  at  that  time  openly  to  resent 

U.,  probable  he  never  forgave.     Dion  Cassius,  at  le.ir"n: 

S«"s''to  rj!  *■".  "P°"  "■"  """"""  •■«  secr;tly  instigated 
™r„..^  n^  '".°'*"'  ™«""«  "hich  soon  afterwards  ter- 
mmated  in  Ccero's  exile.  Ad  Alt.  ii.  2.  Dio  xxxwT  sJe 
the  last  remark  on  the  preceding  letter,  p  19 


Book  L 


OF  CICERO. 


25 


•  LETTER  VL 

[A.  U.  695.] 

To  Terentia,  to  my  deareSt  Tullia,  and 

to  my  Son*^. 

If  you  do  not  hear  from  me  so  frequently  as 
you  might,  it  is  because  I  can  neither  write  "to 
you,  nor  read  your  letters,  without  falling  into 
a  greater  passion  of  tears  than  I  am  able  to 
support :  for  though  I  am  at  all  times,  indeed, 
completely  miserable,  yet  I  feel  my  misfortunes 
with  a  particular  sensibility  upon  those  tender 
occasions.  Oh ! 

*  There  is  an  interval  of  two  years  between  the  date  of 
this  and  the  foregoing  letter;  the  correspondence  which 
Cicero  carried  on  during  the  intermediate  period  being  en- 
tirely lost,  except  that  which  he  held  with  Atticus.  The 
following  letters  to  Terentia,  were  ^^rltten  in  our  author's 
exile,  and  will  prove,  either  that  Cicero  wa.s  a  philosopher 
only  in  speculation,  or  that  philosophy  itself  pretends  to 
more  than  it  has  power  to  pt  rform.  Perhaps,  they  will 
prove  both  ;  for,  as  on  the  one  hand  they  discover  the  raost 
unmanly  dejection  of  spirit ;  so  it  is  certain,  on  the  other, 
that  much  weaker  minds  have  been  able,  with  the  assistance 
of  better  principles,  to  support  with  fortitude  far  severer 
trials.  Those  in  which  Cicero  was  at  present  exercised,  were 
occasioned  by  Clodius,  who  procured  himself  to  be  electe<4 
tribune  with  the  single  view  of  destroying  this  his  avowed 
adversary.  It  has  already  been  observed  in  the  sixth  remark, 
on  the  third  letter  of  this  book,  that  Cicero,  in  his  consulate, 
had  put  to  death  some  of  the  conspirators  concerned  with 
Cataline,  without  any  formal  trial,  and  upon  no  other  au- 
thority than  a  decree  of  the  senate.  And  it  was  upon  this 
charge  that  Clodius  founded  his  impeachment.  Cicero's 
conduct  upon  this  occasion,  has  also  been  arraigned  by  % 
late  very  accurate  and  judicious  historian;  and  it  must  be 
acknowledged  that,  as  tar  as  we  can  be  competent  judges 
of  it  at  this  distance  from  the  time  and  scene  of  action,  it 
seems  to  have  been  attended  with  some  circumstances  not 

easily 


4' 


26 


The   letters 


Book  L 


I 


ff 


4 
it 


Oh  !  that  I  had  been  more  indifferent  to  life ! 
Our  days  would  then  have  been,  if  not  wliolly 
unacquainted  with  sorrow,  yet  by  no  means 
thus  wretched.  However,  if  any  hopes  are 
still  reserved  to  us  of  recovering  some  part  at 
least  of  what  we  have  lost,  I  shall  not  think 
that  I  have  made  altogether  so  imprudent  a 
choice.  But  if  our  present  fate  is  unalterably 
iixed— Ah  !  my  dearest  Tercntia,  if  we  are 
utterly  and  for  ever  abandoned  by  those  gods 
whom  you  have  so  religiously  adored,  and  by 
those  men  whom  I  have  so  faithfully  served ; 
let  me  see  you  as  soon  as  possible,  that  I  may 
have  the  satisfaction  of  breathing  out  my  last 
departing  sigh  in  your  arms. 

I  have  spent  about  a  fortnight  at  this  place^, 
with  my  friend  Marcus  Flaccus.  This  worthy 
man  did  not  scruple  to  exercise  the  rites  of 
friendship  and  hospitality  towards  me,  notwith- 
standing the  severe  penalties  of  that  iniquitous 
law  against  those  who  should  venture  to  give 
me  reception*.     May  I  one  day  have  it  in  my 

power 

easily  reconcileable  to  the  principles  either  of  justice  or  good 
policy.     See  Hook's  Rom.  Hist,  vol.  iii.  p.  31 6. 

^  Brundisium  :  a  maritime  town  in  the  kingdom  of  Na- 
ples, now  called  Brindm,  Cicero,  when  he  first  withdrew 
from  Rome,  intended  to  have  retired  into  Sicily,  but  being 
denied  entrance  by  the  fi;overnor  of  that  island,  he  changed 
hit  direction,  and  came  to  Brundisium,  in  his  way  to  Greece. 
fro  Plane.  40,  41. 

•  Ass^on  as  Cicero  bad  withdrawn  from  Rome,  Clodius 

procured 


Book  I. 


OF  CICERO. 


97 


power  to  make  him  a  return  to  those  generous 
services,  which  I  shall  ever  most  gratefully  re- 
member. 

I  am  just  going  to  embark,  and  purpose  to 
pass  thro'  Macedonia  in  mv  way  to  Cyzicum^. 
And  now,  my  Terentia,  thus  wretched  and  ruined 
as  I  am,  can  1  entreat  you,  under  all  that  weight 
of  pain  and  sorrow  with  which,  I  too  well  know, 
you  are  oppressed,  can  I  entreat  you  to  be  the 
partner  and  companion  of  my  exile  ?  But  must 
I  then  live  without  you  ?  I  know  riot  how  to 
reconcile  myself  to  that  hard  condition ;  unless 
your  presence  at  Rome  may  be  a  mean  of  for- 
warding my  return ;  if  any  hopes  of  that  kind 
should  indeed  subsist.  But  should  there,  as 
I  sadly  suspect,  be  absolutely  none,  come  to 
me,  I  conjure  you,  if  it  be  possible :  for  never 
can  I  think  myself  completely  ruined,  whilst  I 
shall  enjoy  my  Terentia's  company.  But  how 
will  my  dearest  daughter  dispose  of  herself? 
A  question  which  youyourselves  must  consider: 
for,  as  to  my  own  part,  I  am  utterly  at  a  loss 
what  to  advise.  At  all  events,  however,  that 
dear  unhappy  girl  must  not  take  any  measures 

that 

procured  a  law,  which,  among  other  articles,  enacted,  that 
**  no  person  should  presume  to  harbour  or  receive  him  on 
**  pain  of  death."     LifeofCic.  i.  354. 

^  A  considerable  town  in  an  island  of  the  Propontis, 
which  lay  so  close  to  the  continent  of  Asia,  as  to  be  jein€d 
with  it  by  a  bridge. 


^ 


The   letters 


Book  I. 


f 


'A 


i 


llhat  may  injure  her  conjugal  repose',  or  affect 
her  in  the  good  opinion  of  the  world.  As  for 
^y  son— let  me  not  at  least  be  deprived  of  the 
consolation  of  folding  him  for  ever  in  my  arms. 
But  I  must  lay  down  my  pen  a  few  moments  : 
my  tears  flow  too  fast  to  suffer  me  to  proceed. 

I  am  under  the  utmost  solicitude,  as  I  know 
not  whether  you  have  been  able  to  preserve 
any  part  of  your  estate,  or  (what  I  sadly  fear) 
are  cruelly  robbed  of  your  whole  fortune.  I 
hope  Piso*  will  always  continue,  what  you  re- 
present him  to  be,  entirely  ours.  As  to  the 
manumission  of  the  slaves,  I  think  you  have 
no  occasion  to  be  uneasy.  For,  with  regard 
to  your  own,  you  only  promised  them  their 
liberty  as  they  should  deserve  it;  but,  except- 
ing Orpheus,  there  are  none  of  them  that  have 
any  great  claim  to  this  favour.  As  to  mine, 
I  told  them,  if  my  estate  should  be  forfeited, 
:^I  would  give  them  their  freedom,  provided  I 
could  obtain  the  confirmation  of  that  grant : 
but  if  I  preserved  my  estate,  that  they  should  all 
of  them,  excepting  only  a  few  whom  I  particu- 
larly named,  remain  in  their  present  condition. 
But  this  is  a  matter  of  little  consequence. 

With 

'  TuUia  was  at  this  time  married  to  Caius  Piso  Frugi ;  a 
young  nobleman  of  one  of  the  best  families  in  Rome.  See 
remark  9th,  on  letter  ix.  p.  42.  of  this  book. 

*  Cicero's  son  in-law,  mentioned  in  the  last  note. 


Book  I. 


OF  CICERO. 


29 


With  regard  to  the  advice  you  give  me  of 
keeping  up  my  spirits,  in  the  belief  that  I  shall 
ao-ain  be  restored  to  my  country,  I  only  wish 
that  I  may  have  reason  to  encourage  so  desi- 
rable an  expectation.  In  the  mean  time,  I  a^ 
greatly  miserable,  in  the  uncertainty  when  I 
shall  hear  from  you,  or  what  hand  you  will 
find  to  convey  your  letters.  I  would  have 
waited  for  them  at  this  place ;  but  the  master 
of  the  ship  on  which  I  am  going  to  embark, 
could  not  be  prevailed  upon  to  lose  the  present 
opportunity  of  sailing. 

For  the  rest,  let  me  conjure  you  in  my  turn 
to  bear  up  under  the  pressure  of  our  afflictions 
with  as  much  resolution  as  possible.  Remember 
that  my  days  have  all  been  honourable ;  and 
that  I  now  suffer  not  for  my  crimes,  but  my 
virtues,  jfs  o,  my  Terentia,  nothing  can  justly 
be  imputed  to  me,  but  that  I  survived  the  loss 
of  my  dignities.  However,  if  it  was  more 
asrreeable  to  our  children  that  I  should  thus 
live,  let  that  reflection  teach  us  to  submit  to 
our  misfortunes  with  cheerfulness;  insupport- 
able as  upon  all  other  considerations  they  would 
undoubtedly  be.  But,  alas,  whilst  1  am  etr 
deavouring  to  keep  up  your  spirits,  I  am  ut-. 
terly  unable  to  preserve  my  own  !. 

I  have  sent  back  the  faithful  fhiletae^us,  as 

the 


so 


The  letters 


Book  la- 


the weakness  of  his  eyes  made  him  incapable 
of  rendering  me  any  service.  Nothing  can 
equal  the  good  offices  I  receive  from  Sallustius. 
Pescennius,  hkewise,  has  given  me  strong 
marks  of  his  affection :  and  I  hope  he  will  not 
fail  in  his  respect  also  to  you.  Sica  promised 
to  attend  me  in  my  exile,  but  he  changed  his 
mind,  and  has  left  me  at  this  place. 

I  entreat  you  to  take  all  j>ossible  care  of  your 
health,  and  be  assured,  your  misfortunes  more 
sensibly  affect  me  than  my  own.  Adieu,  my 
Terentia,  thou  most  faithful  and  best  of  wives  ? 
adieu.  And  thou,  my  dearest  daughter,  toge- 
ther with  that  other  consolation  of  my  life^ 
my  dear  son,  I  bid  you  both  most  tenderly 
farewel. 

Bnmdislnm» 
April  the  joth. 

LETTER  VIL 

[A.  U.  695.] 

To  Terentia,  to  my  dearest  Tullia,  and 

to  my  Son. 

Imagine  not,  my  Terentia,  that  I  WTite 
longer  letter  to  others  than  to  yourself:  be 
assured,  at  least,  if  ever  I  do,  it  is  merely  be-* 
cause  those  I  receive  from  them  require  a  more 

particular 


Book  I. 


OF  CICERO. 


SI 


particular  answer.  The  truth  of  it  is,  I  am 
always  at  a  loss  what  to  write ;  and  as  there  is 
nothing  in  the  present  dejection  of  my  mind, 
that  I  perform  with  greater  reluctance  in  ge- 
neral ;  so  I  never  attempt  it  with  regard  to 
you  and  my  dearest  daughter,  that  it  does  not 
cost  me  a  flood  of  tears.  For  how  can  I  think 
of  you  without  being  pierced  with  grief,  in  the 
reflection,  that  I  have  made  those  completely 
miserable  whom  I  ought,  and  wished,  to  have 
rendered  perfectly  happy  ?  And  I  should  have 
rendered  them  so,  if  I  had  acted  with  less  ti- 
midity. 

Piso's  behaviour  towards  us  in  this  season  of 
our  afflictions,  has  greatly  endeared  him  to  my 
heart ;  and  I  have,  as  well  as  I  was  able  in  the 
present  discomposure  of  my  mind,  both  ac- 
knowledged his  good  offices,  and  exhorted 
him  to  continue  them. 

I  perceive  you  depend  much  upon  the  new 
tribunes ;  and  if  Pompey  perseveres  in  his  pre- 
sent disposition,  I  am  inclined  to  think  that 
your  hopes  will  not  be  disappointed ;  though, 
I  must  confess,  I  have  some  fears  with  respect 
to  Crassus.  In  the  mean  while,  I  have  the  sa- 
tisfaction to  find,  what,  indeed,  I  had  reason 
to  expect,  that  you  act  with  great  spirit  and 
tenderness  in  all  my  concerns.  But  I  lament  it 

*  should 


•      ji 


52 


The  letters 


Book  L 


should  be  my  cruel  fate  to  expose  you  to  so 
many  calamities,  whilst  you  are  thus  generously 
endeavouring  to  ease  the  weight  of  mine.  Be 
assured,  it  was  with  the  utmost  grief  1  read  the 
account  which  Pubhus  sent  me,  of  the  oppro- 
brious manner  in  which  you  were  dragged  from 
the  temple  of  A^esta,  to  the  office  of  Valerius*. 
Sad  reverse  indeed  !  that  thou,  the  dearest  ob- 
ject of  my  fondest  desires,  that  my  Terentia,  to 
whom  such  numbers  were  wont  to  look  up  for 
relief,  should  be,  herself,  a  spectacle  of  the 
most  affecting  distress  !  and  that  I,  who  have 
saved  so  many  others  from  ruin,  should  have 
ruined  both  myself  ^nd  my  family  by  my  own 
indiscretion ! 

As  to  what  you  mention  with  regard  to  the 
area  belonging  to  my  house,  I  shall  never  look 
upon  myself  as  restored  to  my  country,  till 
that  spot  of  ground  is  again  in  my  possession^ 
J3ut  this  is  a  point  that  does  not  depend  upon 
ourselves.  Let  me  rather  express  my  concern 
for  what  does,  and  lament  that,  distressed  as 

your 

♦  Terentia  had  taken  sanctuary  in  the  temple  of  Vesta, 
but  was  forcibly  draggt'd  out  from  thence  bv  the  directions 
ofCli  dius,  in  order  to  be  examined  at  a  public. office,  con- 
cerning her  husl>and's  effects.     Mr.  Ross, 

'  After  Clodius  had  procured  the  law  against  Cicero  al- 
ready taken  notice  of,  he  consecrated  the  area  where  his 
houiie  in  Rome  stood,  to  the  perpetual  service  of  religion, 
and  erected  a  temple  upon  it  to  the  goddess  Liberty.  Dfc 
o/Ck. 


Book  I.  of  CICERO.  8f 

your  circumstances  already  are,  you  should  en- 
gage yourself  in  a  share  of  those  expences  which 
are  incurred  upon  my  account.     Be  assured,  if 
ever  I  should  return  to  Rome,  I  shall  easily  re- 
cover my  estate  :  but  should  fortune  continue 
to  persecute  me,  will  you,  thou  dear  unhappy 
woman,  will  you  fondly  throw  away  in  gaining 
friends  to  a  desperate  cause,  the  last  scanty  re- 
mains of  your  broken  fortunes  !  I  conjure  you 
then,  my  dearest  Terentia,  not  to  involve  your- 
self in  any  charges  of  that  kind :  let  them  be 
borne  by  those  whv  ►  are  able,  if  they  are  willing, 
to  support  the  weight.    In  a  word,  if  you  have 
,  any  affection  for  me,  let  not  your  anxiety  upon 
my  account  injure  your  health  :  which,  alas  !  is 
already  but  too  much  impaired.     Believe  me, 
you  are  the  perpetual  subject  of  my  waking  and 
sleeping  thoughts  :  and  as  I  know  the  assiduity 
you  exert  in  my  behalf,  I  have  a  thousand  feai-s 
lest'  your  strength  should  not  be  equal  to  so 
continued  a  fatigue.  I  am  sensible,  at  the  same 
time,  that  my  affairs  depend  entirely  upon  your 
assistance :  and  therefore  that  they  may  be  at- 
tended with  the  success  you  hope  and  so  zea- 
lously endeavour  to  obtain,  let  me  earnestly  en- 
treat you  to  take  care  of  your  health. 

I  know  not  whom  to  write  to,  unless  to  those 

who  first  write  to  me,  or  whom  you  particularly 

mention  in  your  letters.    As  you  and  Tullia  are 

Vol.  L  D  of 


34 


The  letters 


Book  I. 


I 


of  opinion  that  I  should  not  retreat  farther  from 
Italy,  I  have  laid  aside  that  design.  Let  me 
hear  from  you  both  as  often  as  possible,  parti- 
cularly if  there  should  be  any  fairer  prospect 
of  my  return.  Farewel,  ye  dearest  objects  of 
my  most  tender  affection,  Farewel ! 

Thessalonica'^,  Oct.  the  5th. 

LETTER  VIIL 

[A.U.695.] 

To  Terentia,  to  my  dearest  TuL  LI  A,  and 

to  my  Son. 

I  LEARN,  by  the  letters  of  several  of  my  friends, 
as  well  as  from  general  report,  that  you  dis- 
cover the  greatest  fortitude  of  mind,  and  that 
you  solicit  my  aifairs  with  unwearied  applica- 
tion. Oh,  my  Terentia,  how  truly  wretched  am 
I,  to  be  the  occasion  of  such  severe  misfortunes 
to  so  faithful,  so  generous,  and  so  excellent  a 
woman !  And  my  dearest  TuUia  too ! — That  she 
who  was  once  so  happy  in  her  father,  should 
now  derive  from  him  such  bitter  sorrows  !  But 
how  shall  I  express  the  anguish  I  feel  for  my 
little  boy  !  who  became  acquainted  with  grief 
as  soon  as  he  Was  capable  of  any  reflection^. 
Had  these  afflictioi[is  happened,  as  you  tenderly 
represent  them,  by  an  unavoidable  fate,  they 

would 

^  A  city  in  Macedonia,  now  called  SdonichL 
^  Cicero^  son  was  at  this  tinoie  about  eight  years  of  a^e^ 
Manvt, 


Book  L 


OF  CICERO. 


5i 


would  have  sat  less  heavy  on  my  heart.  But 
they  are  altogether  owing  to  my  own  folly  iu 
imagining  I  was  loved  where  I  was  secretly  en- 
vied^  and  in  not  joining  with  those  who  were 
Sincerely  desirous  of  my  friendship'.  Had  I 
been  governed,  indeed,  by  my  own  sentiments, 
without  relying  so  much  on  those  of  my  weak 
or  wicked  advisers,  we  might  still,  my  Teren- 
tia,  have  been  happy'.     However,   since  my 

friends 

'  The  persons  to  whom  he  alludes  are,  Hortensius,  Arrius, 
and  others  of  that  party,  who  (if  we  may  believe  Cicero's 
complaints  to  Atticus)  took  advantage  of  his  fears,  and  ad- 
vised him  to  withdraw  from  Rome  on  purpose  to  ruin  him. 
But  persons  under  misfortunes  are  apt  to  be  suspicious,  and 
are  frequently  therefore  unjust :  as  Cicero  seems  to  have  been 
with  respect  to  Hortensius  at  least,  who  does  not  appear  to 
have  merited  his  reproaches.  Ad  Att,  iii.  g,  14.  Ad  Q,  iV 
i.  3.     See  Mongaulfs  remarks,  vol.  ii.  p.  44. 

^  Caesar  and  Crassus  frequently  solicited  Cicero  to  unite 
himself  to  their  party,  promising  to  protect  him  from  the 
outrages  of  Clodius,  provided  he  would  fall  in  with  their 
measures.     Life  ofCic.  i.  288.  315.     Hvo.  Ed. 

■  Cicero  is  perpetually  reproaching  himself  in  these  let- 
ters to  Terentia,  and  in  those  which  he  wrote  at  the  same  time 
to  Atticus,  for  not  having  taken  up  arms  and  resolutely  with* 
stood  the  violences  of  Clodius.  He  afterwards,  however,  in 
several  of  his  speeches,  made  a  merit  of  what  he  here  so 
stronglj  condemns,  and  particularly  in  that  for  Sextius,  he 
appeals  to  Heaven,  in  the  most  solemn  manner,  that  he  sub- 
mitted to  a  voluntary  exile  in  order  to  spare  the  blood  of  his 
fellow-ciiiEens,  and  preserve  the  public  tranquillity.  TV,  te^ 
f  atria,  testor,  (says  he)  et  vos  penates  patriique  Dii,  me  vci- 
trarum  sedttm  iempiorumgne  causa,  me  propter  salvtem  meortnA 
civium,  qtiw  mihi  semper fuit  mea  carior  vita,  dimicationem  c^-* 
demquejugisse.  But  Cicero's  veracity,  in  this  solemn  assever- 
aiioq,  seems  liable  to  be  justly  questioned.  It  is  certain  that 
he  once  entertained  a  design  ot  taking  up  arms  in  his  own  de- 
fence:  and  the  single  motive  that  appears  to  have  determined 
him  in  the  change  of  this  resolution  was,  his  finding  himself 

D  2  most 


I 


36 


Th£  letters 


Book  I. 


Book  T. 


OF  CICERO. 


37 


'/ 


friends  encourage  me  to  hope,  I  will  endeavour 
to  restrain  my  grief,  lest  the  effect  it  may  have 

upon 

most  perfidiously  deserted  by  Pompey,  Si — quisquam  fuisset 
(says  he,  m  a  letter  to  Atticus)  qui  me  Pompeii  minus  liberali 
tesponso  perterritum,  a  turpissimo  consilio  revocaret ; — aut 
occubuissem  honeste.,  aut  tictores  hodie  viveremus,  iii.  15.  Dion 
Cassius  asserts,  that  Cicero,  notwithstanding  this  unexpected 
desertion  of  Pompey,  was  preparing  to  put  himself  in  a  pos- 
ture of  defence  ;  but  that  Cato  and  Hortensius  would  not 
suffer  him  to  execute  his  purpose :  awtj^sigojas  ptev  ozjXac 
•^fltffGfltj,  xflyXi/Sfir  Je  vzjo  rs  t«  Karovof  xa<  nt  0§T»}(T4tf 
&c.  Lib.  38.  Perhaps  this  author  may  be  mistaken  as  to 
his  having  actually  made  any  formal  preparations  of  this 
kind  :  but  that  he  had  it  in  his  intentions  seems  clear  beyond 
all  reasonable  contradiction.  The  French  historian  of  our 
author's  banishment  has  relied,  therefore,  toojmuch  upon 
Cicero's  pompous  professions  after  his  return,  when  he  main- 
tains that  nothing  could  be  farther  from  his  thoughts  than 
a  serious  opposition.  Hist,  it  Vexil  de  Cicer.  p.  148.  The 
contrary  appears  most  evidently  to  have  been  tht  case;  and 
that  the  patriot-motive  which  he  so  often  assigns  in  his  sub- 
sequent orations  for  leaving  his  country,  was  merely  an  after- 
thought, and  the  plausible  colouring  of  artful  eloquence. 
Why  else,  it  may  be  asked,  is  there  not  the  least  hint  of  any 
such  generous  principle  of  his  conduct,  in  all  the  letters  he 
wrote  during  this  period  ?  Why  else  is  he  perpetually  re- 
proaching his  friend:^  for  having  suffered  him  to  take  that 
measure  ?  And  why,  in  a  word,  does  he  call  it,  as  in  the  pas- 
sage above-cited,  turpissimum  consilium^  the  effect  of  a  most 
ignominious  resolution  ?  But  were  it  to  be  admitted  that  a 
regard  to  his  country  determined  him  to  withdraw  from  it ; 
still,  however,  he  could  not,  with  any  degree  of  truth,  boast 
of  his  patriotism  upon  that  occasion  ;  for  the  most  partial  of 
his  advocates  must  acknowledge,  that  he  no  sooner  executed 
this  resolution,  than  he  heartily  repented  of  it.  The  truth 
is,  how  unwilling  soever  he  might  be  to  hazard  the  peace  of 
his  country  in  maintaining  his  post,  he  was  ready  to  renounce 
all  tenderness  of  that  kind  in  recovering  it;  and  he  expressly 
desires  Atticus  to  raise  the  mob  in  bis  favour,  if  there  wete 
any  hopes  of  making  a  successful  push  for  his  restoration  : 
Oro  tt  ut.  It  qua  spes  erit  posse  itudiis  bonorum^  auctoritute^ 
multitudine  coroparata,  rem  conjici^  des  operam  ut  ung  impetu 
werfrtngatur.    Ad  Att.  iii.  23, 


upon  my  health  should  disappoint  your  tender 
efforts  for  my  restoration.  I  am  sensible,  at  the 
same  time,  of  the  many  difficulties  that  must  be 
conquered  ere  that  point  can  be  effected :  and 
that  it  would  have  been  much  easier  to  have 
maintained  my  post,  than  it  is  to  recover  it. 
Nevertheless,  if  all  the  tribunes  are  in  my  in-- 
terest ;  if  Lentulus  is  really  as  zealous  in  my 
cause  as  he  appears;  and  if  Pompey  and  Gsesar 
likewise  concur  with  him  in  the  same  views,  I 
ought  not,  most  certainly,  to  despair. 

With  regard  to  our  slaves,  I  am  willing  to 
act  as  our  friends,  you  tell  me,  advise*  As  to 
your  concern  in  respect  to  the  plague  which 
broke  out  here,  it  is  entirely  ceased :  and  I  had 
the  good  fortune  to  escape  all  infection.  '  How- 
ever, it  was  my  desire  to  have  changed  my  pre- 
sent situation  for  some  more  retired  place  in  Epi- 
rus,  where  I  might  be  secure  from  Pisoand  his 
soldiers*.  But  the  obliging  Planqius  was  un- 
willing 

*  Lucius  Calphurnius  Piso,  who  was  consul  thfs  year  with 
Gabinius :  They  were  both  the  professed  enemies  of  Gicero^ 
and  supported  Clodius  in  his  violent  measures.  The  pro- 
vince of  Macedonia  had  fallen  to  the  former,  and  be  was 
now  preparing  to  set  out  for  his  government,  where  his  troops 
were  daily  arriving.  Cicero  has  delineated  the  characters 
at  large  of  these  consuls  in  several  of  his  orations ;  but  be 
has,  in  two  words,  given  the  most  odious  picture  of  them 
that  exasperated  eloquence,  perhaps,  ever  drew,  where  he 
^alls  them  duo  reipublicot  portenta  ac  pmefunera  :  an  expres- 
sion for  which  modern  language  can  furnish  no  equivalent. 
Ve  prov.  consul.  See  remark  21.  p.  174.  of  this  vol.  and  re^ 
Wark  2.  p.  102.  vol.  2. 

P3 


38 


The  letters 


Book  I. 


willing  to  part  with  me ;  and  still  indeed  detains 
me  here  in  the  hope  that  we  may  returu  together 
to  Rome'.  If  ever  I  should  live  to  see  that  happy 
day;  if  ever  I  should  be  restored  to  my  Terentia, 
to  my  children,  and  to  myself,  I  shall  think  all 
the  tender  solicitudes  we  have  suffered,  during 
this  sad  separation,  abundantly  repaid. 

Nothing  can  exceed  the  affection  and  huma- 
nity of  Piso's*  behaviour  towards  every  one  of 
us :  and  I  wish  he  may  receive  from  it  as  much 
satisfaction,  as,  1  am  persuaded,  he  will  honour. 
—I  was  far  from  intending  to  blame  you  with 
respect  to  my  brother :  but  it  is  much  my  de-^ 
sire,  especially  as  there  are  so  few  of  you,  that 
you  should  live  together  in  the  most  perfect 
harmony. — I  have  made  my  acknowledgments 
where  you  desired,  and  acquainted  the  persons 
you  mention,  that  you  had  informed  me  of  their 
Iprvices. 

As  to  the  estate  you  propose  to  sell;  alas  !  my 
dear  Terentia,  think  well  of  the  consequence  : 
think  what  would  become  of  our  unhappy  boy, 
should  fortune  still  continue  to  persecute  \is. 
But  my  eyes  stream  too  fast  to  suffer  me  to  add 
more :  nor  would  I  draw  the  same  tender  flQp4 

"^  from 

^  Plancius  was,  at  this  time,  Quawtor  in  Macedonia,  and 
distinguished  himself  by  many  generous  offices  to  Cicero  ii\ 
his  exile.  Pro  Plane,  passim.  See  remark  1.  on  letter  2» 
B.  viii.  . 

♦  Cicero's  son-in-law. 


Book  I. 


OF  CICERO. 


from  yours.  I  will  only  say,  that  if  my  friends 
should  not  desert  me,  I  shall  be  in  no  distress 
for  money  :  and  if  they  should,  the  money  you 
can  raise  by  the  sale  of  this  estate  will  little  avail. 
I  conjure  you  then,  by  all  our  misfortunes,  let 
us  not  absolutely  ruin  our  poor  boy,  who  is 
well-nigh  totally  undone  already.  If  we  can 
but  raise  him  above  indigence,  a  moderate  share 
of  good  fortune  and  merit  will  be  sufficient  to 
open  his  way  to  whatever  else  we  can  wish  him 
to  obtain.  Take  care  of  your  health,  and  let 
me  know  by  an  express  how  your  negotiatioM 
proceed,  and  how  affairs  in  general  stand.— My 
fate  must  now  be  soon  determined.  I  tenderly 
salute  my  son  and  daughter,  and  bid  you  aU 
farewel. 

Dyrrachium^y 
November.  26. 

P.  S.  I  came  hither,  not  only  as  it  is  a  free 
city*  and  much  in  my  interest,  but  as  it  is 'si- 
tuated, likewise,  near  Italy^.  But  if  I  should 
find  any  inconvenience  from  its  being  a  town 
of  such  great  resort,  I  shall  remove  elsewhere, 
and  give  you  due  notice.  LETTER 

'A  city  in  Macedonia,  now  called  Durazzo,  in  the  Turkish 
dominions.  This  letter,  though  dated  from  Dyrrachiumy  ap- 
pears to  have  been  wholly  written,  except  the  postscript,  at 
Thessalofiica. 

*  That  is  a  city  which  had  the  privilege,  though  in  the  do- 
minions of  the  Roman  republic,  to  be  governed  by  its  own 
laws. 

^  Besides  the  reasons  here  mentioned,  there  was  another 
^nd  much  stronger,  which  induced  Cicero  to  leave  Thessalo- 

D  4  nica : 


40 


The  letters 


Book  I. 


LETTER  IX. 

[A.  U.  695.] 

To  Terentia. 

1  RECEIVED  three  letters  from  you  by  the 
hands  of  Aristocritus,  and  have  wept  over  them 
till  they  are  almost  defaced  with  my  tears.  Ah  ! 
my  Terentia,  I  am  worn  out  with  grief:  nor  do 
my  own  personal  misfortunes  more  severely  tor- 
ture my  mind,  than  those  with  which  you  and 
my  children  are  oppressed.  Unhappy  indeed, 
as  you  are,  I  am  still  infinitely  more  so ;  as 
our  common  afflictions  are  attended  with  this 
aggravating  circumstance  to  myself,  that  they 
are  justly  to  be  imputed  to  my  imprudence 
alone.  I  ought,  most  undoubtedly,  either  to 
have  avoided  the  danger  by  accepting  the  com- 
mission^  which  was  offered  me ;  or  to  have  re- 
pelled force  by  force,  or  bravely  to  have  pe- 
rished in  the  attempt.  Whereas  nothing  could 
have  been  more  unworthy  of  my  character,  or 
more  pregnant  with  misery,  than  the  scheme  I 

have 

liica:  for  he  had  received  intelligence  that  Piso's  troops  were 
•pproachmg  towards  that  city.     Jd  Att.  lii.  22. 

^  Ami  answered  Cesar's  purposes  either  to  gam  Cicero^ or 
to  rum  him,  he  anfuily  laid  his  measures  for  both.  Andac. 
cordingly,  dt»er  having  instigated  Clodius  to  pursue  Cicero,  he 
offered  to  lake  hnn  into  Gaul  in  the  quality  of  his  lieutenant, 
as  a  means  ol  protecting  htm  from  that  vengeance  he  had  se- 
cretly inflamed.  But  Cicero  being  more  disposed  to  try  his 
strength  w,th  his  adversary,  imprudently  declined  the  pro- 
posal.    i;w,  xxxvii.     AdAtt.\\.\%.\^,  , 


Book  L 


OF  CICERO. 


4! 


have  pursued'.     I  am  overwhelmed,  therefore, 
not  only  with  sorrow,   but  with  shame :  yes, 
my  Terentia,  I  blush  to  reflect  that  I  did  not 
exert  that  spirit  I  ought  for  the  sake  of  so  ex- 
cellent a  wife  and  such  amiable  children.    The 
distress  in  which  you  are  all  equally  involved^ 
and  your  own  ill  state  of  health  in  particu- 
lar, are  ever  in  my  thoughts ;  as  I  have  the 
mortification,  at  the  same  time,   to  observe, 
that  there  appear  but  slender  hopes  of  my 
being  recalled.     My  enemies  are  many;  while 
those  who  are  jealous  of  me  are  almost  innu- 
merable: and  though  they  found  great  dif- 
ficulty in  driving  me  from  my  country,  it  wiU 
be  extremely  easy  for  them  to  prevent  my 
return.     However,  as  long  as  you  have  any 
hopes  that  my  restoration  may  be  effected,  I 
will  not  x^ease  to  co-operate  with  your  endea- 
vours for  that  purpose ;  lest  my  weakness  should 
seem,  upon  all  occasions,   to  frustrate  every 
measure  in  my  favour.    In  the  mean  while,  my 
person  (for  which  you  are  so  tenderly  concern- 
ed) is  secure  from  all  danger:  as,  in  truth,  lam 
so  completely  wretched,  that  even  my  enemies 
themselves  must  wish,  in  mere  malice,  to  pre- 
serve my  life.     Nevertheless,  I  shall  not  fail  to 
observe  the  caution  you  kindly  give  me. 

I  have 

*  See  remark  X,  on  the  preceding  letter 


The  letters 


Book  L 


I  have  sent  my  acknowledgments  by  Dexip- 
pus  to  the  persons  you  desired  me,  and  men- 
tioned, at  the  same  time,  that  you  had  informed 
me  of  their  good  offices.  I  am  perfectly  sensi- 
ble of  those  which  Piso  exerts  towards  us  with 
so  uncommon  a  zeal :  and,  indeed,  it  is  a  cir- 
cumstance which  all  the  world  speaks  of  to  his 
honour.  Heaven  grant  I  may  live  to  enjoy, 
with  you  and  our  children,  the  common  hap- 
piness of  so  valuable  a  relation^ ! 

The  only  hope  I  have  now  left,  arises  from 
the  new  tribunes ;  and  that,  too,  depends  upon 
the  steps  they  shall  take  in  the  commencement 
of  their  office :  for  if  they  should  postpone  my 
affair,  I  shajl  give  up  all  expectations  of  its  ever 
being  effected.  Accordingly  I  have  dispatched 
Aristocritus,  that  you  may  send  me  immediate 
notice  of  the  first  measures  they  shall  pursue, 
together  with  the  general  plan  upon  which  they 
propose  to  conduct  themselves.  I  have  like- 
wise 

•  He  had  tbe  great  misfortune  to  be  disappointed  of  this 
m^h  :  for  Piso  died  soon  after  this  letter  was  written.  Cu 
cero  mentions  him  io  several  parts  of  his  writings,  with  the 
highest  gratitude  and  esteem.  He  represents  him  as  a 
young  nobleman  of  the  greatest  talents  and  application^ 
who  devoted  his  whole  time  to  the  improvements  of  his 
mind,  and  the  exercise  of  eloquence :  as  one  whose  moral 
qualifications  were  bo  less  extraordinary  tiian  his  intellec** 
tual,  aud,  in  short,  as  possessed  of  every  accomplishment 
and  every  virtue  that  could  endear  him  to  his  friends,  to  his 
family,  and  to  the  public.  Pro  Sext.  31.  De  clar,  orator^ 
271,    Ad  QuiriteSf  iiu 


Book  L 


OF  CICERO. 


'^i9 


-wise  ordered  Dexippus  to  return  to  me  with  aH 
expedition,  and  have  written  to  my  brother  to 
request  he  would  give  me  frequent  information 
in  what  manner  affairs  proceed.  It  is  with  a 
view  of  receiving  the  earliest  intelligence  from 
Rome,  that  I  continue  at  Dyrrachium :  a  place 
where  I  can  remain  in  perfect  security,  as  I  have^ 
upon  all  occasions,  distinguised  this  city  by  my 
particular  patronage.  However,  as  soon  as  I  shall 
receive  intimation  that  my  enemies'are  approach- 
ing, it  is  my  resolution  to  retire  into  Epirus. 

In  answer  to  your  tender  proposal  of  accom- 
panying me  in  my  exile,  I  rather  choose  you 
should  continue  in  Rome ;  as  I  am  sensible  it 
is  upon  you  that  the  principal  burthen  of  my 
afK^irs  must  rest.  If  your  generous  negotiations 
should  succeed ;  my  return  will  prevent  the 
necessity  of  that  journey :  if  otherwise  But 
I  need  not  add  the  rest.  The  next  letter  I  shall 
receive  from  you,  or  at  most  the  subsequent 
one,  will  determine  me  in  what  manner  to  act. 
In  the  mean  time,  I  desire  you  would  give  me 
^  full  and  faithful  information  how  things  go 
on :  though,  indeed,  I  have  now  more  reason 
to  expect  the  final  result  of  this  affair,  than  au 
account  of  its  progress. 

Take 


*  The  troops  of  Piso.     See  remark  2.  on  the  fornoci 
letter. 


44 


The  letters 


Book  L 


Take  care  of  your  health  I  conjure  you  ;  as- 
suring yourself,  that  you  are,  as  you  ever  have 
been,  the  object  of  my  fondest  wishes.  Fare- 
wel,  my  dear  Terentia  !  I  see  you  so  strongly 
before  me  whilst  I  am  writing,  that  I  am  utterly 
spent  with  the  tears  I  have  shed.     Once  more, 

farewel\ 

•     LETTER 

Dyrrachium, 
Nov.  the  30lh. 

*  '*  This  great  man,  who  had  been  the  saviour  of  bis 
**  coinitry,  who  had  feared,  in  the  support  of  tbat  cause,  nei- 
"  iher  the  insults  of  a  desperate  party,  nor  the  da^ers  of  as- 
**  sassins ;  when  he  came  to  suffer  for  the  same  cause,  sunk 
•*  under  the  weight.     He  dishonoured  that  banishment  which 
"  indulgent  Providence  meant  to  be  the  means  of  rendering 
**  his  glory  complete.     Uncertain  where  h«  should  go,  or 
**  what  he  should  do,  fearful  as  a  woman,  and  froward  as  a 
"  cbi^d,  he  lamented  the  loss  of  his  rank,  of  his  riches,  and 
**  of  his  splendid  pcipulariry.     His  eloquence  served  only  to 
"  paint  bis  misery  in  btronger  colours.     He  wept  over  th^ 
ruins  of  bis  fine  house,  which   Clodius   had   demolished  ; 
and  his  separation  from  Terentia,  whom  he  repudiated  not 
long  afterwards,  was,  perhaps,  an  affliction  to  him  at  this 
•*  time.     Every  thing  becomes  intolerable  to   the  man  who 
"  is  once  subdued  by  grief.     He  regrets  what  he   took   no 
'*  pleasure  in  enjoying,  and,  overloaded  already,  he  shrinks 
**  at  the  weight  of  a  feather.     Cicero's  behaviour,  in  short, 
**  was  such,  that  his  friends,  as  well  as  his  enemies,  believed 
**  him  to  have  lost  his  senses.     Caesar  beheld,  with  a  secret 
**  satisfaction.,  the  man,  who  had  refused  to  be  his  lieutenant, 
**  weeping  under  the  rod  of  Clodius.    Pompey  hoped  to  find 
**  some  excuse  for  his  own  ingratitude  in  the  contempt  which 
**  the  friend,  whom   he  had  abandoned,  exposed  himself  to. 
**  Nay,  Atiicus  judged  him  too  nearly  attached  to  his  for- 
mer fortune,  and  reproached   him   for  it.     Atticus,  even 
Atticus  blushed   for  Tully,  and    the  most  plausible  man 
alive  assumed  the  style  of  Cdto."     Boling.  Kefiect.  on  Ex- 


ti 


ii 


« 


<( 


it 


Ci 


Book  L 


OF  CICEHO. 


U 


LETTER  X. 

[a.  U.  ^96.] 

To  QuiNTus  Metellus  Nepos,  the 

Consul. 

1  HE  letters  I  received  both  from  my  brother 
and  my  friend  Atticus  strongly  encouraged 
me  to  hope,  that  you  were  not  less  disposed 
than  your  colleague  to  favour  my  recal.  In 
consequence  of  this  persuasion,  I  immediately 
wrote  to  you  in  terms  suitable  to  my  present 
unfortunate  circumstances :  acknowledging  my 
grateful  sense  of  your  generous  intentions,  and 
entreating  your  future  assistance.  But  I  after- 
wards learned,  not  indeed  so  much  by  any  hint 
of  this  kind  from  my  friends,  as  from  the  re- 
port of  those  who  passed  this  way,  that  you  did 
not  continue  in  the  same  favourable  senti- 
ments^ :  for  which  reason  I  would  not  venture 
to  importune  you  any  farther.  My  brother, 
however,  having  transmitted  me  a  copy  of  the 

speech 

*  This  is  the  same  person,  who,  when  he  was  tribune, 
gave  occasion,  by  his  ill-tieHtment  of  Cicero,  to  the  second 
and  third  letters  of  this  book.  He  was  now  consul  with  Pub- 
lius  Cornelius  Leniulus. 

^  Whilst  the  friends  of  Cicero  were  exerting  their  endea- 
vours to  procure  his  restoration,  Clodius  was  opposing  their 
designs  by  every  method  of  artifice  aiid  violence  :  in°which 
he  wai  protected  by  iMeiellu?,  notwiihsiandiug  he  had  given 
intimations  of  a  disposition  to  favour  Cicero's  lutere&t.  Lif^ 
o/Cic.i.  408.810.  Edit. 


46 


The  letters 


Book  I. 


speech  you  lately  made  in  the  senate,  I  found 
it  animated  with  such  a  spirit  of  candour  and 
moderation,  that  I  was  induced  to  write  to  you 
once  more.  Let  me  earnestly  request  you  then 
to  consider  rather  the  interests  than  the  pas- 
sions of  your  family*,  lest,  by  falling  in  with  their 
unjust  and  cmel  opposition  to  me,  you  should 
open  a  way  by  which  they  themselves  may  be 
oppressed  in  their  turn.  Is  it  possible,  indeed, 
that  you,  who  gained  such  a  glorious  conquest 
over  yourself,  as  to  sacrifice  your  own  private 
enmities^  to  the  welfare  of  the  republic,  should 
be  prevailed  upon  to  add  strength  to  a  resent- 
ment in  others  which  evidently  tends  to  its  de- 
struction ?  If  ypu  think  proper  then  to  afford 
me  your  assistance  in  this  conjuncture,  you 
may,  upon  all  occasions,  depend  on  my  utmost 
services  in  return.  On  the  other  hand,  should 
that  lawless  violence,  which  has.  wounded  the 
commonwealth  through  my  side,  be  suffered 

still 


♦  Clodius  was  cousin  to  Metellus.  Post  red,  in  sen,  10. 

'  The  first  step  that  Lentulus  took  when  he  entered  upon 
the  administration  of  his  office,  was  to  move  the  senate 
that  Cicero  might  be  recalled.  Upon  which  occasion,  his 
colleague  Metellus  made  the  concession  to  which  Cicero 
seems  here  to  allude  ;  declaring  that  he  was  willing  to  sacri- 
fice his  private  resentment  against  Cicero,  to  the  general  in- 
clinations of  the  senate  and  the  people.  Nevertheless,  he  still 
continued  to  support  Clodios,  as  has  been  already  observed 
in  the  note  above.  Pro  Sext.  32.  post  red.  in  sen,  iv.  See' 
r«maik  26.  oa  letter  17.  p.  17 B.  13.  ii. 


Book  I. 


01*  CICERO. 


47 


still  to  prevail,  it  imports  you  to  reflect,  whe- 
ther, if  you  should  hereafter  be  inclined  to  re-^ 
cal  the  opportunity  of  preserving  our  general 
,  liberties,  you  will  not  have  the  misfortune  of 
finding  it  much  too  late^     Farewel. 


I  i  » 


LETTER  XL 

[A.U.  696.] 

To  Fabius  Gallus*. 

I  HAVE  been  attacked  with  a  disorder  in  my 
bowels,  which  continued  with  great  violence 
during  ten  days :  but  as  it  was  not  attended 
with  a  fever,  I  could  not  persuade  those  who 

had 

^  Notwithstanding  that  Pompey,  Cajsar,  and  indeed  all 
the  principal  persons  of  the  republic  now  concurred  in  fa- 
vouring Cicero's  return,  yet  the  practices  of  Clodius  pre- 
vented  a  decree  for  that  purpose,  till  the  first  of  June. 
Nor  was  it  till  the  4ih  of  August  following,  that  this  de- 
cree passed  into  a  general  law :  in  consequence  of  which, 
Cicero  soon  afterwards  made  his  triumphant  entry  into 
Rome.  Metellus  joined  in  procuring  this  decree:  a  change 
of  sentiments  which  Cicero  imputed  to  a  most  pathetic 
speech  which  Servilius  Isauricus  delivered  in  the  senate  upoa 
this  occasion,  and  which  so  softened  Metellus,  it  seems,  that 
he  melted  into  tears.  But  the  true  cause  is  more  probably 
to  be  ascribed  to  the  influence  of  Caesar  and  Pompey :  who, 
in  order  to  mortify  Clodius,  whose  power  now  begdn  to  b* 
troublesome  to  them,  thought  it  convenient,  for  their  pur- 
poses, that  Cicero  should  be  restored.  Pro  Sext,  31.  62.' 
ActQidr.  7, 

*  Gallus  is  only  known  by  three  or  four  letters  which 
Cicero  has  addressed  to  him  :  from  which,  however,  nothing 
particular  can  be  collected  concerning  his  history  or  cha- 
racter. 


48 


The  LSTTERS 


Book  L 


Book  I. 


OF  CICERO. 


had  occasion  for  my  services,  that  I  was  really 
indisposed.  In  order,  therefore,  to  avoid  their 
importunities,  I  retired  to  Tusculanum ;  having 
observed  so  strict  an  abstinence  for  two  days 
before,  as  not  to  have  tasted  even  a  drop  of 
water.  Reduced  then  as  I  am  by  my  illness 
and  my  fasting,  I  had  more  reason  to  hope  for 
a  visit  from  you,  than  to  imagine  you  expected 
one  from  me. 

Distempers  of  every  kind  I  greatly  dread,  but 
particularly  of  that  sort  for  which  the  Stoiqs 
have  censured  your  favourite  Epicurus,  M'here 
he  complains*"  of  being  violently  afflicted  with 
the  dysentery  and  the  strangury ;  as  the  for- 
mer, they  assert,  is  the  consequence  of  t^ble 
indigencies,  and  the  latter  of  a  more  shame- 
ful intemperance.  I  had,  indeed,  great  reason 
to  apprehend  a  dysentery  :  but  whether  it  be 
from  change  of  air,  or  a  relaxjation  from  busi- 
ness,  or  that  the  distemper  had  almost  spent  it- 
self, I  know  not ;  but  I  am  somewhat  better 
since  I  came  hither.  You  will  wonder,  perhaps, 
w^hat  excesses  I  have  been  guilty  of,  to  bring 
upon  myself  this  disorder.  I  must  inform 
you  then,  that  I  owe  it  to  the  frugal  regula- 
tions 

^  In  a  letter  which  he  wrote  during  bis  last  sickness :  a 
translation  of  which  is  given  us  by  Cicero,  in  his  treatise. 
De  finibus,  ii.  31. 


tions  of  the  sumptuary  law^     The  products  of 
the  earth  being  excepted  out  of  the  restrictions 
of  that  act;  our  elegant  eaters,  in  order  to 
bring  vegetables  into  fashion,  have  found  out 
a  method  of  dressing  them  in  so  high  a  taste, 
that  nothing  can  be  more  palatable.     It  was 
immediately  after  having  eaten  very  freely  of  a 
dish  of  this  sort,  at  the  inauguration  feast  of 
Lentulus*^,  that  I  was  seized  with  a  diarrhoea, 
which  has  never  ceased  till  this  day.    Thu^you 
see,  that  I,  who  have  withstood  all  the  tempta- 
tions that  the  noblest  lampreys   and  oysters 
could  throw  in  my  w^ay,  have  at  last  been  over- 
powered by  paltry  beets  and  mallows:  but  it  has 
taught  me,  however,  to  be  more  cautious  for  the 
future.    As  Anicius  found  me  in  one  of  my  sick 
fits,  you  must  undoubtedly  have  heard  of  n)y 
iUness ;  I  was  in  hopes,  therefore,  you  would  not 
have  contented  yourself  with  inquiring  after  my 
welfare,  but  would  have  given  me  the  satis- 

faction 

«  Manutius  cojijectures,  that  the  law  alluded  to  is  one 
which  IS  ascribed  by  Aulus  GeUius  to  Marcus  Lucinius  Cras. 
«us,  and  which  passed  in  the  year  of  Rome  64^  By  thi| 
iiiw  the  expences  ot  the  table  were  regulated  both  in  regard 
to  ordinary  and  extraordinary  occasions,,  with  the  express 
exception  mentioned  by  Cicero  in  the  next  sentence,  con- 
cerning the  article  of  vegetables.     Vid,  Aui.  GelL  ii.  24^ 

He  was  son  ofi^ublius  Cornelius  Lentulus,  one  of  the 
consuls  of  the  present  year,  to  whom  the  next  letter  and 
several  of  the  following  ones  in  this  and  the  subsequent  bo(»k, 
are  written.  He  gave  this  entertainment  on  occasion  of  his 
being  chosen  a  member  of  the  college  of  augurs.     Ma|l^t. 

Vol.  I,  {: 


50 


The  letters 


Book  I. 


SopK  L 


OF  CICERO. 


51 


faction  of  a  risit.  I  purpose  to  continue  licrc, 
till  I  shall  have  i-c-established  my  health :  for  I 
am  extremely  weakened  and  emaciated.  Bnt 
if  I  can  once  get  the  better  of  my  disorder,  I 
hope  I  shall  find  no  difficulty  in  recovering  all 
the  rest.     Farewel. 

LETTER  XIL 

[A.  U.  697.] 

To  PuBLius  Lentulus,  Proconsu!*. 

I  FIND  it  much  easier  to  satisfjf^  the  world 
than  myself,  in  those  sacred  offices  of  friend- 
ship I  ex/crt  in  your  behalf.     Numberless,  in- 
deed, 

'  Publius  Lentulus  was  consul  together  with  Quintus 
Metellub  Nepos,  A.  U.  696,  the  year  betore  this  letter  was 
written.  Durmg  his  administration  of  tliat  office,  he  distin- 
guished binv.ell  by  his  zeal  in  promi)tinj»  Cicero's  recal  tronv 
banishment;  which,  after  many  difficulties  thrown  in  the 
way  by  Clodius,  he  at  length  effected.  At  the  expiration 
of  bia  <r  uWlaie,  be  succeeded  to  the  government  of  Cilicia^ 
one  of  "he  most  considerable  provinces  in  Asia  minor,  now 
Cuk^d  Carmania;  and  the  following  correspondence  was 
carried  on  with  him  whilst  he  continued  m  that  province. 
C«^a^  had,  upon  many  important  occasions,  given  him  very 
signal  lni^tdnces  of  his  friend>hip,  particularly  m  gaming  him 
mn  enlrai>ce  into  the  pontidcial  college ;  in  procuring  him 
the  province  of  low^r  Spain,  alter  he  had  passed  through  the 
«Ace  of  praetor ;  and  by  assisting  him  iii  obtaining  the  con*- 
sul^hip.  Yet  ihes*  obl!gatit»ns  were  "not  so  powerful  in  the 
senHtnenis  of  Lemulu>,  as  to  superse<!e  those  more  impor- 
tant ones  which  he  oweti  to  his  country.  Accordingly  he 
opposed  the  ilhgal  and  dangerous  demands  of  Caesar,  with 
great  warmth  and  indignation  in  the  uenate  ;  and,  upon  the 
breaking  out  of  the  civil  war,  joined  himself  wiih  P^mpey. 
He  steadily  persevered  ia  following  the  cause  ami  the  fortune  of 

that 


deed,  are  the  obligations  you  have  conferred 
upon  me,  and  as  you  persevered  with  un\yearied 
zeal,  till  you  had  effiscted  my  recal  from  exile, 
I  esteem  it  the  greatest  mortification  of  my 
life,  that  I  cannot  act  in  your  affiairs  with  th« 
same  success.  The  truth  is,  Ammonius,  who 
resides  here  as  ambassador  from  Ptolemy*,  de- 
feats 

that  unhappy  chief,  notwithstanding  Caesar  generously  gave 
him  his  life  and  his  liberty,  when  he  fell  into  his  hands  upon 
the  surrender  of  Corfinium.  For  it  appears,  by  a  letter  in 
this  collection,  that  he  was  afterwards  at  the  battle  of  Phar- 
saha,  from  whence  he  fled  with  Poropey  to  Rhodes,  and 
this  is  the  farthest  we  can  trace  him.  He  is  mentioned  by 
Cicero  among  the  celebrated  orators  of  his  age  ;  though  hi» 
merit  of  this  kind  was,  it  seems,  more  owing  to  his  acquir- 
ed, than  his  natural  talents.  CtBS,  B.  C.  i.  Plut.  in  Cces,  Cvq, 
Ep.  Fam.  xii.  14.     Ck.  de  opt,  gen,  die. 

*  King  of  Egypt,  and  father  of  the  celebrated  Cleopatra. 
He  was  surnaraed  /iuletes,  in  allusion  to  his  skill  in  playing 
upon  41  certain  musical  instrument  called  by  the  Greek*^ 
Aulos,     The  title  of  this  prince  to    his  throne  being  pre- 
carious, he  found  means,  by  the  interest  of  Caesar  and  Pom- 
pey,  to  be  declared  an  ally  of  the  Roman  republic,  about 
two  years  before  the  date  of  this  letter,  for  which  piece  of 
service  they  were  to  receive  no  less  a  reward  than  one  mil- 
lion one  hundred  sixty-two  thousand   live  hundred  pounds. 
The  heavy  taxes  Ptolemy  was  obliged  to  impose  in  order  to 
raise  this  immense  tribute,  together  with  other  ac^s  of  tyran- 
ny and  oppression,  occasioned  such   a  general  discontent 
among  his  people,  that  they   took  up  arms  and  drove  him 
QUt  of  Egypt.     In  this  exigency  he  had  recourse  to  the   re- 
public, in  virtue  of  the  alliance  just  mentioned.     His  sub- 
jects  likewise  sent  an  embassy  to  Rome,  composed  of  an 
hundred  of  their  principal  citizens,  to  plead  their  causae  be- 
fore the  senate  ;   but  Ptolemy  having  notice  of  this  depuia-. 
tion,  procured  part  of  th^m  to  be  assassinated  on  their  way 
thither  ;  others  as  soon  as  they  arrived  ;  and  the  rest  he  si- 
leuced  by  proper  applications  to   their  fears  and  their  ava- 
rice.    This,  together  with  his  immense  and  open  profusions 


E2 


ampDo 


5? 


The  letters 


BodK  I. 


fea^s  all  my  scheires  by  the  most  shameless  and 
avoAed  bril>ery,  and  he  is  supplied  with  money 
for  this  puFpose,  from  the  same  quarter  as  when 
you  were  in  Rome.  The  party  in  the  king  s  in- 
terest, (tho'  their  number,  it  must  be  owned, 
is  inconsiderable)  are  all  desirous  that  Pompey 
may  be  employed  to  re-instate  him  in  his  do- 
minions. The  senate,  on  the  other  hand,  fall 
in  with  the  pretended  oracle' ;  not,  indeed,  a,s 

giving. 

among  the  venal  part  of  the  republic,  rendered  him  gene- 
rally d  tested  at  Home;  insomuch,  that  notwithstanding  he 
vas  z  -al  u-ly  ^upp^rted  by  Pompey,  who  actually  obtained 
ft  decree  in  his  favour,  yet  the  opposition  was  so  strong,  that 
the  senate,  afier  various  debates,  thought  proper  to  let  the 
affw^r  wholly  drop.  His  last  resource,  therefore,  was  to  apply 
Jiimsell  to  Gabinius,  proconsul  of  Syria.  Accordingly, 
G-ibinius  upon  the  promise  of  10,000  talents,  and  at 
th#  recommendation  of  Pompey,  boldly  undertook,  and 
cftct«d  his  restoration  without  beuig  authorise(i  by  any  legal 
cominissu)n  f  >r  that  purpose.  Dio.  xxxix.  Tat.  Epit,  105. 
Cic.  Ot^t.  in  [*ison.      Sec  remark  7-  p.  .06\  of  this  vol. 

^  Caius  Cato,  a  relation  of  the  celebrated  M.  Portius 
Cato,  who  killed  himself  at  VUica,  was  in  the  number  of 
"th')^who  most  strenuously  opposed  the  restoration  ot  Pto- 
lemv.  He  \%a>  a  young  man  of  a  turbulent  and  enterprising 
4irjpositr'»n,  which  he  supported  with  some  degree  of  elo- 
qu«iice.  This,  at  K-ast,  is  the  character  which  Feneslella 
give?  ol  him,  as  that  aiialist  is  cited  by  Nonius  ;  but  if  he 
tvas  never  cn;»Hged  in  an  opposition  less  reasonable  than  the 
present,  history  has  not  d 'nc  him  justice.  Among  other 
expedients  which  he  emplo)ed  to  obstruct  the  designs  of 
tho^e  who  favoured  Ptoh  mv,  he  had  recourse  to  a  prophecy 
which  hf  pretended  to  have  found  in  the  S»bylliue  books, 
and  whicn  c  ntained  a  ^evcre  denanciation  a^ainst  the  slate, 
if  the  Romans  assisted  a  kirg  of  Egypt  with  their  troops  in 
recwvcMag  his  throne.  This  ha4>,  in  some  measure,  its  de- 
sired tfffCt ;  f  r  the  senatv  (which  in  general  was  in  i he  same 
sentimenir,  a^  to  thij^  p  .int,  wiiti  Cato)  voted  it  dangerous  te 
the  i'Kc'ois  of  the  republic,  to  employ  any  force  in  favour 
of  Pioieniy. 


•\ 


Book  I. 


OF  CICERO. 


Si 


giving  any  credit  to  its  predictions,  biit  as  being 
in  general  ill-inclined  to  this  prince^  and  de- 
^estinghis  most  corrupt  practices.  In  the  mean^^ 
while,  I  omit  no  opportunity  of  admonishing 
Pompey  with  great  freedom,  and  conjuring 
him  not  to  act  such  a  part  in  this  affair,  as  would 
cast  the  deepest  stain  upon  his  characters.  I 
must  do  him  the  justice,  at  the  same  time,  to 
^acknowledge^  that,  so  far  as  his  own  conduct 
is  concerned,  there  does  not  appear  the  least 
foundation  for  any  remonstrances  of  this  sort* 
rOn  the  contrary,  he  is  perpetually  expressing 
the  highest  zeal  for  your  interest :  and  he  lately 
supported  it  in  the  senate,  with  the  utmost  force 
of  eloquence^  and  the  strongest  professions  of 
friendship.  Marcellinus^  I  need  not  tell  you, 
is  a  good  deal  displeased  at  your  soliciting  this 


'.fr^r. 


commission; 


••  The  Sibyls  were  certain  supposed  prophetesses,  concern- 
ing whom  there  is  a  great  variety  of  opinions;  historians  be- 
ing by  no  means  agreed  as  to  their  number,  thtiir.  Country, 
or  the  age  in  which  they  lived.  Those  who  are  inclined  to 
read  a  very  ridiculous  story,  may  find  an  account  in  Aulus 
Gellius,  of  the  manner  by  which  the  Romans  are  said  to 
have  possessed  themselves  of  these  oracular  writings.  These 
prophecies  were  carefully  deposited  in  the  Capitol,  and  con- 
sulted upon  certain  extraordinary  occasions.  There  are 
some  i^cient  writings  ijtill  extant  which  pass  under  the  name 
of  the  Sibylline  oracles;  but  these  oracles  "seem  t)  have 
*'  been  all,  from  first  to  last,  and  without  any  exception, 
*'  mere  impostures."  Ad  Q.  Frat.  ii.  '2.  Aul,  GdL  i.  19. 
Jortin'g  Remarks  m  Eccles,  Hist,  p.  2S4. 

"*'     *  One  of  the  present  Consuls. 

E3 


f.i 


I 


S4 


th*  letters 


Book  L 


e6miiiis5ion ;  in  all  other  respects,  I  dare  ven- 
ture to  say,  he  will  very  strenuously  promote 
your  interest.  We  must  be  contented  to  take 
him  in  his  own  way,  for  I  perceive  it  is  impos- 
sible to  dissuade  him  from  proposing  that  the 
injunctions  of  the  oracle  shall  be  complied  with. 
And,  in  fact,  he  has  already  made  several  mo- 
tions to  that  pui'pose. 

I  wrote  this  early  on  the  13th,  and  I  will 
now  give  you  an  account  of  what  has  hitherto 
passed  in  the  senate.  Both  Hortensius  and 
LucuUus  agreed  with  me  in  moving,  that  the 
prohibition  of  the  oracle  should  be  obeyed  ; 
and,  indeed,  it  does  not  seem  possible  to  bring 
this  matter  to  bear  upon  any  other  terms.  But 
we  proposed,  at  the  same  time,  that  in  pursu- 
ance of  the  decree^  which  was  made  on  your 
own  motion,  you  should  be  appointed  to  re- 
establish Ptolemy  in  his  kingdom  ;  the  situa- 
tion of  your  province  lying  so  conveniently  for 
that  purpose.  In  a  word,  we  consented  that 
the  army  should  be  given  up,  in  deference  to 

the 

^  Before  Lentulus  set  out  for  his  government,  the  senate 
had  come  tu  a  resolution  of  assisting  Ptolemy  with  a  body 
of  troops  ;  and  (as  has  already  bcei\  observed)  a  decree  had 
actually  passed  for  that  purpose.  It  was  voted  at  the  same 
time  thac  the  consul,  whose  lot  it  should  prove  to  adminis- 
ter the  province  ofCilicia,  should  be  charged  with  this  com- 
mission j  and  accordingly  fortune  decided  it  in  favour  of 
Lentulu>.  But  the  artifices  of  Caius  Cato,  taken  notice  of 
in  the  note  above,  prevented  this  decree  from  being  carried 
into  execution.     Orai,  pro  Rabir. 


4 


Book  I. 


OF  CICERO. 


55 


the  oracle;  but  insisted,  nevertheless,  that 
you  should  be  employed  in  effecting  this  res- 
toration. Crassus,  on  the  other  side,  was  for 
having  this  conxinission  executed  by  three  pep- 
*ons,  to  be  chosen  from  among  our  genemls : 
and  consequently  he  did  not  mean  to  exclude 
Pompey.  Marcus  Bibulus  joined  with  hiru  /^ 
to  the  number,  but  thought  that  the  persons  to 
be  nominated  should  not  bear  any  military  com- 
mand. All  the  rest  of  the  consulars  were  in  the 
isame  sentiments,  except  Servilius,  Afranius,  an4 
Volcatius.  The  first  absolutely  opposed  our 
engaging  in  Ptolemy's  restoration  upon  any 
terms  whatsoever :  but  the  two  last  were  of  opi- 
nion, that,  agreeably  to  the  motion  of  Lupus, 
this  commission  should  be  given  to  Pompey. 
This  circumstance  has  increased  the  suspicion 
concerning  the  real  inclinations  of  the  latter,  a^ 
his  most  particular  friends  were  observed  to  con- 
cur with  Volcatius.  They  are  labouring  this 
point  yvith  great  assiduity ;  and,  I  fear,  it  will  be 
carried  against  us.  Libo  and  Hypsseus  are 
ppenly  soliciting  for  Pompey;  and,  in  truth,  the 
conduct  of  all  his  friends  at  this  juncture  makes 
It  generally  believed,  that  he  is  desirous  of  the 
office.  Yet  the  misfortune  is,  that  those  who  are 
unwilling  it  should  fall  into  his  hands,  are  not 
the  more  inclined  to  place  it  in  yours,  as  th:  y 

E  4  arc 


H 


iM 


56 


The  letters 


Book  Li 


i- 


¥Afl^>¥^  displeased  at  your  having  contributed, 
to,tl>elate  advancement  of  his  power^*  Eor* 
myself,  Lfind  I  have  the  less  influence  in  your* 
cause,  as  it  is  supposed  1  am  solely  governed  by^ 
-a  principle  of  gratitude;  at  the  same  time,  the 
notion  which  prevails  that  this  affair  affords  an 
opportunity  of  obliging  Pompey,  renders  myj 
vrij.  appli-. 

,V  u^"^"^'**»  during  his  consulate,  proposed  and  carried  a' 
law  in  Uvour  of  Pompey,  which,  in  effect,  invested  him  with 
the  whole  power  of  the  Roman  empire.     For,  under  a  pfe-^^ 
tended  scarcity   of  corn  (as  some  of  the  historians  seem  t^, 
represent  it,  tho'  Dion  Cas-ius,  indeed,  speaks  of  it  as  real)' 
he  was  commissioned  to  provide  the  republic  with  that  com- 
modity, by  which  means  all  those  who  were  concerned  io 
the  naval,  the  commercial,  and   landed  interest,  either  in 
Italy  or  the   provinces,  became  his  tributaries  and  depen-r 
dents.     By  aiioiher  law,  Pompey  was  authorised,  during  the 
^acc  of  five  years,  to  exercise  proconsular  power  throughout 
all   the  Roman  dorainians ;  and   it  is  to  these  extravagaud 
grants  that  Cicero  seems  to  allude.     The  former,  indeed,  of 
these  tw«>  laws,  Cicero  himself  very  zealously  promoted,  in 
return  to  the  services  he  had  lately  received  from  Pompey 
in  the  affair  of  his  restoration.     And  tho'  the  latter  invested 
that  aspiring  chief  with  a  power  much   too  exorbitant  (as  is 
iptimared  in  a  letter  to  Atticvu)  to  be  endured  in  a  free  state; 
yet  Cicero  suffered  it  to  pass,  without  the  least  opposition. 
We  learn,  from  his  own  confession,  the  mean  motive  of  this 
unworthy  silence.     As  the  Pontificial  college,  it  seems,  had 
not  yet  made  their  report  concerning  the  validity  of  Clo- 
dius's  consecration  of  his  area,  (See  remark  5.  p.  32.  of  this 
Mo\.)  he  thought  it  unsafe  to  wiihstand  any  of  Pompey's  de- 
mands, M  he  might  influence  their  decision  to  his  pnju^ 
dice  :  no*  tacemus,  et  eo  magis,  quod  de  domo  nostra  nihil  ad- 
htc  Fontiftces  respondcrunt.     Lentulus,  on  the  other  hand, 
*ras  suspected  of  procuring  these  laws  in  view  of  his  own  de- 
signs, and  in    order  to  divert  Pompey  from  the  thoughts  of 
being  employed   in  re-establishing  Ptolemy  on  his  throne. 
Thus  were  the  liberties  of  Rome  sacrificed  to  tSe  private  pari' 
poses  of  her  pretended  patriots  \    Pint,  in  Tit.  Pomp.      Dio, 
Jix5cix.     Ad  Aft.  iv.  1. 


BoO«iD  1/ 


ckf-^CIGEHOihT 


ST 


applications  likewise  notaitdgether  so  effectual 
as  they  might  otherwise  prove.  It  is  thiis  f 'ittl' 
labouring  in  this  perplexed  business^^  Whi(!}i  th6' 
king  himself,  long  before  you  left  Rome,  i&* 
well  as  the  friends  and  dependents  of  Pompey,' 
had  artfttUy  embarrassed.  To  this  I'  m^sfl  add^ 
the  avowed  opposition rifc  meet  with  fh^  tHe 
consulars,  who  represent  our  assisting  Ptolemy 
with  an  army,  as  a  measure  that  wotild  highly 
reflect  upon  the  dignity  of  the  senate.  Be  as* 
sured,  however,  I  shall  employ  every  rtl^ans  iu 
my  power  of  testifying  both  to  the  world  in  ge*-' 
neral,  and  to  your  friends  in  parti g^ul^j^/^he 
sincerity  of  that  affection  I  bear  you.  And, 
Verc  therie  any  honoiir  in  those  wjip  ought  to 
have  shewn  themselves  influenced  bv  its  hiarhest 
^hrf^'ih'dst'  tefined  principles,  I  should  not  have 
so  many  difficulties  to  encounter.     Farewel. 

.  b'J.  '  ^dt  \iiiS   tj'~:.h 


.noflic 

?idf  lo  ')^{|f)frr  m- 

biii 

-oiD 


LETTER  XIII. 

[A.  U.  697.] 


a  I  iwti 


moT 


«i  '■*'■ 


li 


To  QuiNTus  Valerius  Orca. 


.jaalk  yrijiowaL 


4i0y.,  remember,  I  doubt  not,  .tia^t  when  >I 
attended   you   on   your    way    towdrds   ^oui 

/    provihce, 

^  He  had  hcen  praetor  the  yeir  before^  ^"d.ve^y^^nsi^'A* 
mental  in  procuring  Cicero's  recal  from  exile.  4f  th«  <3X4 
ptration  of  his  praetorship,  h^v  obtained  {he  government  of 
Africa  :  and  this  letter  seems  to  have  been  v^ritien  to  him  soon 
after  bis  arrival  in  that  province.     Pij^L  annaf^  i'u  384.     y 


i 


58 


The  letters 


Book  L 


ftoiyic  f. 


diTrrCHRa 


2^ 


province,  I  took  occasion,  in  thf  presence  of 
Publius  Cuspius,  to  desire  you  would  consider 
every  friend  of  his  whom  I  should  recommend 
to  you,  as  in  the  number  of  my  own  :  and  that 
I  afterwards  repeated  this  request  in  the  strong- 
est manner.  You  then  assured  me,  with  great 
generosity  and  politeness,  and  agreeably  to  that 
affectionate  regard  with  which  you  have  ever 
distinguished  me,  that  you  would  comply  with 
my  request.  I  am  to  inform  you,  then,  that 
Cuspius,  having  been  twice  in  Africa,  during 
the  time  that  he  had  the  direction  of  the  affairs 
of  the  company  which  farms  the  revenues  of 
that  province,  contracted  some  acquaintance  in 
that  part  of  the  world  whom  he  greatly  loves : 
and,  as  no  man  is  more  zealous  to  serve  his 
friends,  he  very  warmly  espouses  their  interest, 
I  am  always  ready  to  assist  him,  for  that  pur- 
pose, to  the  utmost  of  my  credit  and  influence ; 
which  I  mention  as  a  reason  for  my  recom- 
mending his  African  friends  in  general  to  your 
protection.  For  the  future,  therefore,  I  shall 
only  acquaint  you  that  the  person  in  whose  be- 
half I  may  happen  to  write,  is  a  friend  of  Cus- 
pius :  and  then  add  the  distinguishing  mark  we 
agreed  upon\  But  my  present  recommenda- 
tion 

^  To  distinguish  those  recommendations  which  were  writ- 
ten merely  in  compliance  with  solicitations  he  could  not  re- 
cuse, from  others  that  were  the  sincere  dictates  of  his  heart. 


tion  TS  of  the  strongest  kifid :  as  it  is  in  com- 
pliance with  the  most  earnest  desife  of  Cuspid 
tis,  that  I  entreat  your  good  offices  to  Lucius 
Julius.  If  1  were  to  request  them  in  the  terms 
that  are  usually  employed  in  the  sincerest  soli^ 
citations  of  this  nature,  I  should  scarce  satisfy, 
I  believe,  the  zeal  of  my  friend.  He  requires 
somethilig  more  new  and  singular  in  the  man*- 
ner  of  my  present  address ;  and  imagines  I  am 
master  of  a  certain  art,  that  renders  me  ex- 
tremely well  qualified  for  the  task.  I  promised, 
therefore,  to  recommend  his  friends  to  you,  by 
all  the  most  skilful  and  insinuating  methods  of 
persuasion.  But,  as  I  find  myself  incapable  of 
executing  this  promise,  I  can  only  entreat  yon 
to  give  him  i-eason  to  imagine,  that  there  was 
something  wonderfully  efficacious  in  this  letter. 
Now  this  he  will  certainly  suppose,  if  you  exer- 
cise towards  Julius  every  generous  act  that  your 
politeness  and  your  station  enable  you  to  con- 
fer ;  not  only  by  distant  services,  but  by  your 
personal  notice  and  distinction  :  for  you  cannot 
imagine,  as  you  have  not  been  long  enough  in 
your  post  to  know  it  by  your  own  observation, 
how  great  an  advantage  it  is  to  a  man  to  have 
the  countenance  of  the  governor  of  his  province. 
1  am  persuaded  that  Julius  well  deserves  every 
mark  of  your  friendship  upon  his  o\ra  account; 

not 


^Hh 


60 


The  letters 


Book  I. 


not  only  because  Cuspius  has  assured  me  that 
he  does,  (which,  of  itself,  indeed,  would  be  a 
very  sufficient  reason  for  my  thinking  so)  but 
^because  I  know  the  great  judgment  of  the  lat^ 
'ter  in  the  choice  of  his  friends. 

Time  will  soon  discover  the  effects  which  tfii^s 
letter  shall  produce ;  and  they  will  be  suchj  I 
confidently  trust,  as  to  demand  my  acknow- 
ledgments. In  the  mean  while,  you  may  de- 
pend upon  my  best  services  here,  in  every  in* 
stance  wherein  I  shall  imagine  you  would  desire 
them.     Farewel. 


P.  S.  Publius  Cornelius,  the  bearer  of  this 
letter,  is  one  whom  I  likewise  recommend  to 
you  at  the  request  of  Cusoius :  and  how  much  I 
am  bound,  both  by  mctination  and  gratitude, 
to  do  every  thing  for  his  sake  that  is  in  my 
power,  is  a  circumstance  of  which  I  have  al- 
ready sufficiently  informed  you.  Let  me  en- 
treat you,  therefore,  that  he  may  very  soon, 
and  .very  frequently,  have  the  strongest  reasons 
to  thank  me  for  this  my  recommendation  of 
his  friend.     Farewel.  ' 


10    -Ul 


IJiUj 


iitU 


'O'/  «;/ij  fo?rTo-  ?r-»  ^-f  >. 


r  ■ 


LET- 


Bqo^  I. 


^^rCICERO.T 
LETTER  XIV. 


61 


To  Pub  LI  us  Lentulus,  Proconsul. 

4  HE  senate  met  on  the  13th  of  January,  but 
came  to  no  resolution ;  the  greatest  part  of  that 
day  having  been  spent  in  some  warm  contests 
which  arose  between  Marcellinus^,  the  consul 
and  Caninius,  one  of  the  tribunes  of  the  peo;^ 
ple.  I  had  myself  also  a  very  considerable  share 
m  the  debates ;  and  I  represented  the  zeal  3  ou 
have  always  she^vn  towards  the  senate,  in  terms 
that  influenced  them,  I  am  persuaded,  much  to 
YQuv  advantage.  The  next  day,  therefor^  we 
tnought  it  sufficient  briefly  to  deliver  our  opi- 
pions ;  as  I  perceived,  not  only  by  the  favour- 
able manner  in  which  I  was  heard  the  day  bcr 
fore,  but  also  by  inquiring  into  the  sentiments 
gf  each  particular  member,  that  the  majoritv 
was  clearly  on  our  side.  The  business  of  the 
day  opened  with  repovting  to  the  house  the 
several  opinions  of  Bibulus,  Hortensius,  and 
-Volcatius.  Tlie  respective  questions,  there- 
foret  were,  in  the  first  place,  whether  three 
commissioners  should  be  nominated  for  restor- 
ing the  king,  agreeably  to  the  sentiments  of 

Bibulus ; 


^ 
I 


7  Cneius  Lentulus  Marcellinus,'who  was  consul  this  year 
with  L.  Marcius  Phiiippus. 


^ 


The  letters 


Qo9»  I; 


\ 


Bibulus ;  in  the  next,  whether,  according  to 
those  of  Hortensius,  the  oflfice  should  be  con- 
ferred upon  you,  but  without  employing  any 
forces;  or,  lastly,  whether,  in  conformity  tQ 
the  advice  of  Volcatius,  this  honour  should  be 
assigned  to  Pompey.  The  points  being  thus 
stated,  it  was  moved  that  the  opinion  of  Bibu- 
lus might  be  referred  to  the  deliberation  of  the 
house  in  two  separate  questions*.  Accordingly, 
as  it  was  now  in  vain  to  oppose  his  motion,  so 
far  as  it  related  to  paying  obedience  to  the  de- 
claration of  the  oracle,  the  senate  in  general 
came  into  his  sentiments  :  but  as  to  his  propo- 
sal of  deputing  three  commissioners,  it  was  re- 
jected by  a  very  considerable  majority.  The 
opinion  next  in  order  was  that  of  Hortensius. 
But,  when  we  were  going  to  divide  upon  it, 
Lupus,  a  tribune  of  the  people,  insisted,  that, 
in  virtue  of  his  office,  he  had  the  privilege  of 
dividing  the  house,  prior  to  the  consuls ;  and 

therefore  demanded  that  the  voices  should  be 

first 


*  **  When  an  opinion  iva«  proposed  to  the  senate  whict 
*^  was  thought  too  general,  and  to  include  several  distinct  ar-^ 


*•  iiclefi,  it  was  usual  to  require  that  each  part  might  be  pro* 
-**  pounded  and  voted  separately.  Thus  Bibulus  moved,  that 
•'they  might  submit  to  the  Sybilline  oracle,  and  appoint 
**'th«»e  private  senators  to  restore  the  king.  But  the  house 
*'  required  that  they  might  vote  separately  upon  Uiese  two 
**  questions:  and  the  event  was,  they  unanimously  agreed  to, 
**  the  4"0rmer,  but  rejected  the  latter."  &ou  ran,  on  Cic» 
fcemil,  epist,  tuL  i.  p.  348. 


Book  I. 


OP  CICERO. 


6S 


iirst  taken  upon  Ae  motion  he  had  made  in  fa- 
vour of  Pompey.  This  claim  was  generally 
and  strongly  opposed ;  as,  indeed,  it  vi^s  both 
unprecedented  and  unreasonable.  The  consula 
themselves,  however,  did  not  greatly  contest 
that  point,  nor  did  they  absolutely  give  it  up. 
Their  view  was  to  protract  the  debates,  and 
they  succeeded  accordingly.  They  perceived, 
indeed,  that,  notwithstanding  the  majority  af- 
fected to  appear  on  the  side  of  Volcatius,  yet, 
upon  a  division,  they  would  certainly  vote  with 
Hortensius.  Nevertheless,  several  of  the  naem- 
here  were  called  upon  to  deliver  their  opinions, 
though,  in  truth,  much  against  the  inclinations 
of  the  consuls,  who  were  desirous  that  the  sen- 
timents of  Bibulus  should  prevail.  These  de- 
bates continuing  till  night,  the  senate  broke 
up  without  coming  to  any  resolution.  I  hap- 
pened to  pass  the  same  evening  with  Pompey  ; 
and,  as  i  had  that  day  supported  youi^  cause, 
in  the  senate,  with  more  than  ordinary  success, 
I  diought  it  afforded  me  the  most  favourable 
opportunity  of  speaking  to  him  in  your  behalf. 
And  what  I  said  seemed  to  make  so  strong  an 
impression,  that  I  am  persuaded  I  have  brought 
him  wholly  over  to  youx  interest.  To  say  the 
truth,  wlienever  I  hear  him  mention  this  affair 
himself,  I  entirely  acquit  him  of  being  secretly 

desirous 


I 


64, 


The  letters 


Book  L 


desirous  of  this  commission.  On  the  other 
hand,  when  1  observe  the  conduct  of  his  friends 
of  every  rank,  I  am  well  convinced  (and  indeed 
it  is  now  evident  likewise  to  the  whole  world) 
that  they  have  been  gained  by  the  corrupt 
measures  which  a  certain  party,  with  the  con- 
sent of  Ptolemy  and  hi*  advisers,  have  employ- 
ed. I  write  this  before  sun-rise  on  the  l6th  of 
January,  and  the  senate  is  to  meet  again  ox\  this  . 
very  day.  I  hope  to  preserve  my  authority  in 
that  assembly,  as  far,  at  least,  as  is  possible 
amidst  such  general  treachery  and  corruption 
which  has  discovered  itself  upon  this  occasion. 
As  to  what  concerns  the  bringing  this  matter 
before  the  ])ccple,  I  think  we  have  taken  such 
pjccautions  as  will  render  it  impracticable,  un^ 
less  by  actual  violence,  or  in  direct  and  open 
contempt  both  of  our  civil  and  religious  insti- 
tutions. For  this  purpose,  a  very  severe  order 
of  the  senate^  (which,  I  imagine,  was  immedi- 
ately transmitted  to  you)  was  entered  yesterday 
in  our  journals,  notwithstanding  the  tribunes 
,Cato'  and  Caninius  interposed  their  negatives. 

You 

'  When  an  act  passed  the  senate  in  a  full  house,  held  ac- 
cording to  the  prescribed  forms,  and  without  any  oppositioa 
from  the  tribunes,  (who  had  the  privilege  of  putting  a  nega- 
tive upon  all  proceedings  in  the  senate)  it  was  called  a  satar 
tus  consuliutn,  a  decree  of  the  senate.  But  if  any  of  these 
eiisentials  were  wanting,  or  a  tribune  interpojed,  it  was  then 
only  staled  a  scJiatus  auctoritaSf  an  order  of  the  senate,  and 
consid^ered  as  of  less  authority.     Manut, 

*  See  remark  3.  p.  5C,  of  this  vol. 


BboK  I. 


OF  CICER©-^ 


Si 


%  You  may  depend  upon  my  sending  you  a^ 
faithfiil  account  of  eYei^y  other  dcctffr<**(gas! 
which  may  arise  in  this  affair :  smd  be  assured 
F  shaM  exert  the  utmost  of  my  Vigilance  and  my 
credit,  to  conduct  it  in  the  most  advantageotB- 
manner  for  your  interest.     FareweK  '*  ^ 


;o 


LETTER  XV; 


♦  ffi 


rnn0 


jV 


[A.  U.  697.] 

;^I()---  '  To  the  same. 

AuLCs  Trebbniiis,  who  fe  an  old  a¥id  inti- 
raat*  friend  of  liiine,  has  some  important  af-* 
fairs  iii  your  province,  which  require  ifftn^*^dti" 
ate  dispatch.     His  own  illustrious  charafcter^ 
together  with  the  recomTAendatic^^'^6f  ^{fs'^lp 
and  others,  have,  upon  former  occasions  of  tHi^ 
kind,  obtained  fbr  him  the  indiilg^hce  of  ybii# 
predecessors.    He  is  strongly  persuaded,  there^ 
fdi^,  from  th^t  affection  and  thos^  mutual  ffbod 
offices  which  subsist  between  you  ^lid  me,  tfet! 
tlrift^ictter  will  riot  provd  a  less  effectual  solici- ' 
tor  in^liiiB  behalf :  and  let  me  earnestly  entreltt^^ 
ytm  4iot  to  disappoint  him  in  this  his  expecta- 
tron.     Acbotdtiigly  1  recornirteatf  Ms  ^eiH^a^tV„ 
hWf^eed-men,   his  agents,   and,  in  short,  his 
concerns  of  every  kind  to  your  patronage:  1^^*!^ 
particularly,  I  beg  you  would^oonfirtn^thi^  db^- 
OL.  I.  F  cree 


66 


The  letters 


Book  L 


OF  CICERO. 


67 


cree  which  Titus  Anipius*  passed  in  his  favour. 
In  one  word,  I  hope  you  will  take  all  opportu- 
nities of  convincing  him,  that  you  do  not  con- 
sider this  recommendation  as  a  matter  of  com- 
ipon  and  unmeaning  form.     Farewel. 

LETTER  XVL 

[A.  U.  697.] 

To  the  same. 

• 

When  the  senate  met  on  the  l6th  of  this 
month*,  your  aft'air  stood  in  a  very  advantage- 
ous posture.  We  had  succeeded  the  day  be- 
fore against  the  motion  of  Bibulus  for  ap- 
pointing three  commissioners,  and  had  now 
only  to  contend*  with  Volcatius  ;  when  our  ad- 
versaries prevented  the  question  from  being 
put,  by  artfully  protracting  the  debates.  For 
they  saw  we  had,  in  a  very  full  house,  and 
amidst  great  contrariety  of  opinions,  carried 
otir  point,  to  the  considerable  mortification  of 
those  who  w^re  for  taking  the  king's  affairs  out 
of  your  direction,  and  transferring  them  to  an- 
other hand.  Curio  opposed  us  upon  this  oc- 
casion with  extreme  warmth;  while  Bibulus 
spoke  with  more  temper,  and,  indeed,  seemed 

almost 


•  The    predecessor    of    Lcmulus   in 
Figh,  Ann.     U.  C.  69^. 

*  January. 


this 


government. 


almost  inclined  to  favour  our  cause.  But  Ca- 
to  and  Caninius  absolutely  refused  to  suffer 
any  decree  to  pass,  till  a  general  assembly  of 
the  people  should  be  convened. 

By  the  Pupian  law,  as  you  well  know,  there 
cannot  be  another  meeting  of  the  senate  till  th« 
first  of  February:  nor,  indeed,  throughout  that 
whole  month,  unless  all  the  foreign  ambassadors 
should  have  received,  or  be  refused,  audience. 
In  the  mean  while,  a  notion  prevails  among  the 
people,    thai:   your   adversaries   have   insisted 
upon  this  pretended  oracle,  not  so  much  with 
an  intent  of  obstructing  your  particular  views, 
as  in  order  to  disappoint  the  hopes  of  those 
who  may  be  desirous  of  this  expedition  to 
Alexandria,  merely  from  the  ambition  of  com- 
manding an  army.     The  whole  world  is  sensi- 
ble, indeed,  of  the  regard  which  the  senate  has 
shewn  to  your  character :  and  it  is  notoriously 
owing  to  the  artifices  of  your  enemies,  that  the 
house  did  not  divide  upon  the  question  pro- 
posed in  your  favour.     But  should  the  same 
persons,  under  a  pretended  zeal  for  the  public, 
(though,  in  fact,  from  the  most  infamous  mo- 
tives) attempt  to  bring  this  affair  before  a  ge- 
neral assembly  of  the  people,  we  have  concert- 
ed our  measures  so  well,  that  they  cannot,  pos- 
sibly, effect  their  designs,  without  having  re- 

F  2  course 


f 


CB 


The  letters 


Book  I. 


11  if 


course  to  violence ;  or,  at  least,  without  setting 
the  ordinances  of  our  country,  both  civil  and  re- 
ligious, at  avowed  defiance^— But  I  will  neither 
ostentatiously  display  my  own  endeavours  to  as- 
sist you  in  this  conjuncture,  nor  dwell  upon  the 
unworthy  treatment  you  have  received  from 
others.  What  merit,  indeed,  can  I  thence  claim 
to  myself,  who  could  not  acquit  half  the  obliga- 
tions I  owe  you,  were  I  even  to  sacrifice  my 
life  to  your  service  ?  On  the  other  hand,  what 
avails  it  to  disquiet  my  mind  with  complaining 
of  those  injuries,  which  I  cannot  reflect  upon 
without  the  deepest  concern?  I  will,  therefore, 
only  add,  if  methods  of  violence  should  be  em- 
ployed, I  cannot  pretend,  in  this  general  con- 
tempt of  all  legal  authority,  to  answer  for  the 
•vent.    In  every  other  respect,  I  will  venture  to 

assure 

0 

^  It  was  no  very  difficult  matter  for  the  contending  par- 
ties in  the  republic,  when  they  were  disposed  to  obstruct  the 
designs  of  an  opposite  faction,  to  find  an  expedient  for  that 
purpose.  One  cannot  but  wonder,  indeed,  that  any  public 
business  could  be  carried  on,  when  nothing  more  was  neces- 
sary to  embarrass  the  proceedings,  than  to  procure  sonvc  tri- 
bune to  interpose  his  negative,  or  any  magistrate  to  observe 
the  hectcen^.  This  latter  was  a  species  of  divination  prac- 
tised among  the  Romans,  in  order  to  determine  whether  any 
scheme  under  delibcratioa  would  be  prejudicial  or  advan- 
tageous to  the  state.  In  consisted  in  remarking  certain  ap« 
pearances  in  the  heavens,  or  particular  modes  in  the  voice  or 
flight  of  birds,  which  were  supposed  intimations  of  good  or  ill 
luccess.  While  this  ceremony  was  performing,  no  assembly  of, 
the  people  could  be  legally  held,  nor  any  act  pass  into  a  law. 
To  botbihese  methods,  it  is  probable,  Cicero  here  alludes. 


Book  I. 


OF  CICERO. 


^ 


assure  you,  that  both  the  senate  and4he  people 
will  pay  the  highest  attention  to  your  dignity 
and  character.     Farewel  '      , 

LETTER  XVII. 


[A.  U.69r.] 

To  the  same. 

There  is  nothing  I  more  ardently  wish, 
than  to  convince  both  yourself,  and  the  world, 
with  how  much  gratitude  I  retain  the  re- 
membrance of  your  services.  I  cannot,  however, 
but  extremely  regret,  that  your  aiFairs  should 
have  taken  such  a  turn  since  your  absence,  as  to 
give  you  occasion  of  trying  the  affection  and 
fidelity  of  your  friends.  You  are  sensible,  as 
I  perceive,  by  your  last  letter,  that  you  have 
teen  treated  with  the  same  insincerity  by  those 
who  ought  to  have  concurred  in  supporting 
your  dignities,  as  I  formerly  experienced  from 
some  of  my  pretended  friends,  in  the  affair  of 
my  banishment.  Thus,  whilst  I  was  exerting 
the  utmost  efforts  of  my  vigilance,  my  policy, 
and  my  interest,  in  ordei  to  serve  you  in  the 
article  relating  to  Ptolemy,  I  was  unexpectedly 
alarmed  in  a  point  of  much  more  important 
concern,  by  the  infamous  law  which  Cato  has 

F  3  lately 


>i\ 


70 


The  letters 


Book  I 


Book  I. 


OF  CICERO. 


71 


\m 


lately  proposed  to  your  prejudice*.  Where  af- 
fairs are  thus  embroiled,  every  thing  is,  uiv- 
doubtedly,  to  be  feared  :  yet  my  principal  ap- 
prehension, I  confess,  arises  from  the  treachery 
of  your  false  friends.  But,  however  that  may 
be,  I  am  earnestly  endeavouring  to  counter-act 
the  malevolent  designs  of  Cato. 

As  to  the  Alexandrian  commission,  both 
yourself  and  your  friends  will,  I  trust,  have 
abundant  reason  to  be  satisfied  with  my  con- 
duct. But,  at  the  same  time,  I  must  say,  I 
greatly  fear  it  will  either  be  taken  out  of  your 
hands,  or  entirely  dropped  :  and  I  know  not 
which  of  these  alternatives  I  should  least  choose. 
However,  we  have  another  expedient  in  reserve, 
which  (should  we  be  driven  to  it)  neither  Seli- 
cius  nor  myself  disapprove.  By  this  scheme 
we  shall,  on  the  one  hand,  prevent  the  senate 
from  refusing  to  assist  Ptolemy,  and,  on  the 
other,  remove  all  appearance  of  our  being  dis- 
appointed, if  that  person  should  be  employed, 
who,  it  is  more  than  probable,  will  now  obtain 
this  commission.  To  be  short,  I  shall  take  such 
precautions,  that  should  our  designs  fail,  you 
may  not  seem  to  have  suffered  the  disgrace  of 

a  repulse : 

♦  Caius  Cato,  in  order  to  cut  off  all  hopes  at  once  from 
Le  tulus  of  being  employed  in  this  contested  commission, 
p.t»p.>sed  a  law  to  ibe  people  for  recalling  bim  from  bis 
government.    Ad  Q.  F,  i.  S, 


a  repulse :  yet,  at  the  same  time,  I  shall  remit 
nothing  of  my  best  efforts  to  support  your 
claim,  *so  long  as  there  shall  be  the  least  pros- 
pect of  success.  But  which  ever  way  this  point 
may  finally  be  determined,  it  wilLbe  agreeable 
to  those  wise  and  elevated  sentiments  you  pos- 
sess, to  consider  the  true  glory  of  your  charac- 
ter, as  resulting  entirely  from  the  dignity  of 
your  actions  and  the  virtues  of  your  heart. 
And  should  the  perfidiousness  of  a  certain 
party  deprive  you  of  some  of  those  honours, 
which  fortune  has  conferred  upon  you ;  be 
assured,  it  will  cast  a  much  dai:Ver  shade  oi^ 
their  characters  than  on  yours.  In  the  mean 
while,  your  affairs  are  the  constant  subject  of 
my  thoughts  :  and  I  neglect  no  opportunity  of 
acting  in  them  for  yaur  best  advantage.  I 
concert  all  my  measures  for  this  purpose  with 
Selicius :  as,  indeed,  I  know  not  any  one  of 
your  friends  who  has  a  greater  share  of  good 
sense,  or  a  more  affectionate  zeal  for  your  ser-. 
vice.     Farewel. 


F4 


l4ETrER 


-~---^--*— - 


7f 


THt  LETTERS 


Book  I. 


LETTER  XVIIL 

[A.  U.  697.] 

To  the  same*. 

X  ou  arc  informed,  I  imagine,  by  many  hands, 
of  what  passes  here.  I  will  leave  it,  therefore, 
to  your  other  friends  to  supply  you  with  au 
account  of  our  transactions,  and  content  my- 
self with  only  sending  you  my  conjectures.  To 
this  end  T  must  previously  acquaint  you,  that, 
on  the  6th  of  February,  Pompey  made  a  speech, 
in  a  general  assembly  of  the  people,  in  favour 
of  Milo;  during  which  he  was  insulted  with 
much  cjamour  and  abuse.  Cato  afterwards  in- 
veighed in  the  senate  against  Pompey,  with 
great  acrimony,  and  was  heard  with  the  most 
profound  silence  and  attention :  both  which 
^circumstances  seem  to  have  affected  him  very 
§ensibly.  Now  from  hence  I  surmise,  that  he 
has  entirely  laid  aside  all  thoughts  of  being  em- 
ployed in  the  Alexandrine  expedition.  That 
affair  remains,  as  yet,  entirely  open  to  us :  for 
the  senate  has  hitherto  determined  nothing  to 
your  prejudice,  but  what  they  are  obliged,  in 
deference  to  the  oracle,  to  refuse  to  every  other 

candidate 

•  This  and  the  foregoing  letter  are  blended  together  in  the 
cqmm  'X^  e4ifi'>ns,  but  they  are  here  separated  upon  the  au- 
tkority  df  Manutius^nd  Grouovius. 


Book  L 


OF  CICERO. 


75 


candidate  for  this  office.  It  is  my  present 
hope,  therefore,  as  well  as  endeavour,  that  the 
king  may  throw  himself  into  your  hands,  when 
he  shall  find  that  he  cannot,  as  he  expected,  be 
restored  by  Pompey ;  and  that  unless  he  is  re- 
placed upon  his  throne  by  your  assistance,  hi« 
affair  will  be  entirely  dropped.  And  this  step 
he  will  undoubtedly  take,  if  Pompey  should 
give  the  least  intimatioa  of  its  being  agreeable 
to  him.  But  I  need  not  tell  you  of  the  diffir 
culty  of  discovering  the  sentiments  of  a  man  of 
his  reserve.  However,  I  shall  omit  no  method 
in  my  power  to  effect  this  scheme ;  as  I  shall 
easily,  I  trust,  be  able  to  prevent  the  injurious 
designs  of  Cato. 

I  do  not  find  that  any  of  the  consulars  are 
in  your  interest,  except  Hortensius  and  Lu« 
cullns  :  all  the  rest  of  that  rank  either  openly, 
or  in  a  more  concealed  manner,  oppose  your 
views.  Nevertheless,  my  friend,  be  not  dis- 
couraged :  on  the  contrary,  let  it  be  still  your 
hope,  notwithstanding  the  attempts  of  the 
worthless  Cato,  that  you  will  again  shine  out 
in  all  your  former  lustre*.     Farewel. 

LETTER 

»  See  remark  4.  p.  69, 


ih] 


f: 


i!- 


i 


74  The  LETTERS  Book  I. 

LETTER  XIX. 

[A.  U.  697.] 

To  the  same. 

You  will   receive  a  full  account  from  PolHo 
of  all  that  has  been  transacted  in  your  affair  : 
as  he  was  not  only  present,  but  a  principal  ma- 
nasrer.     Believe  me,  I  am  much  concerned  at 
the  unfavourable  aspect  of  this  business.   How- 
ever, it  affords  me  a  very  sensible  consolation, 
that  there  is  strong  reason  to  hope  the  pru- 
dence of  your  friends  will  be  able  to  elude  the 
force  of  those  iniquitous  schemes,  which  have 
been  projected  to  your  prejudice.     Even  time 
itself  will,  probably,  contribute  to  this  end  :  as 
it  often  wears  out  the  malevolence  of  those 
who,  either  professedly,  or  in  a  disguised  man- 
ner, mean  one  ill.     1  am  yet' farther  confirmed 
in  these   pleasing  hopes,    Mhenever  I  reflect 
upon   the    faction   that  was   formerly   raised 
against  myself :  of  which  I  see  a  very  lively 
image  in  the  present  opposition  to  you.  In  the 
latter  instance,   inde€d,   the  attack  is  by  no 
means  so  extensive,  or  so  dangerous,  as  that 
which  was  made  upon  me ;  nevertheless,  there 
is,  in  general,  a  strong  similitude  between  the 
two  cases:  and  you  must  pardon  me,  if  I  can- 
not fear,  upon  your  account,  what  you  never 

thought 


Book  L 


OF  CICERO. 


•'    75 


thought  reasonable  to  be  apprehensive  of  on 
mine.  But,  whatever  may  be  the  event,  con- 
vince the  world  that  you  are  influenced  by 
those  principles  for  which  I  have  admired  you 
from  your  earliest  youth :  and  believe  me,  my 
friend,  the  malice  of  your  enemies  will  only 
serve  to  render  your  character  so  much  the 
more  illustrious.  In  the  mean  time,  do  mc 
the  justice  to  hope,  from  my  affection,  whatever 
the  warmest  friendship  can  effect ;  and  be  as- 
sured, I  shall  not  disappoint  your  expecta* 
tions.     Farewel. 

LETTER  XX. 

[A.  U.  697.] 

To  Lucius  LuccEius'. 

I  HAVE  frequently  had  it  in  my  intentions  to 
talk  with  you  upon  the  subject  of  this  letter ; 
but  a  certain  awkward  modesty  has  always 

restrained 

■  It  is  very  little  that  is  known  of  Lucceius,  more  than 
what  the  following  letter  informs  iis.  Cicero,  in  one  of  his 
orations,  speak  of  his  moral  character  with  the  highest 
applause,  representing  him  as  a  man  of  the  greatest  huma* 
nity,  and  of  the  most  unblemished  honour.  All  that  has 
been  transmitted  down  to  us  of  his  public  transactions  is, 
that  he  was  joint  candidate  with  Caesar  in  soliciting  the 
consulship,  in  opposition  to  Bibulus :  in  wHich,  however, 
he  did  not  succeed.  In  the  civil  war  which  afterwards  broke 
out,  he  took  part  with  Pompey ;  if  not  actively,  at  least  by 
his  good  wishes  and  advice  :  for  it  appears,  by  a  passage  in 
Caesar's  Commentaries,  that  the  former  was  wholly  guided 
by  bis  counsels.     It  is  unnecessary  to   mention    the   high 

reputation 


i'i 


76 


The  letters 


Book  L 


Book  I» 


OF  CICERO. 


77 


restraitied  me  from  proposing  in  person,  what 
I  can,  with  less  scruple,  request  at  this  distance : 
for  a  letter,  you  know,  spares  the  confusion  of 
a  blush.     I  will  own  then,  that  I  have  a  very 
strong,  and,  1  trust,  a  very  pardonable  passion 
of  being  celebrated   in  your  writings :    and 
though  you  have  more  than  once  given  me 
•assurance  of  your  intending  me  that  honour, 
Vet,  I  hope  you  will  excuse  my  impatience  of 
"seeing  your  design  executed.     I  had  always, 
indeed,  conceived  an  high  expectation  of  your 
performances  in  this  kind  :  but  the  specimen  I 
have  lately  seen  of  them,  is  so  far  superior  to 
all  I  had  figured  in  my  imagination,  that  it  has 
fired  me  with  the  most  ardent  desire  of  being 
immediately  distinguished  in  your  glorious  an- 
nals.   It  is  my  ambition,  I  confess,  not  only  to 
live  for  ever  in  the  praises  of  future  ages,  but 
to  have  the  present  satisfaction,  likewise,  of  see- 
ing myself  stand  approved  in  the  authoritative 
records  of  my  ingenious  friend.    I  am  sensible, 
at  the  same  time,  that  your  thoughts  are  already 
deeply  engaged  in  the  prosecution  of  your  ori- 
ginal design.  But,  a5 1  perceive  you  have  almost 
completed  your  account  of  the  Italic  and  Ma- 
rian 

reputation  he  had  gained  by  his  literary  abilities,  as  this  part 
oi  his  charaQter  will  be  sufficiently  laid  open  to  the  Reader  m 
the  present  Ittter.  Orat.  pro  Ccslio.  Suet,  m  Cas.  19-  C(r*.  de 
keii  civ.  iii. 


rian  civil  wars\  and  remember  you  proposed 
to  carry  on  the  remainder  of  our  history  in  a 
regular  ^series ;  I  cannot  forbear  recommending 
it  to  your  consideration,  whether  it  would  be 
best  to  weave  tlie  relation  of  Catiline's  conspi- 
racy into  the  general  texture  of  your  perform- 
ance, or  cast  it  into  a  distinct  work.  It  is  cer- 
tain, several  of  the  Greek  historians  will  justi- 
fy you  in  this  latter  method.  Thus  Callist- 
henes  wrote  a  narrative  of  the  siege  of  Troy, 
as  both  Timaeus  and  Polybius  did  of  the  Pyrr- 
hic and  Numantine  wars,  in  so  many  detached 
pieces  from  their  larger  histories\  As  to  the 
honour  that  will  arise  to  me,  it  will  be  much 

the 

*  The  Italic  war  which  broke  out  An.  Urb.  66S,  owed 
its  rise  to  a  rejected  claim  of  the  Italian  provinces  to  be 
admitted  into  the  freedom  of  the  city.  It  employed  the 
Arms  of  the  republic  for  more  than  two  years,  and  occa- 
sioned greater  bloodshed  and  devastation  than  those  wars 
in  which  she  had  been  engaged  with  Hannibal  and  Pyrr- 
bus.  Towards  the  close  of  it,  Cicero,  who  was  at  that 
time  about  18  years  of  age,  served  as  a  volunteer  under 
the  father  of  Pompey  the  Great.  Flor,  iii.  18.  FJtilip.xii. 
The  Marian  civil  war  immediately  succeeded  the  Italic,  and 
was  occasioned  by  the  insatiable  ambition  of  Marius.  This 
haughty  Roman,  envying  Sylla  the  honour  of  leading  the 
army  of  the  republic  against  Mithridates,  to  which  he  had 
been  appointed  by  the  senate,  procured  a  law  for  divesting 
him  of  that  command,  and  transferring  it  into  his  own 
hands.  This  war  was  carried  on  between  the  two  contend- 
ing chiefs  and  their  adherents,  with  various  success,  and  the 
most  unparalleled  cruelty  on  both  sides,  till  it  terminated  in 
the  perpetual  dictatorship  of  Sylla.  Flor.  iii.  21.  Fiut.  in 
ut.  Mar.  Sf  Syll. 

'  Callisihenes  lived  in  the  times  of  Alexander  the  Grea;t, 
and  attended  that  illustrious  commander  in  his  expedition 

into 


4 


78 


The  letters 


Book  I. 


the  same,  I  must  own,  upon  whichever  scheme 
you  may  determine  to  proceed :  but  I  shall  re- 
ceive so  much  the  earher  gratification  of  my 
wishes,  if,  instead  of  waiting  till  you  regularly 
advance  to  that  period  of  our  annals,  you 
shpuld  enter  upon  it  by  this  method  of  antici- 
pation. Besides,  by  keeping  your  mind  atten- 
tive to  one  principal  scene  and  character,  you 
will  treat  your  subject,  I  am  persuaded,  so  much 
the  more  in  detail,  as  well  as  embellish  it  with 
higher  <rraces.  I  must  acknowledge,  it  is  not 
extremely  modest,  thus  to  impose  a  task  upon 
you  which  your  occupations  may  well  justify 
you  in  refusing ;  and  then,  to  add  a  further  re- 
quest, that  you  would  honour  my  actions  with 
your  applause :  an  honour,  after  all,  which  you 
may  not  think,  perhaps,  they  greatly  deserve. 

However, 

into  Persia.  Timaeus  was,  by  birth,  a  Sicilian,  and  flou- 
rished about  the  year  of  Rome  471  :  he  appears,  by  the  cha- 
racter which  Cicero  gives  of  him  in  another  part  of  his  writ- 
ings, to  have  been  a  very  learned  and  elegant  historian  :  and  ^ 
he  was  an  author  in  great  esteem  with  Atlicus.  Plutarch»^,^ 
however,  speaks  of  him  with  much  contempt,  for  having  af- 
fected to  rival  Thuc)  dides  :  and  he  is  noted  by  Longinus  as 
a  writer  that  abounded  with  cold  and  puerile  ccmceits.  He 
acknowledges,  nevertheless,  that  Timaeus  had  a  flowing  ima- 
gination, and,  upon  some  occasions,  rose  up  to  the  true 
sublime.  Polybius,  who  died  about  17  years  before  Cicero 
came  into  the  world,  wrote  a  general  history  in  forty  books  : 
only  five  of  which  have  reached  the^e  limes.  But  he  is  not 
more  distinguished  by  his  composition,  than  by  the  friend>hip 
be  enjoyed  with  Scipio  and  Laelius.  De  Orat.  ii.  5.  8.  Ad 
Att,  vi.  1.  Pint,  in  vit,  Nici(c.  Longin  Sect.  4.  Voss.  de  Hist, 
Grccc.  i.  9.  12.  19. 


Book  1. 


OF  CICERO. 


79 


However,  when  a  man  has  once  transgressed 
the  bounds  of  decency,  it  is  in  vain  to  recede ; 
and  his  wisest  way  is  to  push  on  boldly  in  the 
same  confident  course,  to  the  end  of  his  pur- 
pose.   I  will  venture,  then,  earnestly  to  entreat 
you,  not  to  confine  yourself  to  the  strict  laws 
of  history,  but  to  give  a  greater  latitude  to  your 
encomiums,  than,  possibly,  you  may  think  my 
actions  can  claim.     I  remember,  indeed,  you 
declare,  in  one  of  your  very  elegant  prefaces, 
that  you  are  as  inflexible  to  all  the  pleas  of  af- 
fection, as  Xenophon  represents  Hercules  to 
have  been  to  those  of  pleasure*.    Let  me  hope, 
nevertheless,  if  friendship  should  too  strongly 
recommend  my  actions  to  your  approbation, 
you  will  not  reject  her  generous  partiality; 
but  give  somewhat  more  to  affection,  than  ri- 
gorous truth,  perhaps,  can  justly  demand. 


If 


♦  The  story  to  which  Cicero  here  alludes,  is  this :  Her- 
cules, when  he  was  yet  a  youth,  as  Prodicus  relates  the 
fable,  retired  into  a  place  of  undisturbed  solitude,  in  order 
to  determine,  with  himself,  what  course  of  life  he  should 
pursue.     Whilst  he  was  iu  the  midst  of  his  contemplations, 
Pleasure  and  Virtue  appeared  to  him  under  the  figures  of 
two  beautiful  women,  and  each  accosted  him  in   her  turn. 
He  heard  their  respective  pleas  with   great  attention :    but 
Virtue  gained  her  cause,  and  entirely  won  the  heart  of  the 
future  hero.     If  the  English  reader  is  disposed  to  know  this 
story  in  all  its  circumstances,  he  will  find  it  wrought  up  into 
a  v^ry  beautiful  poem  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Lowth,  and  in.sertcd 
in  PylynictiS}  P*  135. 


80 


The  letters 


Book  L 


If  I  should  prevail  upon  you  to  fall  in  m  ith 
my  proposal,  you  will  find  the  subject,  I  per- 
suade myself,  not  unworthy  of  your  genius  and 
your  eloquence.     The  entire  period  from  the 
rise  of  Catiline's  conspiracy  to  my  return  from 
banishment,  will  furnish,   I  should  imagine,  a 
moderate  volume.     It  will  supply  you  likewise 
with  a  noble  occasion  of  displaying  your  judg- 
ment in  politics,  by  laying  open  the  source  of 
those  civil  disorders,  and  pointing  out  their  pro- 
per remedies,  as  well  as  by  giving  your  reasons 
for  approving  or  condemning  the  several  trans- 
actions which  you  relate.     And  should  you  be 
disposed  to  indulge  your  usual  spirit  of  freedom, 
you  will  have  an  opportunity  of  pointing  out,  at 
the  same  time,  with  all  the  severity  of  your 
indignation,  the  treachery  and  perfidiousness  of 
those  who  laid  their  ungenerous  snares  for  my 
destruction.    I  will  add  too,  that  this  period  of 
my  life  will  furnish  you  with  numberless  inci- 
dents, which  cannot  but  draw  the  reader's  at- 
tention in  a  very  agreeable  manner :  as  nothing 
is  more  amusing  to  the  mind  than  to  contem- 
plate the  various  vicissitudes  of  fortune.     And 
though  they  were  far,  it  is  true,  from  being  ac- 
ceptable in  experience,  they  cannot  fail  of  giv-* 
ing  me  much  entertainment  in  description :  as 
there  is  an  inexpressible  satisfaction  in  reflect- 
ing 


Book  I.  of  CICERO.  gl 

ing  at  one's  ease,  on  distresses  we  have  formerly 
suffered.     There  is  something  likewise  in  that 
compassion,  which  arises  from  reading  an  ac- 
count of  the  misfortunes  which  have  attended 
others,  that  casts  a  most  agreeable  melancholy 
upon  the  mind.     Who  can  peruse  the  relation 
of  the  last  moments  of  Epaminondas  at  the 
battle  of  Mantinea,   without  finding  himself 
touched  with  a  pleasing  commiseration  ?  That 
glorious  chief,  you  may  remember,  would  not 
suffer  the  dart  to  be  drawn  out  of  his  side,  till 
be  was  informed  that  his  shield  was  safe  from 
the  hands  of  his  enemies:  4nd  all  his  concern 
amidst  the  anguish  of  his  wound  was,  to  die 
with  glory^    What  can  be  more  interesting,  al- 
so,  than  the  account  of  the  flight  and  death  of 
Tliemistocles* !   The  truth  of  it  is,  a  mere  nar- 
rative 

'  Epaminondas  headed  the  forces  of  the  Thebans  in  a 
ba  tie  wb.ch  they  fou»ht  with  the  Lacedemonian,  at  Ma„ti* 
nea,a  town, n  Arcadia.     The  Thebans  gained  the  victory 

SL  Ti  7   s!  "'"""^'"""^  *'^''='^  Cicero  here  mentions. 

hi,  !•  J''r'""^'^l'  "'"fl'  '"'^'"S  'Jislinguished  himself  among 
ficuUrl    'Tk'"'  ""  A'^<="i-'».  •'y  his  military  virtues,  par? 
ticularly  ,„  the  wars  ,n  which  they  were  engaged  with  Xerxes 
had  rendered  himself  so  popula?,   that  if  la,  thought  ne.' 
ce^ry  to  remove  him:  and  accordingly  he  was  oblfgedto 

^o  wlT    '  *^*""""'  Pf'PO'es  an  emen<lation,  suegested 

Vol!  I  "^"'  ^'''^  *°"''* "«'«« *"y 

^  well 


r 


6t 


The  LETTERS 


Book  I. 


rative  of  general  facts,  affords  little  more  en- 
tertainment to  the  reader,  than  he  might  find  in 
p  Tusing  one  of  our  public  registers*.    Whereas, 
in  the  history  of  any  extraordinary  person,  our 
fear  and  hope,  our  joy  and  sorrow,  our  astonish- 
ment and  expectation,  are  each  of  them  en- 
gaged by  turns.     And  if  the  final  result  of  all 
should  be  concluded  with  some  remarkable  ca- 
tastrophc,  the  mind  of  the  reader  is  filled  with 
the  highest  possible  gratification.     Tor  these 
reasons  I  am  the  more  desirous  of  persuading 
you  to  separate  my  story  from  the  general 
thread  of  your  narration,  and  work  it  up  into  a 
detached  performance :  as,  indeed,  it  will  exhi- 
bit a  o-reat  variety  of  the  most  interesting  and 


affecting  scenes. 


When 


^ell  with  the  account  which  is  given  of  his  death:  for  hav- 
inc  been  received  in  his  exile  by  ArtsNcrxes,  he  was  ap- 
pointed  to  command  a  body  of  forces  in  an  expedition 
which  that  prince  was  preparing  apainit  the  Grecians.  But 
Themi«=tocies,  rather  than  turn  l>is  arms  against  his  country, 
chose  to  put  an  end  to  his  l.fe  by  a  draught  of  poison,    riiit. 

invito  Themhf. 

»  These  originally  were  books  prfscrvrd  in  tl.e  pont  heal 
collc«^e,  whcrei'n  the  several  divisii)ns  of  the  Jlnm-^n  year 
were^marked  out  as  thev  uere  regulated  by  Numa,  and  the 
pariicul-.u  festivals  no'ed  upon  which  it  ^^as  unlauful  to 
transact  anv  public  affairs.  These  registers  in  the  later  ages 
of  the  republic  were  much  enlarged,  and  contained  a  sort  of 
journal  of  the  most  memorable  events,  both  civil  and  religi- 
ous, that  happened  in  every  year.  IJv.  i.  ip,  CO.  Dissert, 
sur  lesfastes  par  Couture  dans  Us  Mem.  de  tit,  de  VAcadem. 
'de  bel.  id.  i.  67. 


Book  L 


OF  CICERO. 


8^ 


When  I  tell  you  it  is  my  ambition  to  be  cele- 
brated by  your  pen,  I  am,  by  no  means,  appre- 
hensive you  will  suspect  me  of  flattery.     The 
consciousness  of  your  merit  must  always  incline 
you  to  believe,  it  is  envy  alone  that  can  be  silent 
in  your  praise :  as,  on  the  other  side,  you  cannot 
imagine  me  so  weak  as  to  desire  to  be  transmit- 
ted to  posterity  by  any  hand,  which  could  notse- 
cure  to  itself  the  same  glory  it  bestowed// When 
Alexander  chose  to  have  his  picture  drawn  by 
Apelles7,  and  his  statue  formed  by  Lysippus^ 
it  was  not  in  order  to^  ingratiate  himself  with 
those  distinguished  artists  :  it  was  from  a  firm 
persuasion  that  the  works  of  these  admired 
geniuses  would  do  equal  credit  both  to  his  re- 
putation and  their  own.    The  utmost,  however, 
that  their  art  could  perform,  was  to  perpetuate^ 
the  persons  only  of  their  celebrated  contempo- 
raries:  but  merit  needs  not  any  such  visible 
exhibitions  to  immortalize  its  fame.     Accord- 
ingly the  Spartan  Agesilaus,  who  would  never 
suffer  any  picture  or  statue  of  him  to  be  taken', 

is 

7  See  an  account  of  this  celebrated  Grecian  painter  in 
rem^ark  29-  p.  180,  of  this  vol.  P«inier,  iq 

*  A   famous  statuary,  of  whom    Demetrius,  as  cited  bv 
Quintiiian,  remarks,   that  he  was  more  celehrated    for  lak 
ing  a  strong  than  an  agreeable  Jikenes.^.     Qumt  List    (hn/^ 
xii.  10.  M.        .     *oc.  wfuf, 

^  Acrpsilaus,  king  of  Sparta,  was  one  of  the  most  con-' 
siderable  persons  of  his  age,  both  for  civil  and  militarv  vir- 
tues;  insomuch   that  he  justly  ncquired  the  apneilarion   of 


G2 


Agetilaus 


^  Thi  letters  Book  I. 

!s  not  less  universaliy  known,  than  those  ^ho 
have  been  most  fond  of  having  their  persons  co- 
4jied  out  for  posterity.  The  single  treatise  which 
Xenophon  has  written  in  praise  of  that  renown- 
ed -eneral,  is  more  to  his  glory,  than  all  the 
picrures  and  statues  of  all  the  artists  in  the  uni- 
verse    It  would  be  a  much  higher  satisfaction 
to  me,  therefore,  as  it  would  be  a  far  greater 
honour,  to  be  recorded  by  your  hand  than  that 
of  any  other ;  not  only  because  your  genius 
.  would  raise  and  adorn  my  actions  with  the  same 
advantage  as  Timffius',  has  displayed  those  of 
Timoleon',    or   Herodotus'  those  of  Themis- 

tocles ; 

1.         „»      nm  iKoueh  nature  had  been  uncom- 

uiipromismg  a  figure.     Hut.  in  in.  /ig*^*"* 
tita  jigesil.  8. 

1  ^rXS^foronL'lSt  characters  in  a„  an.i- 

tCnViS-l  offie  forces  which'^  tiLy  sent  to  the  re- 
thian»a»genei  execrable  tyranny  of  Di- 

"F  !•  Sit  r-z;;:.":^  r&rs 


Book  I. 


ot  CICERO.. 


W 


tocles*  ;  but  because  of  the  additional  credit  J 
shall  receive  from  the  applause  of  so  iUu$tripu% 
so  experienced,  and  so  approved  a  patriot.  By 
this  means  I  shall  enjoy,  not  only  the  same  glp- 
xious  privilege  which,  as  Alexander  observejd 
when  he  was  at  Sigeum,  Achilles  received 
from  Horner^ ;  but  what  is  still  more  impor- 
tant, the  powerful  testimony  of  a  man,  who  is 
himself  distinguished  by  the  noblest  and  most 
uncommon  virtues.  Accordingly,  I  have  been 
always  wonderfully  pleased  with  the  sentiment 
which  Nasvius^puts  into  the  mouth  of  Hector, 

where 

Plutarch  observes,  the  glorious  satisfaction  of  seeing  so  many 
cities  owe  their  ease  and  happiness  to  his  generous  and  he- 
roic labours,     Plut.in  vit.  TimoL 

'  Herodotus  flourished  about  4-40  years  before  the  birth 
of  Christ,  under  the  reigns  of  Xerxes  and  Artaxerxes,  kings 
of  Persia. 

*  See  above,  remark  6.  p.  81. 

*  Alexander  being  elected  commander  in  chief  of  the  con- 
federate troops  which  the  Grecians  sent  against  Xerxes, 
crossed  the  Hellespont  with  his  army,  and  landed  at  Sigeum, 
a  promontory  near  Troy,  where  he  visited  the  tomb  of  Achil- 
les. Upon  this  occasion,  he  is  said  to  have  broken  out  into 
the  following  exclamation:  **  O  happy  youth!  in  having 
**  found  an  Homer  to  celebrate  thy  virtues."  Plut.  in  tit, 
Alex.  Cic.  pra  Arch,  poet, 

*  A  dramatic  poet  who  died  at  Rome  An,  Urb.  550, 
about  $03  years  before  the  christian  o^ra  ;  some  fragments 
of  his  works  still  remain.  The  sentiment  here  quoted  from 
him,  is  truly  noble;  as  there  is  not,  perhaps,  a  more  certain 
indication  of  a  low  and  little  mind,  than  to  be  elevated  .by 
undistinguishing  applause,  or  depressed  by  vulgar  censure. 
TTrophies  of  honour,  or  monuments  of  disgrace,  are  nf)t^ihe 
works  of  every  hand.  Some  men  are  incapable  of  blastmg  a 
reputation,  but  by  approving  it :  and  are  never  satyrists,  bu,t 
when  they  mean  to  be  panegyrists. 

G3 


i\ 


86 


The   letters 


Book  I. 


I 


where  that  hero,  speaking  of  the  approbation 
he  had  received  from  his  iUustrious   father, 
adds,  that  it  gave  him  so  much  the  more  satis- 
faction, as  coming  from  one  who  was,  himself, 
the  great  object  of  universal  applause.     But 
should  want  of  leisure,  (for  it  would  be  an  in- 
justice to  our  friendship  to  suppose  it  can  be 
want  of  inclination,)  should  your  occupations 
then  pi  event  your  compliance  with  this  my  re- 
quest ;  I  may,  perhaps,  be  obliged  to  take  a 
method,  which,   though  often  condemned,  is 
supported,  nevertheless,  by  several  considerable 
examples  :  I  mean,  to  be'  the  historian  of  my 
own  transactions.     But  you  are  sensible  there 
are   two   inconveniences    which    attend    this 
scheme :  for  a  man  must  necessarily  be  more 
reserved  in  setting  foith  those  parts  of  his  con- 
duct which  merit  approbation ;  as  he  will  be 
inchned  entirely  to  pass  over  others  which  may 
deserve  reproach.     I  must  add,  likewise,  that 
what  a  writer  says  to  his  own  advantage,  al- 
ways carries  with  it  a  less  degree  of  force  and 
authority,  than  when  it  comes  from  any  other 
pen.     In  a  word,  the  world  in  general  ishttle 
disposed  to  approve  any  attempt  of  this  kind. 
On  the  contrary,  one  often  hears  the  more  mo- 
dest method   of  the    poets   at  the   Olympic 
games,    recommended   upon  such   occasions, 

who, 


Book  I. 


OF  CICERO. 


87 


who,  after  they  have  crowned  the  several  vic- 
tors, and  publicly  called  over  their  names,  al- 
ways employ  some  other  person  to  perform  the 
same  office  to  themselves,  that  they  may  not  be 
the  heralds  of  their  own  applause.  This  impu- 
tation, therefore,  I  would  willingly  avoid  :  as  I 
certainly  shall,  if  you  should  comply  with  my 
request,  and  take  this  employment  out  of  my 
hands. 

You  will  be  surprised,  perhaps,  tliat  I  spend 
so  much  time  and  pains  in  soliciting  you  for 
this  purpose,  after  having  so  often  heard  you 
declare  your  intentions  of  giving  the  world  a 
very  accurate  history  of  my  administration. 
But  you  must  remember  the  natural  warmth 
of  my  temper,  and  that  I  am  fired,  as  I  told 
you  in  the  beginning  of  my  letter,  w  ith  an  im- 
patient desire  of  seeing  this  your  design  carried 
into  execution.  To  own  the  whole  truth,  I  am 
ambitious  of  being  k^iown  to  the  present  gene- 
ration by  your  writings,  and  to  enjoy,  in  my 
life- time,  a  fore-taste  of  that  little  share  of  glory 
which  I  may  expect  from  future  ages.  If  it  be 
not  too  much  trouble,  therefore,  I  should  be 
glad  you  would  immediately  let  me  know  youx 
resolution.  And  should  it  prove  agreeable  to 
my  request,  I  will  draw  up  some  general  mc- 
inoirs  of  my  transactions  for  your  use:  if  other- 


G4( 


■\V  ISC, 


85 


The   letters  Book  J. 


wise,  I  will  take  an  opportunity  of  discoursing 

further  with  you  upon  this  affair  in  person.  In 

the  mean  time,  continue  to   polish  the  work 

you  have  begun,    and  to   love  me  as  usuaP. 

Farewel. 

LETTER 


1 


I 


^  Pliny  b«s  made  9  rec^uest  to  Tacitus,  of  the  same  na- 
ture witb  that  which  is  the  subject  of  the  letter  before  u« ; 
and  though  it  is  by  no  means  enlivened  with  so  much  spirit; 
it  IS  dictated,   however,  by  a  far  less  extravagant  passibn. 
He  confesses  himself  fond,  indeed,  of  being  transmitted   to 
posterity,  by  the  pencil  of  that-  celebrated  historian :  but 
adds,  at  the  same  time,  that  he  is  far  from  desiring  him  to 
paint  his  actions  in  colours  more  strong  than  fact  will  justify. 
See  Plin,  Ut^  vol,  ii.  p.  43*2,  rem.  c.     This  express  restriction 
seems  to  glance  at  that  most  extraordinary  paii§age  in  the 
present  epistle,  where  Cicero   entreats  his  friend   *'   not   to 
confine  himself  to  the  strict  laws  of  history,  but   to  give  a 
greater  latitude  to  his  encomiums  than  Lucteius  might  possi- 
bly think  his  actions  could  cltiim."     And  never  did  vanity, 
it  must  be  acknowledged,  utter  or  conceive  a  more  ridicu- 
lous and  contemptible  wish !  The  voice  of  praise  can  alone 
be  jubtly  pleasing,  when  it  harmonizes  with  conscious  merit : 
and  the  applause  that  d«es  not  accord  with  truth,  must,  of 
til  dissonancies,  surely,  prove  the  most  offensive  to  a  well- 
formed  ear.     But  11  is  extremely  observable  how  much  Ci-» 
cero's  judgment   was   at  variance  with    his  practice  :  for  he 
^as   himself  shewn,  in  very  strong  terms,  the  absurdity  of 
claiming  mure  reputation  than  a  man  has  merit  to  support. 
It  is  solid  worth  alone,  he  justly  remarks,  that  can  secure  a 
lasting  fame;  for  nothing  can  be  durable  that  is  fictitious. 
The  former,  says  he,  strikes  its  root  deep,  and  spreads  far : 
vhile  the  latter  soon  withers  and  dies  away*  like  the  beauties 
of  a  transient  flower.     Vera  ghria  radices  agit,  et  propaga- 
tur :  Jicta  omnia  ceferiter^  tanquam  fiosculiy  decidant ;  riec  si- 
nailatam  potest  esse  qmdquanx  dmturaum,     De  oOkr.  ii.  12. 


Book  I. 


OF  CICERO.  89 


I  *^ " '  ■■ 


LETTER  XXL 

[A.  U.  697.] 

QuiNTus  Metellus  Nepos',  to  Cicero, 

Those  calumnies  with  which  the  most  viru- 
lent, surely,  of  the  human  race^  is  perpetually 
loading  me  in  his  public  harangues,  are  well 
compensated  by  the  satisfaction  I  receive  from 
your  obliging  offices.  When  I  consider,  in- 
deed, the  worthless  hand  from  whence  these 
arrows  take  their  flight,  I  look  upon  them 
with  the  contempt  they  deserve ;  and  am  very 

willing 

'  It  is  impossible  to  determine  exactly  when  this  letter 
was  written,  as  it  carries  no  internal  marks  sufficient  to 
point  out  iis  date  with  precision.  Ra^azonius,  who  has 
taken  the  pains  to  settle  the  order  of  the^e  epistles,  places  it 
under  the  present  year,  and  supposes  it  to  have  been  written 
by  Metellus,  when  he  was  governor  in  Spain  :  to  which  pro- 
vince he  went  as  proconsul  after  the  expiration  of  his  con- 
sulship. 

«•  The  commentators  suppose  that  the  person  here  alluded 
to  is  Clodius,  who  was  now  iEdiie,  and  employing  the  power 
which  that  othce  gave  him,  to  the  same  factious  purposes  a& 
he  had  exercised  his  late  tribuneship.  But  this  conjecture 
appears  altogether  groundless.  For  Cicero  taking  notice  to 
Atticus  of  the  death  of  Metellus,  which  seems  to  have  hap- 
pened soon  after  this  letter  was  written,  tells  him  it  was  pro- 
bable that  he  had  appointed  Clodius  his  heir :  a  circum- 
stance utterly  inconsistent  with  the  supposition  abuve  men- 
tioned. The  same  letter  may  be  produced  as  an  evidence 
likewise,  that,  whatever  were  the  good  offices  which  Metel- 
lus here  acknowledges,  they  did  not  proceed  from  the  sug- 
gestions of  Cicero's  heart ;  for  he  speaks  of  him  to  Atticus 
as  of  one  whose  character  and  conduct  he  greatly  disap- 
proved.    Ad  Att,  iv.  7.  .  o        J        r 


n 


go  The  LETTERS  Book  I. 

willing  he  should  cease  to  act  as  a  relation, 
since  "l  have  the  pleasure  to  see  you  assume 
that  character  in  his  stead.  To  say  the  truth, 
notwithstanding  I  had  formerly  so  much  re- 
gard for  him,  as  to  have  twice  preser^'ed  him, 
even  in  spite  of  himself,  I  should  now  be  glad 
to  forget  there  i&  such  a  person  in  the  world. 

That  Imight  not  trouble  you  too  frequently 
with  my  letters,  I  have  written  to  Lollius  con- 
cerning my  affairs:  who  will  let  you  know 
what  measures  I  am  desirous  may  be  taken  in 
regard  to  the  accounts,  of  this  province'.  If 
it  be  possible,  let  me  still  enjoy  a  place  in  your 

affection.     Farewel. 

LETTERS 

*  Spain. 


''i& 


i    91    ) 


LETTERS 


Of 


MARCUS  TULLIUS  CICERO 


TO 


SEVERAL  OF  HIS  FRIENDS. 


BOOK  IL 


'i: 


••» 


LETTER  I. 

[A.  U,698.] 

To  QuiNTus  Ancharius*,  Proconsul. 

1  RECOMMEND  tlic  two  SODS  of  my  vcrv  ex* 
cellent  friend  Aurelius,  as  well  deserving  your 
esteem.  They  are  adorned,  indeed,  with  every 
polite  and  valuable  qualification :  as  they  are 

in 

*  Quintus  Ancharius  was  tribune  An.  Urb.  69^ ;  when 
he  distinguished  himself  by  his  resolute  opposicion  to  the  fac- 
tious measures  of  hks  colleague  Vatinius.  In  the  year  6*97 
be  was  chosen  praetor;  and  at  the  expiration  of  that  office, 

be 


92 


The   letters 


Book  II. 


Book  II. 


OF  CICERO. 


93 


i' 


r 


in  the  number,  likewise,  of  those  with  whom 
I  most  intimately  converse.  If  ever  then  my 
recommendation  had  any  weight  with  you, 
(and  much,  I  am  sensible,  it  ever  had)  let  it 
prevail,  I  conjure  you,  in  the  present  instance. 
And  be  assured,  the  honours  with  which  you 
shall  distinguish  these,  my  friends,  will  not 
only  indissolubly  unite  to  you  two  excellent 
and  grateful  young  men,  but,  at  the  same  time^ 
confer  a  very  singular  obligation  upon  myself. 
Farewel. 

LETTER  II. 

[A.  U.  698.] 

To  PuBLius  Lentulus,  Proconsul 

I  HAVE  received  your  letter,  wherein  you  as- 
sure me,  that  the  frequent  accounts  I  send  you 
of  your  affairs,  together  with  the  convincing 
proofs  I  have  given  you  of  my  friendship,  are 
circumstances  extremely  agreeable  to  you.  I 
should  ill  deserve,  indeed,  those  singular  fa- 
vours you  have  conferred  upon  me,  if  I  were 
capable  of  refusing  you  my  best  services :  and 
\  nothing  is  more  pleasing  to  me,  in  this  long  and 
very  distant  separation,  than  thus  to  converse 

with 

xT*-^  "... 

he  succeeded  Piso  in  the  government  of  Macedonia  ;  in  which 
'province  this  letter  is  addressed  to  him.     Orat.  pro  Scxt,  53. 
is  Pison.  o6.  Ross  remark  on  the  ejiist,  of  Cic, 


^vith  you  as  often  as  possible.  If  you  do  not 
hear  from  me  as  frequently  as  you  wish,  it  is 
solely  because  1  dare  not  trust  my  letters  to 
every  conveyance.  But  whenever  I  shall  be 
able  to  put  them  into  hands,  upon  which  I 
may  safely  rely,  be  assured  I  shall  not  suffer 
the  opportunity  to  slip  by  me. 

It  is  not  easy  to  give  a  satisfactory  answer 
to  your  enquiry  concerning  the  sincerity  of 
your  professed  friends,  and  the  disposition  of 
others  in  general  towards  you.     This  only  I 
will  venture  to  say,  that  a  certain  party,  and 
particularly  those  who  have  the  strongest  ob- 
ligations, as  well  as  the  greatest  abilities  to 
<listinguish  themselves   in   your  service,,  look 
upon  you  with  envy:  that  (agreeably  to  what 
I  have  myself  experienced  upon  a  different  oc- 
casion) those  whom,  in  justice  to  your  coun- 
^^y>  you  have  necessarily  offended,  are  your 
avowed  opposers ;   as  others,   whose  interests 
and  honours  you  have  generously  supported, 
are  much  less  inclined  to  remember  your  fa- 
vours than  to  oppose  your  gloiy.     These  are 
circumstances,,  indeed,  which  I  long  suspectpd, 
and  have  often  intimated  to  you  :  but  of  which 
I  am  now  most  thoroughly  convinced.     I  ob- 
served upon  the  same  occasion  (and  I  believe  I 
fold  you  so  in  a  former  letter,)  both  Ilorten- 


sius 


94 


The  letters 


Book  II. 


sius  and  LucuUus  to  be  extremely  in  your  in- 
terests :  as  among  those  who  were  in  the  ma- 
gistracy,  Lucius  Racilius  appeared  very  sin- 
cerely and  aftectionately  to  espouse  your  cause. 
But,  excepting  the  two  former,  I  cannot  name 
any  of  the  consulars,  who  discovered  the  least 
degree  of  friendship  towards  you,  when  your 
affair  was  before  the  senate.     As  for  my  own 
endeavours,  they  might,  perhaps,  be  generally 
considered  as  flowing  rather  from  those  sin- 
gular favours  I  have  received  at  your  hands, 
than  from  the  uninfluenced  dictates  of  my  real 
sentiments.  With  regard  to  Pompey,  he  seldom 
attended  the  house  at  that  season :  but  I  must 
do  him  the  justice  to  say,  he  often  takes  an  op- 
portunity, w  ithout  my  previously  leading  him 
into  the  subject,  of  discoursing  with  me  con- 
cerning your  affair ;  as  well  as  very  m  illingly 
enters  into  the  conversation,  whenever  1  start 
it  myself.     Your  last  letter,  I  perceived,  was 
extremely  agreeable  to  him ;  and  I  could  not 
but  observe,  with  equal  admiration  and  plea- 
sure, the  polite  and  most  judicious  manner  in 
which  you  addressed  him.    Before  he  received 
this  letter,  he  seemed  a  little  incHned  to  suspect, 
that  the  notion  which  some  had  entertained  of 
his   inclination  to    be   your  competitor,   had 
alienated  you  from  him.     But  you  have  now 

wholly 


V 


Book  H. 


OF  CICERO. 


95 


wholly  fixed  that  excellent  man  in  your  in- 
terest :  who,  in  truth,  had  all  the  antecedent 
reasons  for  being  so,  that  an  uninterrupted  se- 
ries of  the  highest  services  could  possibly  give 
him^  I  must  confess,  he  always  appeared  to 
me,  even  when  the  conduct  of  Caninius  had 
raised  the  strongest  suspicions  of  the  contrary^, 
to  favour  your  views:  But  I  can  now  assure 
you,  that  I  found  him,  after  he  had  perused 
your  letter,  entirely  disposed  to  promote  what- 
ever may  contribute  either  to  your  interest,  or 
your  honours.  You  may  consider  then  what 
I  am  going  to  offer  as  his  immediate  senti- 
ments and  advice :  as  indeed  it  is  tlie  result  of 
frequent  consultations  which  we  have  held  to- 
gether. 

*  See  remark  6.  p.  56. 

*  It  was  an  usual  artifice  wiih  Pompey  to  employ  his 
friends  in  soliciting  those  honours  in  his  bi-half,  to  which  he 
affected  to  appear  himself  perfectly  indifferent,  or  even 
averse.  This  was  his  policy  in  the  pre^e^t  ins  ance;  and  at 
the  same  time  that  he  pretended  to  serve  Lentulus  in  this  af- 
fair, his  creature  Caninius,  a  Tribune  of  the  people,  whs 
practising  every  stratagem  in  order  to  procure  this  com- 
mission for  Pompey.  "  And  tht.ugh  Ccero  (as  Mr.  Ross 
"  observes)  either  out  of  a   tenderness  for  Leniulus,  or  out 

of  an  apprehension  of  displeasing  Pompey,  to  whom  he 
was  at  this  time  making  his  court,  represents  him  in  this 
place  as  acting  an  honest  and  friendly  part:  yet  in  a  let- 
ter to  bis  brother,  where  he  may  be  supposed  to  deliver 
**  his  real  sentiments,  he  speaks  quite  difj^rently  :  9tam  quod 
de  Pompeio  Caninius  agit,  sane  qvam  refritii :  neque  enim 
res  probafur ;  et  Pompeius  mster  in  amkHia  P.  Lcntuli 
litiiperatur,  et  hercule  non  est  idem.  Kp.  vi.  L.  2.  'J  he 
*'  truth  of  the  case  u  this,  when  Pompey  found  it  was  im- 
•*  possible  for  him  to  procure  this  c«)nlmi^sion,  he  pre- 
"  tended  a  friendship  for  Lentulus,  and  joined  with  Cicero 
**  in  living  th«  advjce,  which  makes  a  great  part  of  this 
••  letter/'  ' 


*i 


(( 


<< 


(i 


<< 


<( 


«i 


't 


96 


The   letters 


Book  II. 


H 


gether.  Accordingly  we  are  of  opinion,  that 
it  may  be  proper  for  you  to  consider,  whether 
any  advantages  may  be  derived  from  your 
being  in  possession  of  Cicilia  and  Cyprus.  For 
if  there  should  appear  a  sufficient  probabiHty 
of  being  able  to  make  yourself  master  of  A- 
lexandria  and  Egypt,  wc  think  it  equally  for 
your  own  honour,  and  that  of  the  republic^ 
to  march  thither  with  your  army,  supported 
by  your  fleet;,  having  first  left  the  king  at 
Ptolemais,  or  some  other  convenient  place  in 
that  neighbourhood.     By  these  means,  when 

you 

^  A  general  sketch  of  Ptolemy's  character  has  already 
been  given  in  the  notes  on  the  preceding  book  ;  and  it  ap- 
pears irom  thence,  that  nothing  could  be  less  to  the  honour 
of  the  commonwealth,  than  to  interpose  in  the  behalf  of 
this  justly-rejecred  monarch.  Cicero  himself  represents 
him,  in  one  of  his  orations,  as  unworthy  of  the  crown  he 
wore:  eum  (says  he)  negue genere  neqtie animo  regis  essey  inter 
omnes  fere  video  com: enire.  In  Rull.  ii.  But  what  is  still 
more  extraordinar),  Cicero  makes  the  very  measures  which 
he  here  so  strongly  recommends  to  Lentulus,  an  article  of 
his  char^ge  against  Anthony.  It  was  by  the  persuasion  of 
the  latter  that  Oabinius  undertook  (as  has  already  been 
observed)  the  restoration  of  Ptolemy  :  and  Anthony  com- 
manded the  Roman  cavalry  in  that  expedition.  This  af- 
fords a  topic  of  great  indignation  in  one  of  the  Philippics; 
and  Cicero  there  speaks  of  this  transaction  (as  he  ought  al- 
ways to  have  spoken  of  it)  as  a  n^  )«t  impudent  violation  of 
all  authority  both  sacred  and  civil :  inde  iter  (says  he)  ad 
Alexandriam  contra  senatut  auctoritatem,  coiitra  revipublicam 
el  reiigiGttes.  Philip,  ii.  19,  But  what  opinion  must  every 
unprejudiced  reader  conceive  of  our  author,  when  he  thus 
finds  bim  condemning  and  approving  the  same  transaction, 
and  advising  his  friend  to  pursue  a  step  which  he  afterwards 
publicly  and  justly  reproached  in  his  adversary  ?  See  re- 
mark 2.  p.  51.  of  this  vol. 


Book  II.  of  CICERO.  gT 

you  shall  have  quieted  the  disturbances  irl 
Alexandria,   and  secured  it  by  a  propernum- 
berof  forces;   Ptplemy  may  safely  take  pos- 
session  of  his  kingtlom.     Thus  he  will  be  re- 
stored by  you,    as  the  senate  had  once'  de- 
creed :  and  restored  too  without  anarmy,  agree- 
ably to  the  sentiments  of  those  who  insist  upon 
obser\'ing  the  injunctions  of  the  oracle.     We 
are  the  rather  confirmed  in  recommending  this 
measure,  as  there  is  no  decree  of  the  senate'sub- 
sisting  which  particularly  prohibits  you  from 
replacing  Ptolemy  on  his  throne.  As  to  the  or- 
<Ierwhich  absolutely  forbids  all  assistance  what- 
soever to  be  given  to  him,  you  know  it  Avas 
not  only  protested  against,  when  it  was  voted, 
but  is  generally  looked  upon  rather  as  the 
warm  dictates  of  an  exasperated  faction,  than 
as  having  the  full  authority  of  a  decree  of  the 
senate.   However,  wc  deem  it  necessary  to  add, 
that  we  arc  sensible  the  world  will  judge  of  the 
propriety  of  this  scheme,  entirely  by  the  event. 
Should  it  succeed  as  we  wish,  your  policv  and 
resolution  will  universally  be  applauded;  on  the 
other  hand,  should   it  miscarry,  it   will   un- 
doubtedly be  condemned  as  an  action  of  ill- 
considered  and  unwarrantable  ambition.    How 

far 

•  See  remark  5.  p.  5i.  of  this  vol. 

Vol.  I.  H  .; 


08 


The  letters        Book  II. 


^ 


far  thi^  e^aterpi  i$e  may  be  practicable,  you,  who 
are  situated  almost  within  view  of  Egypt,  are 
th€  most  competent  judge.     If,  therefore,  you 
are  well  satisfied  of  being  able  to  render  your- 
self master  of  that  kingdom,  we  are  clearly  of 
opinion  you  should  not  delay  your  march  one 
moment;  but,  if  you  are  doubtful  of  the  success, 
it  is  our  advice  that  you  by  no  means  make  the 
attempt.     This  I  will  venture  to  assure  you, 
that,  should  you  execute  this  project  in  the 
manner  we  wish,  there  will  be  a  very  considerable 
party  to  give  it  applause,  even  during  your  ab- 
sence ;   as  all  Rome  will  unite  in  the  same  ap- 
probation, the  moment  you  shall  return  amongst 
us.  Nevertheless,  I  am  persuaded,  if  this  scheme 
should  not  take  the  desired  effect,  it  may  be  at- 
tended wdth  very  disagreeable  consequences  to 
yourself;  not  only  upon  account  of  that  order 
of  the  senate  which  I  just  now  mentioned,  but 
likewise  in  regard  to  the  oracle.  When,  there- 
fore, I  recommend  such  measure^  as  you  shall 
have  full  assurance  will  terminate  in  your  glory, 
I  must,  at  the  same  time,  strongly  dissuade  you 
from  engaging  in  them,  if  you  should  have  the 
least  reason  to  apprehend  an  opposition.     For 
(I  repeat  it  again)  the  world  will  be  determined 
in  their  opinion  of  this  whole  transaction,  not  as 
it  is  reasonable,  but  as  it  shall  prove  successful. 

If 


Book  II,  of  ClCfillO.  g^ 

If  the  method  here  proposed,  should  appear  too 
dangerous  to  be  hazarded  in  your  own  person  • 
we  think  it  may  at  least  be  adviseable  to  assist, 
the  king  with  a  number  of  your  forces,  pro^ 
Vided  he  shall  give  sufficient  security  to  yoifr 
friends  m  the  provinc-e,  for  repaying  them  the 
money  they  have  advanced  in  support  of  hifi 
^  cause.     And,   indeed,   the  circumstances  and 
situation  of  your  government  render  it  ex- 
tremely easy,  either  to  promote  or  obstruct  his 
restomtion,  as  you  shall  see  proper.     After  all 
you  ^re  the  best  judge  what  method  will  be 
most- expedient  to  pursue;  I  thought  it  my 
part,  however,  to  inform  you  of  these  our  con- 
current  sentiments. 

You  congratulate  me  on  theprosperoussitua* 
tion  of  my  affairs  in  general,  and  particularly 
on  the  friendship  of  Milo,  together  with  the 
vain  and  ineffectual  schemes  of  the  worthless 
Clodius.  It  is  no  wonder  you  should  rejoiMe  in 
these  the  generous  effects  of  your  own  amicable 
offices.     But  to  say  truth,  such  an  incredible 

^  pifeterseness  (not  to  give  it  a  more  severe  appd. 
lation)  prevails  amongst  a  certain  party,  that 
they  rather  choose  to  alienate  me  by  their  jea^ 
lousies  from  the  common  cause,  than  to  retaia 
me  m  that  interest  by  their  favotit  Ud  encdL 

, .  .  H  2  ragemeiit. 


100 


The  letters 


Book  IL 


Book  IL 


OF  CICERO. 


Jt)l 


i.i 


•1 


tagcme^t^     I  will  own  to  you,  their  malice 
has  almost  driven  me   from   those  principles 
which  I  have  so  long  and  so  invariably  pursu- 
ed. At  least,  if  they  have  not  provoked  me  se 
far  as  to  make  me  forget  the  dignity  of  my  cha- 
racter;  they  have  taught  me  that  it  is  high  time 
1  should  act  with  a  view  likewise  to  my  own 
security.      I   might,    consistently    with    the 
strictest  duties  of  patriotism,  reconcile  both 
these  distinct  ends,  were  there  any  honour  or 
fortitude  in  those  of  consular  rank.     But  such 
a  meanness  of  spirit  prevails  in  general  among 
them,  that,  instead  of  applauding  the  resolu- 
tion with  which  my  actions  have  been  ever 
uniformly  directed  in  the  cause  of  the  com- 
monwealth, they  look  with  envy  upon  those 
dignities  to  which  my  public  services  have  ad- 
vanced me.     I  the  rather  mention  this,  as  it  is 
to  you  that  I  am  principally  indebted,  not  only 
for  the  happiness  of  being  restored  to  my  coun- 
try,  but  almost  for  my  very  first  successful 
steps  in  the  paths  of  patriotism,  and  of  glory. 

I  perceive 

9  Cicero  was,  at  this  time,  acting  a  part  which  gave 
ijreat  and  just  otfence  to  those  who  were  in  the  true  interest 
of  their  country  ;  f.r  he  was  falling  in  w.th  the  measures  of 
C«sar,  Pompey.  and  Crassus.  He  endeavours,  therefore, 
to  palliate  this  unworthy  conduct  as  well  as  he  can  ;  but  as 
he  enters  more  fully  into  the  motives  ot  this  step,  m  the  17th 
letter  of  this  book ;  the  reader  is  referred  to  the  observations 
upon  that  epistle. 


I  perceive  this  opposition  does  not  proceed 
(as  I  formerly  suspected)  from  my  not  being 
of  noble   birth^  aince  they  were  actuated,  I 
have  observed,  by  the  same  malignant  spirit 
against  yourself,  who  are  confessedly  descencL. 
ed  from  one  of  the  first  families  in  Rome.  Ac- 
cordingly, though  your  enemies  are  contented  to 
see  you  among  those  of  principal  rank  in  the  re- 
p.ublic,  they  will  by  no  means  suiFcr  you  to  soar 
higher.     I  rejoice  that  the  parallel  between  us 
extends  no  farther;  and  tho'  wxhave  met  with 
an  equal  degree  of  malice  horn  the  world,  that 
the  respective  consequences,    however,    have 
proved  extremely  different.     For  a  wide  diflfer- 
ence  there  surely  is  between  sufl^ering  some  di- 
minution in  point  of  honours,  and  being  aban- 
doned to  total  ruin.    If  I  have  not  greater  rea- 
.^squ  to  lament  this  cruel  outrage  of  my  adver- 
saries, it  must  be  attributed  to  your  generous 
interposition,  a&  it  wa,s  by  your  means  it  proved, 
in  the  final  event,  of  far  more  advantage  to  my 
reputation,   than  of  prejudice  ta  my  fortunes. 
Suffer  me,  then,  from  a  principle  of  gratitude 
^  well  as  affection,  to  exhort  you,  eaijnestly,  ' 

ta 

fin.'^lf '^'^^  ^"""""^  V^.^  ^'''"*"'  '^^'  considered  (as  Manu- 

Pl.h.tn '''\  "f "  '^''  ^r^"^'^  "^^  '"^  opposition  to  the 
Plebeian  rank,  for  many  Plebeian  families  were  noble;  but 

inv  of  rh  /'""'''^?/^  '^^^  ^^^°^«  ^"^^^^^r*  had  not  borr^ 
Zlt  »'onourable  magistracies  in  Rome.  And  of  this. 
Dumber  was  Cicero. 

113 


102 


The   letters 


Book  IH 


BdoKlfe^^ 


or  CICERO. 


103 


to  pursue  the  dictates  of  that  well-regulated 
ambition,  with  which  you  were  iaflamed  front 
your  earliest  youth :  nor  let  any  injurious  treats 
ment  depress  that  heroism  of  your  mind  which. 
I  have  ever  admired  and  valued.     The  world, 
believe  me,  entertains  the  highest  opinion  of 
your  merit,  and  loudly  proclaims  that  enlarged 
and  generous  spirit  which  distinguishes  all  your 
actions  :  and  it  particularly  remembers,  to  your 
immortal  honour,  tlie  j>atriotism  of  your  illus* 
trious  consulship.    You  are  sensible,  therefore, 
how  much  the  least  additional  glory,  which 
shall  accrue  to  you  from  your  civil  and  military 
conduct  in  the  government  of  your  province, 
wUi  increase  and  strengthen  this  general  lustre 
of  your  reputation.     But  let  me  express  my 
wi&htfs  at  the  same  time,  in  the  first  place,  that 
you  would  not  engage  in  any  enterprize  with 
your  army,  without  having  long  and  maturely 
examined  it  in  all  its  consequences,   nor  with- 
out being  sufficiently  prepared  to  carry  it  into 
execution  :  and  in  the  next,  that  vou  would 
be  persuaded,  of  what  I  doubt  not  you  are  al- 
ready sensible,  that  you  will  find  it  extremely 
easy  to  continue  in  the  possession  of  that  pre- 
eminence   amongst    your   fellow-citizens,     to 
whiqji,  you  have  always  aspired.  That  you  may 
nol  imagine,  however,   1  am  ofFeiing  the  idle 

tribute 


tribute  of  unnecessary  advice,  I  must  add,  that 
I  could  not  reflect  upon  thcj  treatment  we  hav4 
both  received,  without  thinking  it  proper  tor 
exhort  you  well  to  consider,  for  the  future,  on 
whom  you  repose  your  confidence. 

As  to  your  enquiry  concerning  the  situatiofi^ 
of  public  affairs,  there  are  great  divisions^ 
amongst  us  :  but  the  zeal  and  prudence  of  tl>e 
several  parties  are  by  no  means  equal.  Thos«. 
who  enjoy  the  largest  share  of  wealth  and  power*,, 
have  gained  a  superiority  of  credit  likewise  by 
the  folly  and  instability  of  their  antagonists  : 
for  they  have  obtained  from  the  senate,  with 
very  little  opposition,  what  they  had  no  hopes 
of  receiving,  even  from  the  people,  without 
raising  great  disturbances.  Accordingly  the 
house  has  voted  Caesar  a  sum  of  money  for  the 
payment  of  his  army,  together  with  a  power 
of  nominating  ten  heutenants;  as  they  have 
also,  without  the  least  difficulty,  dispensed 
\vith  the  Sempronian  law  for  appointing  him  a 
successor^    I  do  but  slightly  touch  upon  these 

particulai^, 

*  Caesar,  Pompey,  and  Crassus. 

^  These  immoderate  and  fatal  concessions  to  Csesar's  am^ 
bition,  were  absolutely  unconstitutional,  and  most  evidently 
tended  to  the  subversion  of  the  republic.  But  if  the  reader 
is  surprised  at  so  mean  and  so  impolitic  a  compliance  on  the 
part  of  the  senate,  how  much  higher  will  his  wonder  rise> 
when  he  is  informed  that  Cicero  himself  was  the  chief  adviser 
•nd  promoter  of  these  \'cry  measures  which  he  here  con- 

H  4  demn?  ? 


f 


m 


The  .I^ETJEIi^  Book  JI. 


Book  II.  of  CICERO. 


105 


particulars,  as  I  cannot  reflect  on  our  affairs 
wi|;lj  any^  sa^^i^^^tiou.  However,  I  n^eutiou 
them  as  suggesting  an  useful  caution  to  both 
ol"^^^  t^Q^pveserye  a  proper  poise  between  our 
interest  and  our  honour,  and  not  to  advance 
one  by  an  undue  depression  of  the  other.  A 
niaxira  this  which  I  have  learned,  not  so  much 
frorii  niy  favourite  philosopliy,  as  from  sad  ex- 
j^rience.^  and  which,  I  would  recommend  to 
you,  ere  you  are  taught  it  by  the  same  unpleas- 
ing  method  of  conviction. 

Your   congratulations    on   my    daughter  s 
marriage  with  C.rassipes*,  are  agreeable  to  your 

1  -  *  usual 

demns  ?  If  this  were  a  fact  which  stood  upon  the  credit  of 
hiiioridns,  the  passage  before  us  would  strongly  incline  one 
to  suspect  that  they  had  misrepresented  the  truth.  But  we 
have  a  testimony  to  produce,  which,  though  of  undoubted 
authority,  is  the  last  one  should  have  expected  in  the  case  ; 
for  it  is  lite  tesiimony  of  Cicero  himself.  In  a  speech  which 
lie  prunounct'd  at  the  bar  either  a  little  before,  or  soon  after 
the  dale  of  this  letter,  he  mentions  each  of  these  particular 
^rnjiis,  which  he  enumerates  to  Lentulus,  and  then  adds, 
Harum  ego  u/itcntiarum  et  Princeps  tt  Auctor  fuL  Orat, 
pro  HaUto.  27. 

Tfte  St  mpn>nian  law  here  spoken  of,  was  procured  by  C. 
Sempronius  Grdcchu*,  a  tribune  of  the  people,  A.  U.  6*31. 
iiiid  enacted  that  tiie  sei.atc  should  annually  appoint  succes- 
sors to  the  Consular  provinces. 

OJ  :*iTullia,  when  ^h«i  married  Crassipes,  was  the  widow  of 
Piso^  surnamed  Frugi ;  of  whom  au  account  has  been  given 
in  the  noies  on  the  former  book.  This  second  match  did 
-jDpt  prove  s«»  sa  is'aclory  as  Cicero  here  promises  himself; 
fi'r  Cxas!»^|>p^  syun  took  a  disgtist  to  Tullia,  which  ended  m  a 
div>>rce.  A^  he  i»  very  seldom  and  but  slightly  mentioned  in 
Cicen/s  wntsngs,  all  that  we  know  of  him  is,  that  he.  was  a 
Doblemaii  of  the  irst  rank. 


usual  politeness :  I  hope  and  believe  this  alli- 
ance will  yield  me  great  satisfaction.-— Your 
son  is  a  youth  of  so  promising  a  turn,  that  I 
cannot  forbear  conjuring  you  to  trkm  him  up 
in  those  refined  arts  which  have  ever  been  your 
pecuHar  taste  and  study ;  but  chiefly  in  that 
best  and  noblest  discipline,  the  imitation  of  your 
exalted  virtues.  Believe  me,  I  greatly  love  and 
esteem  him,  not  only  in  return  to  the  singular 
affection  he  has  ever  shewn  me,  but  par- 
ticularly as  he  is  the  son,  and  the  worthy  son 
too,  oij^  raluable  friend.     Farewel, 


Z>tJf^ 


LETTER  f^, 

[A.  U.  698.] 

To  Fabius  Gallus*. 

1  RECEIVED  your  letter  immediately  upon  my 
return  from  Arpinum,  together  with  one  like- 
wise from  Avianus*",  in  which  he  very  gene- 
rously offers  to  give  me  credit  as  long  as  I 
shall  require.  Now  let  me  desire  you  to  ima- 
gine yourself  in  my  situation,  and  then  tell  me, 
whether  I  can,  with  a  good  grace,  ask  him  to 
allow  me  even  the  least  time  for  the  payment 

of 

*  The  same  person  to  whom  the  11th  letter  of  the  forego- 
ing book  is  written. 

*»  He  seems  to  have  been  the  proprietor  of  the  statues 
mpnlioned  below. 


109 


Th«  letters 


Book  IIU 


i 


of  this  maney,  much  less  above  a  year  ?  In-»^ 
deed,  my  dear  friend,  I  should  not  have  been 
in  this  difficulty,  if  you  had  not  exceeded  the 
limits  of  my  coniniission,  both  in  the  particulars 
and  tlie  sum.  However,  I  am  not  only  mU 
ling  to  ratify  the  agreement  you  have  made  for 
the  statues  you  mention^  but  am  likewise  much 
obliged  to  you.  I  am  sensible,  indeed,  that  in 
the  zeal  of  your  friendship,  you  have  purchas- 
ed fur  me  wliat  pleased  your  own  eye,  and  wlut 
you  imagined  would  be  worthy  of  mine ;  and  I 
always  considered  you  as  a  man  of  the  most  ju- 
dicious and  elegant  taste  in  every  kind.  Never- 
theless, I  shall  be  extremely  glad  if  Damasippus« 
should  continue  in  the  resolution  of  taking  these 
figures  off  my  hands ;  for,  to  own  the  plain 
truth,  I  have  no  sort  of  inclination  to  them 
myself.  As  you  were  not  apprised  of  my  inten*- 
tions,  you  have  actually  consented  to  pay  more 
for  these  four  or  five  pieces  of  sculpture**,  thaa. 
I  would  have  given  for  all  the  statues  in  the 
universe.  You  compare  the  images  of  the 
priestesses  of  Bacchus,  to  those  of  the  Muse§. 

which 

'  Damasippus  was  a  celebrated  virtuoso  of  these  times, 
who,  afier  having  ruined  hw  fortunes  by  his  extravagant 
passion  for  antiques,  turned  Stoic.  Horace  has  ridiculed 
hH  character  and  his  conversion  with  great  humour,  m 
©nc  of  hts  satires.     Vid.  Horat,  Sat.  ii.  5. 

*  These  statues  appear,  by  what  follows,  to  ha:ve  been 
three  Bacchanals,  a  Mar^^  and  some  figure  designed  for  the 
support  of  a  table. 


Book  IL 


OF  CICERO. 


107 


which  I  bought  of  Metellus.  But  surely,  my 
friend,  the  two  instances  are  by  no  means  pa- 
rallel For,  in  the  first  place,  the  Muses  them- 
selves would  have  condemned  me,  if  I  had  ever 
rated  them  at  so  extravagant  a  price:  and  ia 
the  next,  I  purchased  the  figures  you  mention 
as  bearing  an  allusion  to  my  studies,  and  afford- 
ing a  suitable  ornament  to  my  library.  But 
where  can  I,  with  any  propriety,  place  thest 
Bacchanals  ?  That  they  are,  as  you  assure  me 
extremely  beautiful,  I  know  full  well;  fori 
have  frequently  seen  them ;  and,  therefore,  I 
should  particularly  have  named  them  to  you,  if 
they  had  suited  my  purpose*  The  purchases 
which  I  usually  make  of  this  kind  are  such 
only  as  are  proper  to  embellish  my  Palaestra^ 
in  the  same  manner  as  the  public  Gymnasia^ 
are  generally  decorated.  But  would  it  not  bc^ 
absurd  enough,  my  good  friend,  if  I,  who,  upon 
all  occasions,  you  know,  have  distinguished 

myself 

TpfThePalajstra  was  properly  a  part  of  those  public  build- 
ings which  the  Grecians  (from  whom  the  Romans  took  them) 
called  Gymnasia,  which  were  originally  designed  for  exer- 
cises of  various  kinds,  and  in  which,  in  after-times»  the 
philosophers,  likewise,  held  their  schools.  What  Cicero 
here  calls  his  PaloEHra,  seems  to  be  the  same  building,  which, 
in  a  letter  to  Atticus,  he  terms  his  Academia,  and  which 
appears  to  have  been  some  apartments,  or,  perhaps,  a  dis- 
tinct building,  of  his  Tusculan  villa,  appropriated,  princi- 
pally, to  the  purposes  of  study,  but  adapted  alsj  t.*  (hose 
bodily  exercises  which  the  ancients  seldom  pawed  a  day  with- 
out practising.     Fid.  ad  Att.  i.  5,  6,  9. 


: 


"     1 


108 


The   LETTEES         Book  II. 


TOYself  as  the  friend  of  peace,  sliould  erect  a 

•if 

statue  of  the  God  of  war.  It  is  well  there  was 
not  a  Saturn  too,  for  how  could  I  have  expect- 
ed to  have  been  out  of  debt,  whilst  I  had  lived 
under  the  aspect  of  two  suchunlucky  divinities^? 
Mercury  would  have  been  a  much  more  wel* 
come  guest ;  for  I  should  have  hoped,  by  his 
influence,  to  have  made  a  more  advantageous 
bargain^  with  Avianus.  As,  to  thc.%ure  der 
sigiK^d  for  the  support  of  a  tablc^  Avhich  you 
intended  to  reserve  for  your  own  use,  you  shall 
have  it,  if  you  still  remain  in  the  same  mind, 
if  not,  I  am  ready  to  take  it  myself.  Upon 
the  whole,  however,  1  had  much  rather  have 
employed  this  money  in  the  purchase  of  a  little 
lodge  at  Tarracina\  that  I  might  not  always 
trouble  my  friend  and  host.  But  this  mistake 
is  partly  o\v  ing  to  the  carelessness  of  my  freed^ 
man,  in  not  observ  ing  the  instructions  1  gave 
him,  and  partly  also  to  J  unius,  whom  I  sup^ 
pose  you  know,  as  he  is  a  particular  friend  of 

Avianus. 

f  Alluding  (^  Manutius  observer)  to  the  notions  of  ihe 
judicial  a-trologcrs,  who  preiciided  that  Mars  and  Saturn 
W^re  unlucky  planets. 

i  Mercury  was  supposed  to  preside  over  commerce,  from 
whence  it  is  probable  that  the  Mercuriales,  mentioned  in  a 
letter  of  Cicero  to  his  brother,  were  a  com/;a/7j^  of  merchants, 
Vid.  Ad.  Q.  /*.  ii.  5. 

'  ',yit  is  now  called  Terracina,  a  town  in  the  campagna  dj. 
ivma.     It  lay  in  the  road  from  Rome  to  Cicero's  villa  ajt 


B60K  It:  OF  CldERO. 


109 


Avianus.  As  I  have  latelv  built  some  acUli- 
tional  apartments  to  my  little  portico  at  Tuscu- 
lanum',  I  was  desirousof  adorning  them  with  a 
fe\v^  pictures:  for,  if  I  take  pleasure  in  any  thing 
of  this  kind,  it  is  in  paintings.  However,  if 
I  must  have  these  statues,  let  me  know  where 
they  are,  when  they  will  arrive,  and  by  what 
conveyance  you  propose  to  send  them.  For,  if 
Damasippus  should  change  his  intentions  of 
buying  them,  I  shall  find,  perhaps,  some  pre- 
tender to  his  taste,  who  may  be  glad  of  the 
purchase,  and  I  should  be  willing  to  part  with 
them  even  at  a  loss.  Ji(^ 

When  I  received  your  first  letter  conceminsr 
the  house  you  want  to  take,  belonging  to  Cas- 
sius,  I  was  just  setting  out  from  Rome,  atftf, 
therefore,  I  left  your  commission  with  my 
daughter.  However,  I  took  an  opportunity 
myself  of  talking  upon  this  affair  Mithyour 
friend  Nicia,  who,  you  know,  is  very  intimate 
wdth  Cassius.  At  my  return  hither,  and  before 
I  had  opened  your  last  letter,  I  inquired  of 
Tullia  what  she  had  done  in  this  matter.  She 
told  me,  she  had  applied  to  Licinia  to  speak  to 

her 

5^*  Cicero,  if  we  may  credit  the  invective  ascribed  to  Sal* 
lust,  expended  immense  sums  in  this  his  favourite  vdla| 
which,  probably,  was  a  very  fine  one  when  it  came  into  bis 
possession,  as  it  originaliv  belonged  to  Sylfa  the  dictator. 
Some  considerable  remains  of  it  arc  still  shewn  at  Grotta 
Ferrata.     Saliust,  dcdam,  in  Cic.  63,     riin.  H,  N.  xxii. 


no 


The  letters 


fiooK  IL 


Book  II; 


«^i  ^CICERO. 


m 


her  brother  Cassius ;  but,  I  believe,  he  is  ndt 
uf>on  very  good  terms  with  his  sister.  The 
answer  which  Licinia  gave  my  daughter  was, 
that  her  husband  being  gone  into  Spain,  she 
durst  not  remove*  in  his  absence  and  without 
his  knowledge.  I  am  greatly  obliged  to  you 
for  being  so  desirous  of  my  company  as  to  be 
impatient  to  get  into  a  house  where  you  may 
not  only  be  near  me,  but  actually  under  the 
same  roof.  Be  assured,  I  am  no  less  desirous 
of  having  you  for  my  neighbour,  and  as  I  am 
sensible  how  much  it  will  contribute  to  our 
mutual  satisfaction,  I  shall  try  every  expedient 
for  that  purpose.  If  I  should  have  any  suc- 
cess, 1  will  let  you  know  :  in  the  mea  while, 
I  beg  you  would  return  me  a  particular  answer 
to  this  letter,  and  tell  me  at  the  same  time 
when  I  may  expect  to  see  you.     Farewel. 

LETTER 

^Tbis  lady  seems  to  have  been  the  tenant  of  the  house, 
which  Gallus  wanted  either  to  buy  or  hire. 


I*'- 


•  7 


'^Ar 


LETTER  IV. 

[A.  V,  69a]  ■ 

To  PuBLius  Lentulus,  Proconsul. 


fnh 


'Marcus  Pketorius  will  fully  inform  you  of 
the  promises  we  have  received  from  Pompey, 
together  with  every  other  circumstance  that 
has  been  either  attempted,  or  effected  in  your 
favour.  He  was  not  only  present,  but,  indeed, 
a  principal  agent  throughout  the  whole  pro- 
ceedings, and  he  acted  in  every  article  of  your 
concerns,  agreeably  to  m  hat  might  fce^eixpecl- 
ed  from  a  judicious,  a  vicrilant  and  an  affec- 
tibnate  friend.  To  him,  likewise,  I  must  refer 
you  for  an  account  of  public  affairs,  not  well 
knowing  what  to  say  of  them  myself.  This 
much,  however,  I  can  assure  you,  that  they  are 
in  the  hands  (and  in  the  hands  they  are  likely 
to  remain)  of  our  professed  friends^  As  for 
myself,  both  gratitude  and  prudence,  together 
with  your  particular  advice,  have  determined 
me,  as  they,  ought,  to  join  in  his^  interest, 
whom  you  Avere  formerly  desirous  of  associating 
with  you  in  mine.     You  are  sensible  ncverthe- 

I  less, 

5  CiEsar,  Pompey,  and  Crassus. 


112 


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Book  II. 


OF  CICERO. 


113 


less,  how  difficult  it  is  to  renounce  our  old  and 
habitual  notions  of  politics ;  especially  under 
a  full  persuasion  of  their  rectitude.  However, 
I  conform  myself  to  his  system,  since  I  cannot, 
with  any  decency,  oppose  him  ;  and  whatever 
some  may,  perhaps,  imagine,  I  am  by  no  means 
acting  in  this  a  counterfeit  part.  The  truth 
of  it  is,  Pompey  has  gained  such  an  absolute 
possession  of  my  esteem,  that  I  begin  to  look 
upon  every  thing  as  just  and  reasonable,  which 
falls  in  with  his  interest  or  inclination^.  I 
should  think  too,  it  would  be  no  impmdent 
resolution,  even  in  his  adversaries  themselves, 
to  desist  from  an  opposition  to  which  they  are 
evidently  unequal.  In  the  mean  time,  I  have 
the  satisfaction  to  find  the  world  in  general 
agreed,  that  my  character  requires  I  should 
support,  or,  at  least,  not  obstruct  the  measures 
of  Pompey;  while  some  are  even  of  opinion  I 
may  reasonably  retire  from  all  public  business, 
to  my  favourite  pursuits  of  a  hterary  kind.  And, 
indeed,  were  I  not  prevented  by  my  friendship 
to  Pompey,  I  should  most  certainly  adopt  this 
latter  scheme,  as  of  all  others  the  most  suitable 
to  my  inclinations.  For  I  can  now  no  longer 
maintain  that  dignity  in  the  senate,  and  that 
freedom  in  the  commonwealth,  which,  was  the 

single 

7  See  remark  17ih,  p.  171.  of  this  vol. 


single  motivfe  of  my  ambition,  and  the  sole  end 
I  proposed  to  myself  in  all  my  labours ;  a  mis- 
fortune, however,  which  is  not  peculiar  to  my- 
self, but  extends  to  every  Roman  in  general. 
In  a  word,  I  am  under  the  sad  necessitv  either 
of  tamely  submitting  to  the  sentiments  of  those 
few  who  lead  the  republic,  or  of  imprudently 
joining  in  a  weak  and  fruitless  opposition*.  I 
the  rather  mention  this,  that  you  may  delibe- 
rate, before  you  return  amongst  us,  what  part 
it  may  be  adviseable  for  you  to  act  in  the  pre- 
sent conjuncture.  To  speak  freely,  the  mea- 
sures both  of  those  of  Senatorian  and  Eques- 
trian rank  ;  and,  indeed,  the  whoh  system  of 
the  commonwealth  in  general,  are  totally 
changed.  All,  therefore,  that  I  have  now  to 
wish,  is  the  preservation  of  the  public  tranquil- 
lity, 

•  A  determined  patriot  could  not  have  been  reduced  to 
die  alterative  which  Cicero  here  mentions :  as  there  was  a 
third  expedient  which  every  man  of  strict  political  integrity, 
who  dared  to  act  up  to  his  principles,  would  undoubtedly 
have  embraced.  *'  An  honest  physician,"  says  Sir  William 
Temple,  **  is  excused  for  leaving  his  patient,  when  he  finds 
**  the  disease  growing  desperate,  and  can,  by  his  attendance, 
"  expect  only  to  receive  his  own  fees,  without  any  hopes  or 
**  appearance  of  deserving  them."  Our  author,  in  one  of 
his  orations,  mentions  it  to  the  immortal  honour  of  the  ce- 
lebrated Metellus,  that  de  Cvvitate  decedereqvnm  de  sentattia 
maluit ;  and  he  who  is  actuated  by  the  same  sublime  patriot- 
ism, will  never  find  himself  under  the  poor  necessity  of  jus- 
tifying wrong  measures  by  the  impossibility  of  enforcing  right 
ones.     See  remark  30.  p.  181.  of  this  vol. 

Vol.  L  I 


114 


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ISooK  IL 


lity,  which  those,  who  are  in  the  administra- 
tion, seem  to  give  us  a  prospect  of  enjoying, 
if  a  certain  party  could  be  prevailed  upon  to 
submit  with  less  impatience  to  their  power. 
'As  to  any  hopes  of  supporting,  in  the  senate, 
that  true  consular  character  of  a  firm  and  in- 
flexible patriot,  it  is  in  vain  now  to  expect  it ; 
every  mean  for  that  purpose  is  totally  lost,  by 
the  mistaken  conduct  of  those  who  disobliged 
Pompey',  and  dissolved  that  strong  union 
which  subsisted  between  the   senate  and  ttic 

Equestrian  orders 
^  But 

»  Pompey  was  very  desirous  of  having  the  several  grants 
^hich  he  had  made  to  the  cities  of  Asia,  after  his  defeat  of 
Mithridates,  confirmed  by  the  senate,  in  which  he  was 
strongly  opposed  by  Cato,  Metellus  Celer,  LucuUus,  and 
others.  This  occasioned  a  breach  between  Pompey  and  the 
senate,  and  gave  Caesar  an  opportunity  of  establishing  an  in- 
terest  with  the  former;  which,  at  that  juncture,  he  found 
necessary  for  his  purposes.  Accordingly,  being  soon  after 
elected  consul,  he  procured  a  law  from  the  people  to  ratify 
these  acts.     Suet,  in  JuL  Cas,  Ip- 

9  The  farmers  of  the  public  revenues,  who  were  compos- 
ed of  the  principal  persons  among  theEfjuestrian  order,  hav- 
ing,  as  they  pretended,  rented  some  branch  of  the  finances 
at  too  high  a  rate,  applied  to  the  senate  for  relief.     Their 
dema^ds.  it  seems,  were  unreasonable:  however,  in  the  si- 
tuation wherein  public  affairs  then  stood,  it  was  thought 
prudent   by  the  more  moderate  party,  not  to  disoblige  so 
considerable  a  body  of  men.     But  Cato  obstinately  opposed 
their  demands  ;  and,  by  his  means,  the  senate,  after  keeping 
them  in  suspense  for  several  months,  at  length  rejected  their 
petition.     ButCsesar,  who  knew  how  to  turn  every  incident 
to  his  advantage,  took  up  the  interests  of  these  knights  ;  and, 
in  his  consulship,  obtained  from   the  people  a  remission  ot 
one-third  part  of  the  stipulated  rent.     This  single  piece  of 
^  policy 


Bqox  It  OF  CICERQ. 


J 15 


But  to  return  to  what  more  immediately  re- 
lates to  your  own  private  affairs  ;— Ppmpey  is 
extremely  your  friend,  and,  by  all  that  I  can 
observe,  you  may  obtain  any  thing  you  shMl 
desire  during  his  consulship'.     At  least  I  shall 
solicit  him  very  strenuously  for  that  .purpose, 
and  you  may  rely  upon  my  most  active  offices in 
every  instance  where  you  are  concerned.     J  am 
well  persuaded  my  assiduity  upon  this  occasion 
will  not  be  disagreeable  to  him :  on  the  contrarv. 
he  will  receive  it  with  pleasure,  were  it  for  no 
other  reason  than  as  affording  him  a  proof  of 
my  grateful  disposition.     In  the  mean  time,  I 
entreat  you  to  believe,  that  whatever  bears  tlie 
least  connexion  with  your  interests,  is  of  more 
importance  to  me  than  my  own.     From  these 
sentiments  it  is,  that  I  despair  not  only  of  being 
able  to  return,  but  even  sufficiently  to  acknow- 
ledge, the  infinite  obligations  I  owe  you,  tho', 
at  the  same  time,  I  am  conscious  of  havino- 
exerted,  upon  all  occasions,  the  most  unwe^- 
-ri^d  endejavours  in  your  service. 

It  is  rumoured  here  that  you  have  obtained  :a 
complete  victory,  and  we  impatiently  expect  an 

expr^i^s 

.  policy  (as  one  of  the  Greek  historians  observes)  gave  him  a 
more  considerable  accession  of  power,  even  thaa  he  had  be- 
;  fore  acquired  by   means  of  the  people,  as  it  gained  over  a 
much  more  important  order  to  his  party.     Ad  Att    n    1 
Suet,  in  Jul.  Cat,  20.  Ap,  B,  C.  ii. 

'  Pompey  and  Crassus  were  at  this  time  consuls, 

I  i 


i 


116 


The  letters 


Book  IL 


express  with  the  confirmation  of  this  agreeable 
news.  I  have  aheady  talked  with  Pompey 
upon  this  subject,  and  as  soon  as  your  courier 
arrives,  I  shall  employ  my  utmost  diligence  ia 
convening  the  senate.  In  fine,  were  I  to  per- 
form much  more  for  your  interest  than  Hes 
within  the  compass  of  my  present  power,  I 
should  still  think  I  had  fallen  far  short  of  what 
you  have  a  right  to  expect.     Farewel. 

LETTER  V. 

[A.  U.  698.] 

To  Marcus  Marius*. 

If  your  general  valetudinary  disposition  pre- 
vented you  from  being  a  spectator  of  our  late 
public  entertainments^  it  is  more  to  fortune 
than  to  philosophy,  that  I  am  to  impute  your 
absence.    But  if  you  decUned  our  party  for  no 

other 

*  The  person  to  whom  this  letter  is  addressed,  seems  to 
have  been  of  a  temper  and  constitution,  that  placed  him  far 
below  the  ambition  of  being  known  to  posterity.  But  a  pri- 
vate letter  from  Cicero's  hand  has  been  sufficient  to  dispel 
the  obscurity  he  appears  to  have  loved,  and  to  render  his 
retirement  conspicuous. 

2  They  were  exhibited  by  Pompey,  at  the  opening  of  his 
theatre;  one  of  the  most  magnificent  siructures  of  ancient 
Rome,  and  so  extensive  as  to  contain  no  less  than  80,000 
spectators.  It  was  built  after  the  model  of  one  which  he 
saw  at  Mitylene,  in  his  return  from  the  Mithridatic  war ; 
and  adorned  with  the  noblest  ornaments  of  statuary  and 
paintine.  Some  remains  of  this  immense  building  still  sub- 
sist.    Uv.  xxxix.  Plin,  H,  N,  vii,  3,  Plut.  in  vit.  Pomp, 


Book  IL 


OF  CICERO. 


117 


other  reason  than  as  holding  in  just  contempt^ 
what  the  generality  of  the  world  so  absurdly  ad- 
mire, I  must  at  once  congratulate  you  both  on 
your  health  and  your  judgment.  Isaythisupona 
supposition,  however,  thatyou  were  enjoying  the 
philosophical  advantages  of  that  delightfulscene, 
in  which,  I  imagine,  you  were  almost  wholly  de- 
serted. At  the  same  time  that  your  neighbours, 
probably,  were  nodding  over  the  dull  humour  of 
our  trite  farces;  my  friend,  I  dare  say,  was  in* 
dulging  his  morning  meditations  in  that  elegant 
apartment,  from  whence  you  have  opened  a 
prospect  to  Sejanum,  through  the  Stabian hills*. 

And 

*  Sejanum  (if  that  be  the  true  reading,  for  the  MSS.  dif- 
fer extremely)  is  found  in  no  other  ancient  author.  Stabise 
was  a  maritime  town  in  Campania,  situated  upon  the  bay  of 
Naples,  from  whence  the  adjoining  hills  here  mentioned  took 
their  name.  One  may  figure  the  philosophical  Marius  as 
looking  down  upon  the  world  from  this  his  delightful  retire- 
ment, with  reflections  of  the  same  kind  as  those  which  the 
poet  has  so  exquisitely  imaged,  in  the  following  beautiful 
lines : 

HerCy  on  a  single  plank,  thrown  safe  on  shore y 
I  hear  the  tumult  of  the  distant  throng , 
As  that  of  seas  remote,  or  dying  storms^ 
And  meditate  on  scenes  more  silent  still. 
Here,  like  a  shepherd  gazing  from  his  hut. 
Touching  his  reedy  or  leaning  on  his  staffs 
Eager  ambition*  sfery  chase  I  see: 
I  see  the  circling  hunt  of  noisy  men 
Burst  law's  inclosure,  leap  the  mounds  of  right , 
Pursuing  and  pursud ;  each  other's  prey ; 
As  wolves  for  rapine,  as  the  fox  for  wiles : 
Till  death,  that  mighty  hunter,  earths  them  all ! 

Young. 

13 


1 


I" 


ii« 


TflE  LETTERS         Book  It 


Atid  whilst  you  are  employirig  the  rest  of  the 
day  in  those  various  polite  amusements,  which 
you  have  the  happy  privilege  to  plan  out  for 
yourself;  we,  alas  !  had  the  mortification  of 
tamely  enduring  those  dramatical  representa- 
tion^, to  which  Msetius^,  it  seems,  our  professed 
critic,  had  given  his  infallible  sanction !  but  ai 
you  will  have  the  curiosity,  perhaps,  to  require 
a  more  particular  account ;  I  must  tell  you, 
that  though  our  entertainments  Merc  extremely 

magnificent 

5  This  person  is  supposed,  by  rbe  comraentators,  to  bf 
the  same  to  whose  judgment  Horace  advibcs  the  Pisus  to  re- 
fer their  poetical  compositions  : 

Si  quid  tamen  olim 

l^cripseriSf  in  McBti  descendat  judkis  aures.    Art  Poet.  385. 

But  the  compliment  paid  in  these  lines  lo  the  taste  of  Mctius, 
ill  agrees  with  the  contemptuous  manner  in  which  Cicero 
here  speaks  of  Pompey's  Dramatic  Censor. 

It  appears  by  an  ancient  scholias>t  on  Horace,  that  Au- 
gustus instituted  a  kind  of  poetical  court  of  judicature^  con- 
sisting of  five  judges  ;  the  chief  of  which  was  Metius  Tarpa^ 
mentioned  in  the  verses  above  quoted.  They  held  their  as- 
semblies in  the  temple  of  Apollo  :  and  no  poet  was  permitted 
to  bring  his  play  upon  the  stage  without  their  approbation. 
Domitian  seems  to  have  improved  upon  this  establishment, 
and  extended  it  into  an  academy  that  distributed  prizes  to 
those  who  excelled,  not  only  in  poetical,  but  prose  composi- 
tions. We  have  seen  societies  of  this  sort  formed  among  our 
neiglibour  nations,  with  good  effect :  and  perhaps,  if  in  this 
instance,  as  well  as  in  some  others,  we  were  to  follow  their 
example,  it  might  prove  a  mean,  not  only  of  refining  our  lan- 
guage, and  encouraging  a  spirit  of  polite  literature,  but  of 
calling  off  oar  minds  from  those  political  speculations,  which, 
though  the  privilege,  indeed,  are  not  always  ihc  happiness  of 
ever)  i  Me  Briton.  Dae  remarq,  sur  lu  x.  Sat.  du  1,  live  d'JJQ- 
race.  Sttet  in  Domit.  4. 


Book  IL 


OF  CICERO. 


11>9 


magnificent  indeed,  yet  they  were  by  no  means 
such  as  you  would  have  relished  :  at  least  if  1 
may  judge  of  your  taste  by  my  own.  Some  of 
those  actors  who  had  formerly  distinguished 
themselves  with  great  applause,  but  had  long 
since  retired,  I  imagined,  in  order  to  preserve 
the  reputation  they  had  raised,  were  now  again 
introduced  upon  the  stage :  as  in  honour,  it 
seems,  of  the  festival.  Among  these  was  my 
old  friend  iEsopus^:  but  so  different  from  what 

wc 

•  He  excelled  in  tragedy,  and  was  the  most  celebrated 
actor  that  had  ever  appeared  upon  the  Roman  stage.  Cicero 
experienced  the  advantage  of  his  friendship  and  his  talents 
during  his  exile  ;  for  iEsopus  being  engaged  in  a  part  upon 
the  stage,  wherein  there  were  several  passages  that  might  be 
applied  to  our  aulhor^s  misfortunes:  this  excellent  tragedian 
pronounced  them  with  so  peculiar  and  affecting  an  emphasis, 
that  the  whole  audience  immediately  took  the  allusion  :  and 
it  had  a  better  effect,  as  Cicero  acknowledges,  than  any  thing 
his  own  eloquence  could  have  expressed  for  the  same  pur* 
pose.  But  It  is  not  in  this  instance  alone  that  Cicero  was 
obliged  to  i^sopus,  as  it  was  by  the  advantage  of  his  pre- 
cepts and  example,  that  he  laid  the  foundation  of  his  ora- 
torical fame,  and  improved  himself  in  the  art  of  elocu- 
tion. The  high  value  which  the  Romans  set  upon  the  ta- 
lents of  this  pathetic  actor,  appears  by  the  immense  estate 
which  he  acquired  in  his  profession,  for  he  died  worth 
almost  200,0001.  sterling.  He  left  a  son  behind  him, 
whose  remarkable  extravagance  is  recorded  by  the  Ro- 
man satirist.  This  youth  having  received  a  present  from 
a  favourite  lady  of  a  pearl  out  of  her  ear,  worth  a  mil- 
lion of  sesterces,  or  about  80001.  of  our  money,  dissolved 
it  in  a  liquid,  and  gallantly  drank  it  off:  to  the  health,  we 
may  suppose,  of  his  generous  mistress.  Pliny  the  naturalist, 
who  likev%ise  mentions  this  story,  adds,  that  he  presented, 
at  the  same  time,  to  each  of  his  guests,  a  cup  of  the  same 
valuable  ingredient.    Orat,  pro  Sext.  56.  Pint,  in  vit.  Cicer. 

I  4  *         Macrob^ 


■,  p 


I 


i 
■i 


120 


The  letters 


Book  IE 


we  once  knew  him,  that  the  whole  audience 
agreed  he  ought  to  be  excused  from  acting  any 
more.  For  when  he  was  pronouncing  the  ce- 
lebrated oath, 

If  I  deceive,  be  Jove's  dread  vengeance  hurVd,  S(c. 

the  poor  old  man's  voice  failed  him :  and  he 
had  not  strength  to  go  through  with  the  speech. 
As  to  the  other  parts  of  our  theatrical  enter- 
tainments, you  know  the  nature  of  them  so  well, 
that  it  is  scarce  necessary  to  mention  them. 
They  had  less,  indeed,  to  plead  in  their  favour 
than  even  the  inost  ordinary  representations  of 
this  kind  can  usually  claim.  The  enormous 
parade  with  which  they  were  attended,  and 
which,  I  dare  say,  you  would  very  willingly 
have  spared,  destroyed  all  the  grace  of  the 
performance.  What  pleasure  could  it  afford  to 
a  judicious  spectator,  to  see  a  thousand  mules 
prancing  about  the  stage,  in  the  tragedy  of  Cly- 
taemnestra;  or  whole  regiments  accoutred  in  fo- 
reign armour,  in  that  of  the  Trojan  Horse  ?  In  a 
word,  what  man  of  sense  could  be  entertained 
with  viewing  a  mock  army  drawn  up  on  the 
stage  in  battle  array?  These,  I  confess,  are  spec- 
tacles extremely  well  adapted  to  captivate  vul- 
gar 

Macrob.   Saturn,   ii.   10.     Hor,  sat,  ii.   3,  vcr.  239.     P^n^ 
JL  N,  X.  51. 


Book  II. 


OF  CICERO. 


121 


gar  eyes ;  but  undoubtedly  would  have  had  no 
charm  in  yours.  In  plaiii  truth,  my  friend,  you 
w^ould  have  received  more  amusement  from  the 
dullest  piece  that  Protogenes  could  possibly  have 
read  to  you^,  (my  own  orations,  however,  let 
me  always  except)  than  we  met  with  at  these 
ridiculous  shews.  I  am  well  persuaded,  at  least, 
you  could  not  regret  the  loss  of  our  Oscian  and 
Grecian  farces^.  Your  own  noble  senate  will 
always  furnish  you  with  drollery  sufficient  of 
the  former  kinder  and  as  to  the  latter,  I  know 
you  have  such  an  utter  aversion  to  every  thing 
that  bears  the  name  of  Greek,  that  you  will 

not 

■^  It  was  usual  with  persons  of  distinction  amongst  the 
Romans  to  keep  a  slave  in  their  family,  whose  sole  business 
It  was  to  read  to  them.  Protogenes  seems  to  have  attended 
Marius  in  that  capacity. 

^  The  Oscian  farces  were  so  called  from  the  Osci,  an 
ancient  people  of  Campania,  from  whom  the  Romans  re- 
ceived them.  They  seem  to  have  been  of  the  same  kind 
with  our  Bartholemew  tlrolls,  and  to  have  consisted  of 
low  and  obscene  humour.  As  to  the  nature  of  the  Greek 
farces,  the  critics  are  not  agreed.  Manutius  supposes  they 
differed  only  from  the  former,  as  being  written  in  the 
Greek  language.  But  it  does  not  appear  that  Greek  plays 
were  ever  represented  upon  the  Roman  stage :  and  the 
most  probable  account  of  them  is,  that  they  were  a  sort 
of  pantomimes  in  imitation  of  those  on  the  Grecian  the- 
atre.    Liv,   Vii.   2.     Mong,   rem.  siir   les  lett.   d,  Att,  vi.   , 

449. 

^  The  municipal  or  corporate  towns  in  Italy  were 
governed  by  magistrates  of  their  own,,  who  probably  made 
much  the  same  sort  of  figure  in  their  rural  senate,  as 
our  Burgesses  in  their  town-hall.  This,  at  least,  seems  to 
have  been  the  case  in  that  corporation  to  which  Marius 
belonged)  and  to  have  given  occasion  to  our  author's  rail- 
lery. 


V 


]£2 


Tap  LETTERS    Book IL 


Book  II. 


or  CICERO. 


m 


I  I 


m 


not  even  travel  the  Grecian  road  to  your  villaV 
A§  I  reipember  you  once  despised  our  formida- 
ble gladiators^  I  cannot  suppose  you  would.^ 

have 

*  Ptjrhajis  the  Grecian  road  might  bf  muck  out  of  re- 
pair, and  little  frequented  at  the  time  when  this  letter  was 
writifcfl  :  and  on  that  circumstance  Cicero,  it  is  possible, 
Daay  have  founded  hi»  witticism.  Among  the  many  in- 
stances of  Roman  magnificence,  that  of  their  public  roads. 
i^  particularly  observable.  They  were  formed  at  an  im- 
Bvense  cost,  and  extended  to  a  great  distance  from  all  sides 
of  the  city.  Lipsius  computes  the  Appian  way  at  350  miles, 
tome  part  of  which  still  remains  as  entire  as  when  it  was 
first  made;  though  it  has  now  subsisted  above  1800  years. 
It  is  twelve  feet  broad,  and  chiefly  composed  of  blue  stones,, 
about  a  foot  and  a  half  square.  Criminals  of  a  less  atro* 
cious  sort  Were  generally  employed  in  those  useful  works  : 
and,  perhaps,  it  might  be  well  worthy  the  consideration  of 
the  legislature,  whether  punishments  of  this  kind  in  delin- 
quencies of  the  same  nature,  might  not,  in  all  respects,  be 
of  more  advantage  to  the  public,  than  that  which  seems  to 
kave  so  little  etfect  in  restraming  the  violences  that  are  daily 
committed  a^ong  us.  Usp.  dtmagnif.  Ro?m.  Buniet's  TraxK 
let,  iv.     P//«.  EjjUt.  X.  33. 

*  G^^iBvius  supposes  (and  it  is  a  conjecture  extremely  pro- 
bable) tha,t  this  alludes  to  some  i«ervices  ^^hich  Cicero  ha<i 
leceived  from  Manus,  iudefending  him  against  the  outrages 
of  Clodius^  mob. 

The  (irat  shew  of  gladiators  exhibrted  in  Rome  was  giverv 
by  the  Bruli,  in  honour  of  their  father's  obsequies:  ab(»ut 
200  years  before  the  date  of  this  letter.  Originally  ih« 
unhappy  wretches  who  were  exposed  in  this  manner  were 
cither  prisoners  taken  in  war,  or  public  criminals :  but  ii> 
process  of  time  it  grew  into  a  profession,  and  there  were 
xne.n  who  hired  themselves  out  for  this  purpose.  Atticus,. 
i»ho  seems  to  have  omitted  no  opportunity  of  improving 
bis  finances,  had  a  band  of  gladiators  which  he  let  owt 
on  public  occasions,  to  those  who  were  not  rich  enough 
IQ  main.tain  them  at  their  own  expence.  The  passion  for 
these  combats  became  at  length  so  immoderate,  that  it  was 
osual  to  exhibit  matches  of  gladiators  at  their  private  en- 
t^t^nments :  and  not  only  men  of  the  first  quality,  but 
#.veQ  women  entered  these  lists.    Reason,  moU  undoubtedly, 

cannot 


Iwpve  looked  with  less  contempt  on  our  athletic* 
performers :  and,  indeed,  Pompey  himself  ac- 
knowledges, that  they  did  not  answer  the  pains 
and  expence  they  had  cost  him.  The  remainder 
of  our  diversions  consisted  in  combats  of  wild 
beasts^,  which  were  exhibited  evciy  morning 

and 

cannot  but  rise  up  against  spectacles  of  this  sanguinary 
kind.  It  is  observable,  however,  that  they  were  not  intro- 
duced among  the  Romans  till  they  began  to  be  civiijied: 
and  their  passion  for  these  cruel  combats  seems  to  have  ga- 
thered strength  in  proportion  as  their  manners,  in  all  other 
respects,  became  more  refined.  There  is,  indeed,  a  won- 
derful disposition  in  human  nature,  to  be  pleased  with  sights 
of  horror  :  which  even  the  most  polite  nations,  in  their 
highest  periods  of  improvement,  have  not  been  able  entirely 
to  subdue.  A  very  ingenious  French  writer  imagines,  that 
if  we  did  not  profess  a  religion  which  absolutely  forbids  the 
%vanton  destruction  of  our  species,  we  should  soon  convert 
our  prize-fighters  into  gladiators,  and  be  as  sanguinary  in 
our  diversions  as  the  Romans  themselves.  Liv.  xxxix. 
S2.  Ad  AH.  iv.  8.  Strab.  v.  p.  173.  Stat,  Sylv.  i.  6,  ver. 
S^,  Suet,  in  vit.  Jul.  39-  Reflex,  sur  la  poes.  et  sur  la  peint[ 
1.   18. 

*  The  athletic  games  were  of  a  less  cruel  kind  than 
those  described  in  the  preceding  note,  as  they  principally 
consisted  of  running,  wrestling,  and  boxing-matches.  It 
sometimes  happened,  indeed,  that  one  of  the  combatants  lost 
Lis  life;  but  this  was  contrary  to  the  laws  of  the  sport: 
and  if  it  appeared  to  have  been  the  effect  of  design  in  his 
adversary,  though  he  was  not  punished  with  death,  he  was 
punished  in  a  way  still  more  dreaded,  by  being  deprived  of 
the  crown  that  would  otherwise  have  been  due  to  his  victory. 
Pausanias  mentions  an  athletic  combatant,  who  having  in- 
curred this  penally,  was  so  affected  by  the  disgrace,  that  he 
lost  his  senses. 

3  Beasts  of  the  wildest  and  most  uncommon  kinds  were 
sent  for,  upon  these  occasions,  from  every  corBcr  of  the 
known  world ;  and  Dion  Cassius  relates,  that  no  less  than 
500  lions  were  killed  at  these  hunting-matches,  with  vihich. 
Pompey  entertained  the  people.     Dio,  Lib,  xxxix. 


!,; 


124 


The  letters 


KooK  L 


'  i 


4 

;  i 

,  i 


■( 

ti 


t 


and  afternoon  during fivedays  successively ;  and 
it  must  be  owned,  they  were  magnificent.  Yet, 
after  all,  what  entertainment  can  i)0ssibly  arise 
to  an  elegant  and  humanized  mind,  from  seeing 
a  noble  beast  struck  to  the  heart  by  its  merciless 
hunter,  or  one  of  our  own  weak  species  cruelly 
mangled  by  an  animal  of  much  superior 
strength?  But  were  there  any  thing  really  worth 
observing  in  spectacles  of  this  savage  kind, 
they  are  spectacles  extremely  familiar  to  you : 
and  those  I  am  speaking  of  had  not  any  pecu- 
liar novelty  to  recommend  them.  The  last 
day's  sport  was  composed  entirely  of  elephants  : 
which,  though  they  made  the  common  people 
stare,  indeed,  did  not  seem,  however,  to  afford 
them  any  great  satisfaction.  On  the  contrary, 
the  terrible  slaughter  of  these  poor  aninijis, 
created  a  general  commiseration  :  as  it  is  a  jffc- 
vailing  notion,  that  these  creatures,  in  some  de- 
gree,  participate  of  our  rational  faculties*. 

That  you  may  not  imagine  I  had  the  happi- 
ness of  being  perfectly  at  my  ease  during  the 
\vhole  of  this  pompous  festival,  1  must  acquaint 

you, 

♦  This  was  not  merely  a  vulgrrr  opinion,  but  entertained 
by  some  of  the  learnctl  amon;^  the  anciints,  as  appears  from 
the  last  cited  historian  ;  who  likewise  takes  notice  how  much 
the  spectators  of  Pompcy's  shews  were  affected  by  the  mourfc* 
ful  cries  of  these  poor  aivimals.     Vwy  Lib.  xxxix. 


^, 


Book  IL 


•V 

OF  CICERO.      ^> 


i25 


you,  that  while  the  people  were  amusing  them- 
selves at  the  plays,  I  was  almost  killed  with  the 
fatigue  of  pleading  for  your  friend  Callus  Ca- 
iiinius.     Were  the  world  as  much  inclined  to 
favour  my  retreat,  as  they  shewed  themselves  in 
the  case  of  iEsopus,  believe  me,  I  would  for 
ever  renounce  my  art,  and  spend  the  remaipdcj: 
of  my  days  with  you  and  some  others  of  the 
same  philosophical  turn.     The  truth  of  it  is,  I 
began  to  grow  weary  of  this  employment,  even 
^t  a  time  when  youth  and  ambition  prompted 
my  perseverance :  and  I  will  add,  too,  when  I 
was  at  full  libertv  to  exercise  it  in  defence  of 
those  only  whom  I  was  inclined  to  assist    But 
in  my  present  circumstances,  it  is  absolute  sla- 
very.   For,  on  the  one  side,  I  never  expect  to 
reap  any  advantage  from  my  labours  of  this 
kind ;  and,  on  the  other,  in  compliance  with 
solicitations,  which  I  cannot  refuse,  1  am  some- 
times under  the  disagreeable  necessity  of  ap- 
pearing as  an  advocate  in  behalf  of  those  who 
-  ill  deserve  that  favour  at  my  hands^    For  these 
reasons  I  am  framing  every  possible  pretence  for 
II  ,  .:  living 

'  Cicero  was  now  wholly  under  the  influence  of  Pompey 
and  Caesar:  but  the  particular  instances  of  his  unworthy 
submission  to  which  he  here  only  alludes,  are  mei»(iorit  d 
more  fully  in  a  subsequent  letter  to  Lentulus,  an^l  will  be 
considered  in  the  remarks  on  that  epistle,  Seeleitr  17.  o^ 
this  book,  remarks  5,  34,  and  39' 


126 


The  letters 


Book  IL 


living  hereafter  according  to  my  own  taste  and 
sentiments :  as  I  highly  both  approve  and  ap- 
plaud that  retired  scene  of  Hfe  which  you  have 
so  judiciously  chosen.  I  am  sensible,  at  the  same 
time,  that  this  is  the  reason  you  so  seldom  visit 
Rome.  However,  I  the  less  regret  that  you  do 
not  see  it  oftener,  as  the  numberless  unpleasing 
occupations  in  which  I  am  engaged  would 
prevent  me  from  enjoying  the  entertainment  of 
your  conversation,  or  giving  you  that  of  mine : 
if  mine,  indeed,  can  afford  you  any.  But  if 
ever  I  should  be  so  fortunate  as  to  disentangle 
myself,  in  some  degree  at  least,  (for  I -am  con- 
tented not  to  be  wholly  released)  from  these 
perplexing  embarrassments,  I  will  undertake 
to  shew  even  my  elegant  friends,  wherein  the 
truest  refinements  of  life  consist.  In  the  mean 
while,  continue  to  take  care  of  your  health, 
that  you  may  be  able,  when  that  happy  time 
shall  arrive,  to  accompany  me  in  my  litter  to 
my  several  villas. 

You  must  impute  it  to  the  excess  of  my  friend- 
ship, and  not  to  the  abundance  of  my  leisure, 
that  I  have  lengthened  this  letter  beyond  my 
usual  extent.  It  was  merely  in  compliance  with 
a  request  in  one  of  yours,  where  you  intimatea 
desire  that  I  would  compensate  in  this  manner 
what  you  lost  by  not  being  present  at  our  public 

diversions. 


Book  11. 


OF  CICERO. 


1^ 


Aliversions.  I  s^hall  be  extremely  glad  If  That^e 
•succeeded ;  if  not,  I  shall  have  the  satisfaction 
however  to  think  that  you  will,  for  the  future, 
be  more  inclined  to  give  us  your  company  on 
these  occasions,  than  to  rely  on  my  letters  for 
your  amusement     Farewel, 

LETTER  VI. 

•.      .    .  tA.  tJ.698.] 

To  QuiNTus  Phi  LI pp US  :  Proconsul*. 

HOUGH  I  am  too  well  convinced  of  your 
friendship  and  esteem,  to  suspect  that  you  are 
unmindful  of  my  former  application  in  behalf 
of  my  friends  Oppius  and  Egnatius;  yet,  I 
cannot  forbear  again  recommending  their  joint 
affairs  to  your  protection.  My  connexion,  in- 
deed,  with  the  latter,  is  of  so  powerful  a  kind, 
that  I  could  not  be  more  solicitous  for  my  own 
personal  concerns.  I  entreat  you,  therefore,  to 
give  him  proofs  of  my  enjoying  that  share  of 
your  affection,  which  I  persuade  myself  I  pos- 
sess : 

"The  person  to  whom  this  letter  is  addressed,  and  the 
time  when  it  was  written,  are  equally  unjinown.  Piobius 
^supposes  he  was  governor  of  Asia,  in  the  year  of  Rorac^70S, 
But,  in  this  instance,  the  usual  accuracy  of  that  laborious 
annalist  seems  to  have  failed  him.  For  it  appears,  by  a  letcer 
of  congratulation  which  Cicero  writes  to  Philippus  upon  tiis 
return  from  the  province,  that  he  must  have  been  proconsul 
at  some  period  previous  to  the  civil  war  :  Gratulor  tihi  (says 
he)  quod  ex  provincia  salvum  te  ad  tnos  recepisti  inco\um)fafrim 
et  Repubuca.  Epist.  Famil.  xiii.  73.  See  let.  22.  p. 
210.  of  this  vol,  ^ 


128 


The  letters 


Book  II. 


sess :  and  be  assured  you  cannot  shew  me  a 
more  agreeable  instance  of  your  friendship. 
Farewel. 

LETTER  VIL 

[A.  U.  699.] 

To  Marcus  Licixius  Crassus^ 

I  AM  persuaded  that  all  your  friends  have  in- 
formed you  of  the  zeal  with  which  I  lately 
both  defended  and  promoted  your  dionities^ : 

as 

*  He  had  been  twice  consul  in  conjunction  with  Pom* 
pey,  and  was  at  this  time  governor  of  Syria  :  to  which  pro- 
vince he  succeeded  at  the  expiration  of  his  second  consulate, 
the  year  preceding  the  date  of  this  letter.  He  was  esteemed 
among  the  considerable  orators  of  his  age:  but  his  principal 
distinction  seems  to  have  bren  his  immense  wealth,  the  great- 
est part  of  which  he  acquired  by  sharing  in  the  confiscated 
estates  of  those  unhappy  victims  who  fell  a  sacrifice  to  the 
cruel  ambition  of  SyUa.  In  his  first  consulate  he  gave  a  ge- 
neral treat  to  the  people  upi)n  ten  thousand  tables,  and,  at 
the  same  time,  distributed  to  ihem  a  largess  of  three  monih* 
provision  of  corn.     Plut.  in  tit.  Crassi.     Dion  Cass,  xxxix. 

^  Crassus  accepted  the  province  of  Syria  merely  with,  a 
design  of  making  war  upon  the  Parthians  :  for  which,  how- 
ever, there  was  no  other  pretence  than  what  his  boundless 
avarice  and  ambition  sug<^ested.  Accordingly,  some  ul  the 
tribunes  endeavoured  to  obstruct  his  levies  for  this  expedi- 
tion :  and  when  that  attempt  failed,  Ateius,  one  of  their 
number,  had  recour-e  to  certain  soperstiiious  ceremonies  of 
their  religion,  and  devoted  him  in  form  ta  deMruction.  It 
was  a  general  persuasion  that  none  ever  escaprd  the  effect  of 
those  mysterious  execrations  :  and,  in  the  present  instance, 
the  event  happened  to  correspond  with  this  popular  belief. 
For  Crassus,  together  with  his  army,  perished  in  this  enter- 
prize.  The  judicious  Manutius  conjectures,  that  after  Cras- 
sus had  left  Rome,  some  motion  was  made  in  the  senate  for 
recalling  him,  which  gave  occasion  to  Cicero's  services  and 

to 


Book  IL'         of  CICERO. 


12» 


as  indeed  it  >vas  too  warm  and  too  conspicuous 
to  have  been  passed  over  in  silence.  The  oppo- 
sition  I  met  with  from  the  consuls*,  as  well  as 
from  several  others  of  consular  rank,  was  the 
strongest  I  ever  encountered,  and  you  must 
now  look  upon  me  as  your  declared  advocate 
upon  all  occasions,  where  your  glorj^  is  con- 
cerned. Thus  have  I  abundantly  compensated 
for  the  intermission  of  those  good  offices,  which 
the  friendship  between  us  had  long  giyen  you  a 
right  to  claim;  but  whigh,  by  a  variety  of  accir 
dents,  have  lately  been  somewhat  interrupted. 
There  never  was  a  time,  believe  me,  when  I 
wanted  an  inclination  to  cultivate  your  esteem, 
or  promote  your  interest.  Though,  it  must  be 
owned,  a  certain  set  of  men,  whp  are  thp  h^^e 
of  all  amicable  intercourse,  and  who  envied  us 
the  mutual  honour  that  resulted  from  ours,  have, 
upon  some  occasions,  been  so  unhappily  suc- 
cessful as  to  create  a  coolness  between  us^     It 

has 

to  the  present  letter.  This  supposition,  however,  tho'  in- 
deed highly  probable,  is  not  supported  by  any  of  the  histo- 
rians    Flut,  in  vie.  Crassi.  Dio.  xxxix.  Vel,  Pat,  ii.  46. 

'  The  consuls  of  this  year  were  L.  Domitius  Aheno- 
b^rbus,  and  Appius  Claudius  Pulcher. 

*  How  effectually  soeyer  Cicero  ipight  have  icrved  Crasr 
8US  upon  the  occasion  to  which  this  letter  relates  ;  it  is  most 
certain  his  good  offices  did  not  proceecj  from  a  principle  of 
friendship.  It  is  extremely  probable,  indeed,  that  his  sup- 
porting the  cause  of  Crassus  in  the  senate  h  one  of  those 
instances  of  our  author's  subjection,  of  which  hq  cpm.plains 
Voi.  I.  K  "  *  ii^ 


i9b 


The  letters 


"Bo ox  II. 


has  happened,  however,  (what  I  rather  xvished 
than  expected)  that  I  have  found  an  opporta- 
tiity,  even  when  your  affairs  were  in  the  most 
prosperous  train,  of  giving  a  public  testimony 
by  my  services  to  you,  that  I  always  most  sin- 
cerely preserved  the  remembrance  of  our  former 
amity.  The  truth  is,  1  have  approved  myself 
your  friend,  not  only  to  the  full  conviction  of 
your  family  in  particular,  but  of  all  Rome  in 
general  In  consequence  of  which,  that  most  va- 
luable of  women,  your  excellent  wife',  together 

with 

i*^  4he  preceding  letter:  and  that  it  was  entirely  in  compli- 
ance with  the  inclinations  of  Cesar  and  Pompey,  with  whciu 
Crassus  was  now  united.     The  coolness,   here   mentioned, 
seems  to  have  subsisted  ever  since  the  afiuir  of  Catiline  ;  in 
whose  coDspiracy,  as  one   of  the  witnesses   examined  upon 
that  occasion    deposed,   Crassus   was   concerned.      There 
were  few,  iadced,  who  gave  credit  to  this  evidencel,  and  ihe 
senate,  upon  the  motion  of  Cicero,  voted  it  false  and  mali- 
cious.    Crassus,  nevertheless,  assured  Sallust  (as  that  histo* 
Tian  declares)  that  this  affront  was  thrown  upon  him  by  ih« 
artifices  of  Cicero  himself.     But  whether  Crassus  had  any 
jutst  grouftd  for  this  suspicion,  or  wheihtr  it  was  suggesied  t© 
hira  by  the  false  insinuations  of  those  to  whom  Cicer»»  here 
alludes,  is  a  question  by  no  means  capable  of  deing  deter- 
mined by  any  circumstance  in  the  history  or  character  of 
the  two  men.     It  is  certain  that  Crassus,  from  this  time, 
concaived  a  strong  and  lasting  aversion  to  our  author  ;  as, 
Qn  the  other  hand,  that  Cicero,  after  the  death  of  Crassus, 
published  an  oration  in  which  he  expressly  charged  him  with 
being  engaged  in  this  conspiracy.     However,  a  formal  re- 
conciliation  had   lately   passed   between   them,  and  when 
Crassus  set  out  for  his  eastern  expedition,  they  parted  with 
all  the  exterior  marks  of  a  sincere  friendship.     Ad  Att,  iv^ 
1:5.  ^qUust.  Bel,  Cat.  49.     Plut,  in  vit,  CrassL     BpUt,  lam. 

•  This  lady's  name  was  Tertulla ;  and,  if  Suetonius  may 
^  be 


Book  II.' 


OP  CICERO. 


191 


with  those  illustrious  models  of  virtue  and  filial 
piety,  your  two  amiable  sons  have  perpetual 
recourse  to  my  assistance  and  advice ;  and  the 
whole  world  i«  sensible,  that  no  one  is  more 
jealously  disposed  to  serve  you  than  myself. 

Your  family  correspondents  have  informed 
you,  I  imagine^  of  wliat  lias  hitherto  passed  ill 
your  affair,  as  well  as  of  what  i$  at  present  ii| 
agitation.  As  for  myself,  I  eaUeat  you  to  do 
me  the  justice  to  believe,  that  it  wa$  not  any 
sudden  start  of  inclination,  which  disposed  me 
to  embrace  this  opportunity  of  vinilicating  your 
honour ;  on  the  contrary,  it  was  my  ambition, 
from  the  first  moment  I  eutej-ed  the  foxum,  to 
fce  ranked  in  the  number  of  your  friends*,  J 
have  the  satisfaction  to  reflect,  that  I  have 
never,  froip  that  time  to  ilm  hour,  failed  in 
the  highest  sentiments  of  f&teem  for  you;  and, 
J  doubt  not,  you  have  always  retained  the  same 
aflfectionate  regard  towards  me.  If  the  effects 
of  this  mutual  disposition  have  been  inter- 
rupted by  any  little  suspicions,  (for  suspicions 
only,  I  am  sure  they  were)  be  the  reinembrancc 

of 

be  credited,  she  was  better  acquainted  with  some  of  Casar's 
talents  than  was  altogether  consistent  with  her  being  (what 
Cicero  here  calls  her)  the  most  valuable  of^ll  woTntn.  Svtt. 
mJ,Cwts,50. 

Crassus  was  almost  ten  years  older  than  Cicero ;  so  that 
when  the  latter  first  appeared  at  the  bar,  the  former  had  al- 
ready established  a  character  by  his  oratorical  abilities. 

K2 


The  LETTERS         Book  IL 


of  them  for  ever  blotted  out  of  our  hearts.     I 
aiti^p&rsuaded,  indeed,  from  those  virtues  which 
foriil  your  character,  and  from  those  which  I 
am  desirous  should  distinguish  mine,  that  our 
friendly  union,  in  the  present  conjuncture,  can- 
hot  but  be  attended  with  equal  honour  to  us 
both.     What  instances  you  may  be  willing  to 
give  me  of  your  esteem,  must  be  left  to  your 
own  determiation;  but  they  will  be  such,  I 
'flatter  myself,  as  may  tend  most  to  advance  my 
digiiities.     For  my  own  part,  I  faithfully  pro- 
mise the  utmost  exertion  of  my  best  services,  in 
every  article  wherein   I  can  contribute  to  in- 
cfease  yours.    Many,  I  know,  will  be  my  rivals 
in  these  amicable  offices,  but  it  is  a  contention 
'in  which  all  the  world,  I  question  not,  and  par- 
ticularly your  two  sons,  will  acknowledge  my 
superiority.     Be  assured,  I  love  them  both  in  a 
very  uncommon  degree ;   tho'  I  will  own,  that 
Pubjius'  is  my  favourite.     From  his  infancy, 

indeed, 

^  Whatever  sincerity  mif;ht  be  wanting  in  our  author'* 
•""professions  ot  friendship  to  the  father;  it  is  certain  he  had  a 
■  -very  unfeigned  affection  for  the  son  ;  as,  indeed,  Cicero  had 
beeil  greatly  obliged  to  hisaealous  services  when  he  was  per- 
secuted bv  Clodius.  Soon  after  this  ielttr  was  written, 
Publius  followed  bis  father  with  a  body  of  Gallic  cavalry 
into  Par4hia,  where  he  behaved  with  uncommon  bravery, 
but  perished  in  that  unfortunate  expedition.  He  fell  not, 
indeed,  by  the  enemy,  but  by  the  hand  of  one  of  his  atten- 
dants, who  stabbed  him  by  his  own  orders,  as  scorning  to 
survive  so  shameful  a  defeat.  Cic.  in  Brut,  Plut,  in  tit, 
Crasii, 


Book  II. 


OF  CIGERO, 


135 


indeed,  he  discovered  a  singular  regard  tome, 
as  he  particularly  distinguishes  me  at  this  time 
Avith  all  the  marks  even  of  filial  respect  antj^f- 

fection. 

Let  me  desire  you  to  consider  this  letter,  not 
as  a  strain  of  unmeaning  compliment,  but^as 
a  sacred  and  solemn  covenant  of  friendships 
which  I  shall  most  sincerely  and  rehgiously 
observe*  I  shall  now  persevere  inbgingthe 
advocate  of  your  honours,  not  only  ftpm^ 
motive  of  affection,  but  from  a.  principle  of 
constancy,  and  without  any  appUcation  on  your 
part,  you  may  depend  on  my  embracing  every 
opportunity,  wherein  I  shall  think  my  services 
may  prove  agreeable  to  your  interest,  or  your 
inclinations.     Can  you  once  doubt,  then,  that 

any 

♦  It  has  been  asserted,  in  these  remarks,  that  Cicero  acted 
a  counterfeit  part  in  his  professions  of  friendship  to  Crasisus, 
but  as  he  here  very  strongly  aflfirms  the  contrary,  it  will  be 
proper  to  produce  the  evidence.  This,  indeed,  is  Cicero 
himself,  who,  in  a  letter  to  Atticus,  written  not  long  before 
the  present,  and  wherein  he  gives  an  account  of  the  depar- 
ture of  Crassus,  for  his  Parthian  expedition,  speaks  of  bim 
'  in  a  style  utterly  irreconcileable  with  the  sentiments  he  here 
professes,  and  in  terms  of  the  utmost  contempt.  "  Crassum 
*' nestrumy'  says  he,  *' minore  dignitate  aiufit  prqfectum  palu-^ 
«*  datum,  quam  olim--L,  Paulum.  O  hominem  neqUamT 
It  must  be  owned,  at  the  same  time,  ttiat  it  is  highly  pro- 
bable the  heart  of  Crassus  was  as  li  lie  concerned  in  their 
pretended  reconcilement  as  that  of  Cicero;  for  Crassus  ge- 
lierally  regulated  his  attachments  by  bis  interest,  and  was 
no  farther  a  friend  or  an  enemy  than  as  it  suited  with  his 
avarice  and  ambition.  Ad  Att.  iv.  13.    Plut.  in  vit,  Crtmi. 

K3 


/ 


t54 


The  letters  Book  II. 


Boob:  IL 


OF  CICERO. 


l^ 


any  request  to  me  for  this  purpose,  either  by 
yourself  or  your  family,  will  meet  with  a  most 
punctual  observance?  I  hope,  therefore,  you 
vnll  not  scruple  to  employ  me  in  all  your  con- 
^crns^,  of  what  nature  or  importance  soever,  as 
dne  who  is  most  faithfully  your  friend :  and 
that  you  will  direct  your  family  to  apply  to  me 
in  all  their  affairs  of  every  kind,  whether  re- 
lating to  you  or  to  themselves,  to  their  friends, 
or  their  dependents.  And  be  assured,  I  shall 
spare  no  pains  to  render  your  absence  as  little 
uneasy  to  them  as  possible.     FareweL 

LETTER  VIII. 

[A.  U.  699.] 

To  Julius  CitsAR.' 

1  AM  gomg  to  give  you  an  instance  how  much 
I  rely  upon  your  affectionate  services,  not  only 
towards  myself,  but  in  favour  also  of  my  friends. 
It  was  my  intention,  if  I  had  gone  abroad  in 
any  foreign  employment,  thatTrebatius^  should 
have  accompanied  me ;  and  he  would  not  have 
returned  without  receiving  the  highest  and 

most 

*  Capsar  was  at  this  time  in  Gaul,  prq>aring  for  his  first 
expedition  into  Britain,  which,  as  Tacitus  observes,  he  rathet 
discovered  than  conquered. 

•  See^ftn  account  of  him  in  the  following  letter. 


xnost  advantageous  honouris  I  should  have  been 
able  to  have  conferred  upon  htm.  But  as  Pom- 
pey,  I  find,  defers  setting  out  upon  his  cooi- 
mission  longer  than  I  imagined^ :  and  I  am 
apprehensive,  likewise,  that  tlic  doubts  you 
kao-w  1  entertain  in  regard  to  Bpy  attending  him, 
may  possibly  prevent,  as  they  will  certainly  at 
least  delay,  my  jouniey,  I  take-  the  liberty  to 
refer  Trebatius  to  your  goad  offices,  fox  those 
benefits  he  expected  to  have  received  from 
mine.  1  have  ventured,  indeed,  to  promise 
that  he  will  find  you  full  as  well-disposed  to 
advance  his  interest,  as  I  have  always  assured 
him  he  would  find  me  :  and  a  very  extraordi- 
nary circumstance  occurred,  which  seemed  tQ 
confirm  this  opinion  I  entertained  of  your  ge- 
nerosity. For,  in  the  very  instant  I  was  talk- 
ing with  Balbus  upon  this  subject,  your  letter 
was  delivered  to  me :  in  the  close  gf  which  you 
pleasantly  tell  me,  that  "  in  comphapc:??  with 
"  my  request,  you  will  make  Orfius  king  of 

^  A  law  had  lately  passed,  by  which  Poiupey  was  in- 
vested with  the  government  of  Spain  during  five  years;  md 
it  was  upon  this  occasion  that  Cicero  had  thoughts  qf  at- 
tending him  as  his  lieutenant.  Pompey,  however,  instead  of 
going  to  his  province,  chose  to  continue  in  Italy;  though^ 
he  seems  to  have  amused  Cicero  with  a  notion  of  bis  intend- 
ing the  contrary.  For  it  appears,  by  a  letter  to  Atticus, 
written  towards  the  latter  end  of  this  year,  that  our  author 
had  fixed  the  day  for  his  departure.     Ftut.  in  vU,  rQfn^* 

K4 


136 


The  letters  BdbK  IL 


''  Gaul,  or  assign  him  over  to  Lepta,  and  ad- 
"  vauce  any  other  person  whom  I  should  be 
''inclined  to  recommend/'  This  had  so  re- 
markable a  coincidence  with  our  discourse,  that 
it  struck  both  Balbus  and  myself  as  a  sort  of 
a  happy  omen,  that  had  something  in  it  more 
than  accidental'.  As  it  was  my  intention^ 
therefore,  before  I  received  your  letter^  to  have 
transmitted  Trebatius  to  you  ;  so  I  now  con- 
sign him  to  your  patronage,  as  upon  your  own 
invitation.  Receive  him  then,  my  dear  Caesar, 
with  your  usual  generosity ;   and  distinguish 

him 

Among  the  various  kinds  of  omens  obseryed  with  much 
superstition  by  the  Romans,  that  of  words  happening  to 
coincide  with  any  particular  subject  under  consideration^ 
was  esteemed  of  singular  regard.  A  remarkable  instance 
of  this  sort  is  recorded  by  Livy.  After  the  burning  of  Rome 
by  the  Gauls,  it  was  debated  whether  the  capital  city  should 
not  be  removed  into  the  country  of  the  Veii.  This  point 
was  long  and  warmly  discussed,  till,  at  length,  the  question 
was  decided  by  an  officer  of  the  guards,  who,  accidentally 
passing  by  the  senate-house  with  his  company,  called  out 
to  the  ensign,  Signifer,  statue  si gnum :  hie  maricbimus  op- 
time.  These  worUs  being  heard  by  the  fathers  in  councif, 
were  considered  as  a  divine  intimation  :  and  it  was  imnie* 
diately  and  unanimously  agreed  to  rebuild  the  city  on  its 
former  scite.  Caesar,  of  all  the  Roman  historians,  has 
most  avoided  the  marvellous  of  this  kind :  and  it  is  observ« 
able,  that  he  does  not  mention  a  single  prodigy  throughout 
his  whole  Commentaries,  except  in  his  relation  of  the  b^tlc 
of  Pharsalia.  Upon  that  occasion,  indeed,  he  very  artfully 
/alts  in  with  this  popular  superstition,  and  gives  an  account 
of  many  predictive  intimations  of  that  day's  important  event. 
And  nothing,  in  truth,  could  be  more  to  his  purpose  than 
this  indirect  manner  of  persuading  his  countrymen  that 
the  Gods  were  parties  in  his  cause.  Lir.  v.  55.  Cai.  bet. 
civ,  iii.  85. 


Boo^  IL 


OF  CICERO- 


IS? 


him  with  every  honour  that  my  solicitations 
can  induce  you  to  confer.  I  do  not  recom* 
mend  him  in  the  manner  you  so  justly  rallied, 
when  I  wrote  to  you  in  favour  of  Orfius  :  but 
I  will  take  upon  me  to  assure  you,  in  true  Rod- 
man sincerity,  that  there  lives  not  a  man  of 
greater  modegty  and  merit.  I  must  not  forget 
to  mention  also  (what  indeed  is  his  distinguish- 
ing qualification)  that  he  is  eminently  skilled 
in  the  laws  of  his  country^,  and  happy  in  an 
uncommon  strength  of  memory.  I  will  not 
point  out  any  particular  piece  of  preferment 
which  I  wish  you  to  bestow  upon  him  ;  I  will 
only,  in  general,  entreat  you  to  admit  him 
into  a  share  of  your  friendship.  Nevertheless, 
if  you  should  think  proper  to  distinguish  hira 
with  the  tribunate  or  prsefecture',  or  any  other 


\ 


•  The  profession  of  the  law  was  held  among  the  Romans, 
as  it  is  with  us,  in  great  esteem;  but  this  body  of  men  seem, 
in  general,  to  have  acted  rather  in  the  nature  of  our  cham- 
ber counsel,  than  as  advocates  at  rhe  bar.  The  1  a 
properly  the  province  of  those  whom  they  called  their  ora- 
tors: and  for  which  every  man  of  good  sente,  a  ready  utter- 
ance, and  a  general  knowledge  of  the  constitutions  of  bis 
couniry,  was  thought  qualified.  Ck,  de  off.  ii.  19.  de  Orat^ 
55|  &c 

*  The  military  tribunes  were  next  in  rank  to  the  lieu4e- 
nanis  or  commanders  in  chief  under  the  general;  as  the prflF-'  '' 
fecfus  legionis  was  the  most  honourable  post  in  the:  Roman 
armies  after  that  of  the  military  tribunes.  The  Imsiness  of 
the  former  was,  among  other  articles,  to  decide  all  contro- 
versies that  arose  among  the  soldiers ;  and  that  of  the  latter 
was  to  carry  the  chief  standard  of  the  legion. 


138 


The  letters 


Book  II. 


B^o«  It 


Of  CICERO. 


139 


little  honours  of  that  nature,  I  shall  have  »o 
manner  of  objection.  In  good  earnest,  I  en* 
tirely  resign  him  out  of  my  hands  into  yours, 
which  never  were  lifted  up  in  battle,  or  pledged 
in  friendship,  irithout  effect. — But  I  fear  I 
have  pressed  you  farther  upon  this  occasion 
than  was  necessary :  however  I  know  you  wiU 
excuse  my  warmth  in  the  cause  of  a  friend. 
Take  care  of  your  healthy  and  continue  to  love 
me.     FareweL 

LETTER  IX. 

[A.  U.  699.] 

To  Trebatius*. 

I  NEVER  write  to  Caesar  or  Balbus,  without 
taking  occasion  to  mention  you  in  the  ad- 
vantageous terms  you  deserve :  and  this  in  a 
style  that  evidently  distinguishes  me  for  your 
sincere  well-wisher.  I  hope,  therefore,  you  will 

check 

*  This  is  the  same  person  in  whose  behalf  the  foregoing 
letter  to  Caesar  is  wrilien,  and  which  seems  to  have  had  so 
good  an  effect,  that  we  finci  him  mentioned  by  Suetonius  as 
in  the  number  of  Caesar's  particular  favourites.  He  appears, 
in  this  earlier  part  of  his  life,  to  have  been  of  a  more  gay  and 
indolent  disposition  than  is  consistent  with  making  a  figure  in 
business ;  but  he  afterwards,  however,  became  a  very  cele- 
brated lawyer  :  and  one  of  the  most  agreeable  satires  of  Ho- 
race is  addressed  to  him  under  that  honourable  character. 
If  the  English  reader  is  desirous  of  being  acquainted  with  tho 
spirit  of  that  performance,  he  will  iind  it  preserved,  and  even 
improved,  among  Mr.  Pope's  excellent  imitations  of  Horace. 
Suet,  in  vi$.JulXasar.  Ihr,  Sat,  ii.  1.  P opt* s  poms,  vol,  u. 
p.  109. 


»•' 


• 

check  this  idle  passion  for  the  elegancies  of 
Rome,  and  resolutely  persevere  in  the  purpose 
of  your  journey,  till  your  merit  and  assiduity 
shall  have  obtained  the  desired  effect  In  the 
mean  time,  your  friends  here  will  excuse  your 
absence,  no  less  than  the  ladies  of  Corinth  did 
that  of  Medea  in  the  play',  when  she  artfully 
persuades  them  not  to  impute  it  to  her  as  a 
crime,  that  she  had  forsaken  her  country :  For, 
as  she  tells  them. 

There  are  who  distant  front  their  nathe  soily 
Still  for  their  own  and  country^  s  glory  toil : 
While  some  ^fast-rooted  to  their  parent^pot^ 
Jn  life  are  lAStless,  and  in  death  forgot. 

• 

In  this  last  inglorious  class  you  would  most  cer- 
tainly have  been  numbered,  had  not  your  friends 
all  conspired  in  forcing  you  from  Rome.  But 
more  of  this  another  time :  in  the  mean  while, 
let  me  advise  you,  who  know  so  well  how  to 
manage  securities  for  others,  to  ^ec^^re  yourself 

froii) 

*  Medea  being  enamoured  of  Jason,  assisted  him  in  ob- 
taining the  golden  fleece,  and  then  fled  with  him  from  her  fa- 
ther's court.  He  afterwards,  however,  deserted  her  for  Cre- 
usa,  the  daughter  of  Creon,  king  of  Corinth,  whom  Medea  de- 
stroyed by  certain  magical  arts.  Ennius,  %  Roman  poet, 
who  flourished  about  a  century  before  the  date  of  this  letter, 
formed  a  play  upon  this  story  :  from  which  performance  the 
lollowing  liues  are  quoted. 


140 


The  letters 


BoaK  II; 


from  the  British  charioteers*.  And  since  I  have 
been  playing  the  Medea,  let  me  make  my  exit 
with  the  following  lines  of  the  same  tragedy, 
i^liich  are  well  worth  your  constant  remem- 
brance : 

His  wisdom  y  sure^  on  folly's  confines  lies^ 
Whoy  wise  for  others^for  himself  s  unwise, 

Farewel. 

LETTER  X. 

[A.  U.  699.] 

To  the  same. 

I  TAKE  all  opportunities  of  writing  in  yoiir 
favour:  and  I  shall  be  glad  you  would 
let  me  know  with  what  success.  My  chief 
reliance  is  on  Balbus  :  in  my  letters  t6  whom 
I  frequently  and  warmly  recommend  your  in- 
terest.  But  why  do  you  not  let  me  hear  from 
you  every  time  my  brother  dispatches  a  cou- 
rier ? 

I  am  informed  there  is  neither  gold  nor  silver 
in  all  Britain^     If  that  should  be  the  case,  I 

would 

♦  The  armies  of  the  ancient  Britons  were  partly  com- 
posed of  troops  who  fought  in  open  chariots,  to  the  axletrees 
of  which  were  fixed  a  kind  of  short  scythe.  C(es.  de  bell. 
Gall,  iv.  29,  Sir  William  Temples  introduction  to  the  Hist, 
of  England. 

5  A  notion  had  prevailed  among  the  Romans,  that  Britain 
abouDded  in  gold  and  silver  mines :  and  this  report,  it  is 

probablei 


Book  IK 


m  CICERO/ 


141 


irould  advise  you  to  seize  one  of  the  enen>y  s 
military  cars,  and  drive  back  to  us  with  all 
expedition.  But  if  you  think  you  shall  be  able 
to  make  your  fortune  without  the  assistance  of 
British  spoils,  by  all  means  establish  yourself  in 
Caesars  friendship.  To  be  serious ;  both  my 
brother  and  Balbus  will  be  of  great  service  to 
you  for  that  purpose:  but,  believe  me,  your 
own  merit  and  assiduity  will  prove  your  best  re- 
commendation. 


probable,  first  suggested  to  Cxsar  the  design  of  conquering 
our  island.     It  was  soon  discovered,    however,  that  these 
sources  of  wealth  existed  only  in-  their  own  imaginations: 
and,  all   their  hopes  of  plunder  ended  in  the  little  advan- 
tage they  could  make  bv  the  sale  of  their  prisoners.     Cicero, 
taking  notice  of  this  circumstance  to  Atticus,  ridicules  the 
-poverty  and  ignorance-of  our  British  ancestors;  which  gives 
occasion  to  the  ingenious  historian  of  his  life,  to  break. out 
into  the  following  pertinent  and  useful  observations  :  **  From 
**  their  railleries  of  this  kind  (says  Dr.  Middleton)  one  can- 
~^*  not  help  reflecting  on  the  surprising  fate  and  revolutions 
/*  of.  kingdoms:  how  Rome,  once  the  mistress  of  the  world, 
'**  the  scat  of  arts,  empire,  and  glory,  now  lies  sunk  in  sloih, 
**  ignorance,  and  poverty  ;  enslaved  to  the  most  cruel  as  well 
'*  as  to  the  most  contemptible  of  tyrants,  superstition  and 
"  religious  imposture :  while  this  remote  country,  anciently 
•*'the  jest  and  contempt  of  the  polite  Romans,  is  become 
the  happy  seat  of  liberty,  plenty,  and  letters,  flourishing  in 
**  all  the  arts  and  refinements  of  civil  bfe ;  yet,  running,  per- 
haps, the  same  course  which  Rome  itself  had  run  before 
it ;  from  virtuous  industry  to  wealth ;  from  wealth  to  lux- 
ury ;  from  luxury  to  an  impatience  of  discipline,  and  cor- 
"  ruption  of  morals;  till,  by  a  total  degeneracy  and  loss  of 
^♦f  virtue,  being  grown  ripe  for  destruction,  it  falls  a  prey,  at 
."  last,  to  some  hardy  oppressor,  and,  with  the  loss  of  liberty, 
**  losing  every  thing  else  that  is  valuable,  sinks  gradually 
**  again  into  its  original  barbarism."     Ad  Att,  iv,  JJfe  of 
CiCs  ii,  105. 


4< 


it 


it 


it 


142 


Thx  letters 


Book  IL 


commendation.  You  have  every  favourable  cir*- 
cumstance  indeed  for  your  advancement  that 
can  be  wished.  On  the  one  hand,  you  are  in 
the  prime  and  vigour  of  your  years ;  as  on  the 
other,  you  are  serving  under  a  commander  dis- 
tinguished for  the  generosity  of  his  disposition, 
and  to  whom  you  have  been  recommended  in 
the  strongest  terms.  In  a  word,  there  is  not 
the  least  fear  of  your  success,  if  your  own  con* 
.  currence  be  not  wanting.     Farewel. 


LETTER  XL 

[A.  U.  679,] 

To  the  same. 

J  HAVE  received  a  very  obliging  letter  from 
Caesar,  wherein  he  tells  me,  that  though  his 
numberless  occupations  have  hitherto  prevented 
him  from  seeing  you  so  often  as  he  wishes,  he 
Av^ill  certainly  find  an  opportunity  of  being  bet- 
ter acquainted  with  you.  I  have  assured  him, 
in  return,  how  extremely  acceptable  his  gene- 
rous services  to  you,  would  prove  to  myself. 
But  surely  you  are  much  too  precipitate  in 
your  detejminations :  and  I  could  not  but 
wonder  that  you  should  have  refused  tlie  ad- 
vantages of  a  tribune^s  commission,  especially 

as 


Book  IL 


OF  CICERO. 


143 


as  you  might  have  been  excused,  it  seems, 
from  the  functions  of  that  post.  If  you  con- 
tinue to  act  thus  indiscreetly,  I  shall  certainly 
exhibit  an  infoi^mation  against  you  to  your 
friends  Vacerra  and  Manilius.  I  dare  not  ven- 
ture, however,  to  lay  the  case  before  Corneli- 
us :  for  as  you  profess  to  have  learned  all  your 
wisdom  from  his  instructions ;  to  arraign  the 
pupil  of  imprudence,  would  be  a  tacit  reflec- 
tion, you  know,  upon  the  tutor.  But  in  good 
earnest,  I  conjure  you  not  to  lose  the  fairest 
opportunity  of  making  your  fortune,  that  pro- 
bably will  ever  fall  again  in  your  way. 

i  frequently  recommend  your  interests  to 
Precianus,  whom  you  mention ;  and  he  writes 
me  word  that  he  has  done  you  some  good  of- 
tices.  Let  me  know  of  what  kind  they  arc.  I 
expect  a  letter  upon  your  arrival  in  Britain, 
Farewel. 


LETTER 


144 


The  letters 


Book  II. 


LETTER  XIL 

[A.U.699.] 

To  the  same. 

I  HAVE  made  your  acknowledgments  to  my 
brother,  in  pursuance  of  your  request :  and  am 
glad  to  have  an  occasion  of  applauding  you  for 
being  fixed,  at  last,  in  some  settled  resolution, 
fhe  style  of  your  former  letters,  I  will  own, 
gave  me  a  good  deal  of  uneasiness.  And  allow 
me  to  say,  that  in  some  of  them,  you  discovered 
an  impatience  to  reti^rn  tq  the  polite  refineipents 
of  Rome,  which  had  the  appearance  of  much 
levity:  tliat,  in  some,  I  regretted  your  indolence, 
and  in  others  your  timidity.  They  frequently, 
likewise,  gave  me  occasion  to  think,  that  you 
were  not  altogether  so  reasonable  in  your  expec- 
tations, as  is  agreeable  to  your  usual  modesty. 
One  would  have  imagined,  indeed,  you  had 
carried  a  bill  of  exchange  upon  Caesar,  instead 
of  a  letter  of  recommendation :  for  you  seemed 
to  think  you  had  nothing  more  to  do  than  to 
receive  your  money  and  hasten  home  again.  But 
money,  my  friend,  is  not  so  easily  acquired ; 
and  1  could  name  some  of  our  acquaintance  who 
have  been  obliged  to  travel  as  far  as  Alexandria 
p  pursuit  of  it,  without  having  yet  been  able  to 

obtain 


Eoj;)jL  II. 


Qda  ncEHa 


\^ 


obtain  even  their  just  demands^  If  my  incli- 
nations were  governed  solely  by  my  interest,  I 
should  certainly  choose  to  have  you  here :  as 
nothing  affords  me  more  pleasure  than  your 
company,  or  more  advantage  than  your  advice 
and  assistance.  But  as  you  sought  my  fHend- 
shii>  and  patronage  from  your  earliest  youth,  I 
always  thought  it  incumbent  upon  me  to  act 
with  a  disinterested  view  to  your  welfare;  and 
not  only  to  give  you  my  protection,  but  t^'ka- 
vance,  by  every  means  in  my  power,  both  your 
fortunes  and  your  dignities.  In  conse<|tt^nce  of 
which  I  dare  say  you  have  not  forgotten  those 
unsolicited  offers  I  made  you,  when  I  had 
thoughts  of  being  employed  abroad^.  I  no 
sooner  gave  up  my  intentions  of  this  kind,  and 
perceived  that  Caesar  treated  me  with  great  dis- 
tinction and  friendship,  than  I  recommended 
you,  in  the  strongest  and  warmest  tenns,  to  his 
favour,  perfectly  well  knowing  the  singular  pro- 
bity and  benevolence  of  his  heart.  Accord- 
ingly he  shewed,  not  only  by  his  letters  to  me, 
but  by  his  conduct  towards  you,  the  great  re- 
gard he  paid  to  my  recommendation.     If  you 

have 

This  alludes  to  those  who  supplied  Ptolemy  with  money 

when  he  was  soliciting  his  affairs  in  Rome:  an  account  of 

which  has  already  been  given  in  the  notes  on  the  foregoin^^ 

book.     See  rem.  2.  p.  51,  of  this  vol.  ** 

?  See  rem.  7.  p.  135.  of  this  vol. 

YoL.  I.  L  ' 


146 


The  letters 


Book  II^ 


have  any  opinion,  therefore,  of  my  judgment. 
Of  imagine  that  I  sincerely  wish  you  well,  let 
mt  persuade  you  to  continue  with  him.  And 
notwithstanding  you  should  meet  with  some 
J  0  \  things  to  disgust  you;  as  business,  perhaps,  or 
other  obstructions  may  render  him  less  expedi^i 
tious  in  gratifying  your  views  than  you  had 
reason  to  expect;  still,  however,  persevere;  and 
trust  me,  you  M^ill  find  it  prove  in  the  end  both 
for  youT  interest  and  your  honour.  To  exhort 
you  any  farther,  mi^ht  look  like  impertinence: 
let  me  only  remind  you,  that  if  you  lose  this 
opportunity  of  improviu^  your  fortunes,  you 
will  never  meet  again  with  so  generous  a  pa- 
tron, so  rich  a  provinqg^jor  so  convenient  a 
season  for  this  purpose.  And  (to  express  my- 
self in  the  style  of  you  lawyers)  Corneliua  has 
give?i  his  opinioyi  to  the  same  effect. 

I  am  glad,  for  my  sake,  as  well  as  yours,  that 
you  did  not  attend  Ca?sar  into  Britain  :  as  it  has 
not  only  saved  you  the  fatigue  of  a  very  dis- 
agreeable expedition,  but  me  likewise  that  of 
being  the  perpetual  auditor  of  your  wonderful 
exploits.  Let  me  know  in  what  part  of  the 
world  you  are  likely  to  take  up  your  winter- 
quarters,  and  in  what  post  you  are,  or  expect 
to  be  employed.     Farewel 

LETTER 


Book  IL 


OF  CICERO. 


147 


LETTER  XIIL 

[A.  U.  699.] 

To  the  same. 

It  is  a  considerable  time  since  I  have  heard 
any  thing  from  you.  As  for  myself,  if  I  have 
not  written  these  three  months,  it  was  because, 
after  you  were  separated  from  my  brother,  I 
neither  knew  where  to  address  my  letters,  nor 
by  what  hand  to  convey  them.  I  much  wish 
to  be  informed  how  your  affairs  go  on,  and  in 
what  part  of  the  world  your  winter-quarters 
are  likely  to  be  fixed.  I  should  be  glad  they 
might  be  with  Caesar :  but,  as  I  would  ^ot 
venture,  in  his  present  affliction^  to  trouble 
him  with  a  letter,  I  have  written  upon  that 
subject  to  Balbus.  In  the  mean  while,  let  me 
entreat  you  not  to  be  wanting  to  yourself:  and 

for 

'  Csesar,  about  this  time,  lost  his  daughter  Julia,  who 
di'ed  ill  child -bed.  She  was  married  to  Pompey,  who  was 
so  passionately  fond  of  her,  that  she  seems,  during  the  short 
time  they  lived  together,  to  have  taken  entire  possession  of 
his  whole  heart,  and  to  have  turned  all  his  ambition  into  the 
single  desire  of  appearing  amiable  in  her  eye.  The  death  of 
this  young  lady  proved  a,  public  calamity,  as  it  dissolved  the 
only  forcible  bond  of  union  between  her  father  and  her  hus- 
band, and  hastened  that  rupture  which  ended  in  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  commonwealth.  It  is  in  allusion  to  this  that  the 
elegant  Paterculus  calls  her  medimi  male  cohcercntis  inter 
Pompeinm  et  Cctsarum  concordice  pig?ius»  Pint,  in  vit»  Pomp^ 
^t  Ccssar,     VeL  Paten,  i.  47. 

LSI 


148 


The  letters 


Book  IL 


Book  II. 


OIF  CICERO. 


14& 


for  my  own  part,  I  am  contented  to  give  up 
so  much  more  of  your  company,  provided  the 
longer  you  stay  abroad  the  richer  you  should 
letum.  There  is  nothing,  I  think,  particu-. 
larly  to  hasten  you  home,  now  that  Vacerra  is 
dead.  However  you  are  the  best  judge  :  and 
I  should  be  glad  to  know  what  you  have  dt^ 
termined. 

There  is  a  queer  fellow  of  your  acquaintance, 
one  Octavius  or  Cornelius  (I  do  not  perfectly 
recollect  his  name)  who  is  perpetually  inviting 
me,  as  a  friend  of  yours,  to  sup  with  him.  He 
has  not  yet  prevailed  with  me  to  accept  his 
compliment :  however,  I  am  obliged  to  the 
man.     Farewel. 

LETTER  XIV. 

[A.  U.  699.] 
To    MUNATIUS'. 

Lucius  Livineius  Trypho  is  the  freedmau 
of  my  very  intimate  friend  Regulus :  And 
though  the  misfortunes  of  the  latter  cannot 
raise  him  higher  in  my  affection,  they  have, 

howevei', 

•  The  person  to  whom  this  letter  is  addressed,  is  un- 
known, as  is  the  precise  lime,  likewise,  when  it  was  written: 
It  seems  p'obable,  however,  not  to  have  been  very  long 
after  Cicero's  return  from  banishment.  For  by  the  expres- 
sion, his  HOitris  temporibus,  he  undoubtedly  alludes  (as  Mr. 
Ross  observes)  to  the  misfortunes  which  were  brought  upon 
him  by  Clodius. 


however,  rendered  me  more  assiduous  to  testify 
it  in  every  instance  wherein  he  is  the  least  con- 
cerned. But  I  have  still  a  farther  reason  to  in- 
terest myself  in  belialf  of  his  freed-man,  as  I 
experienced  his  services  at  a  season  when  I  had 
the  best  opportunity  of  proving  the  sincerity 
of  my  friends.  I  recommend  him,  therefore, 
to  your  protection  with  all  the  warmth  of  the 
most  sensible  gratitude ;  and  I  shall  be  ex- 
tremely obliged  to  you  for  shewing  him,  that 
you  place  to  your  own  account,  those  many 

dangerous  winter  voyages  he  formerly  under*, 
took  upon  mine.     Farewel. 

LETTER  XV. 

[A.  U.  699.] 

To  Trebatius. 

I  PERCEIVE,  by  your  letter,  that  my  friend 
Csesar  looks  upon  you  as  a  most-wonderful 
lawyer ;  and  are  you  not  happy  in  being  thus 
placed  in  a  country  where  you  make  so  const* 
derable  a  figure  upon  so  small  a  stock*  ?     But 

with 

*  The  ludicrous  auihor  of  the  Tale  of  a  Tub  has  applied 
this  passage  with  more  humour,  perhaps,  than  it  was  first 
conceived.  He  is  accounting  for  the  propagation  of  the  se- 
veral absurd  doctrines  of  philosophy  and  religion  that  have 
prevailed  in  the  woild,  by  supposing  that  every  system-maker 
is  always  sure  of  finding  a  set  of  disciples  whose  tone  of  un- 
derstanding is  exactly  pitched  to  the  absurdity  or  extrava- 
gance of  his  tenets.     **  And  in  this  one  circumstance,"  says 

L3  he 


150 


The  letters 


with  how  much  greater  advantage  would  your 
noble  talents  have  appeared,  had  you  gone  into 
Britain  ?  Undoubtedly  there  would  not  have 
been  so  profound  a  sage  in  the  law  throughout 
all  that  extensive  island. 

Since  your  epistle  has  provoked  me  to  be 
thus  jocose,  I  will  proceed  in  the  same  strain, 
and  tell  you  there  was  one  part  of  it  I  could 
not  read  without  some  envy ;  and  how,  indeed, 
could  it  be  otherwise,  when  I  found  that, 
whilst  much  greater  men  were  in  vain  attempt* 
ing  to  get  admittance  to  Csesar,  you  were  sin- 
crled  out  from  the  crowd,  and  even  summoned 
to  an  audience'  ?  But  after  giving  me  an  ac- 
count of  affairs  which  concern  others,  why 
-were  you  silent  as  to  your  own,  assured  as  you 

are 

he,  **  lies  all  the  skill  or  luck  of  the  matter.  Cicero  under- 
•*  stood  this  very  well,  when  writing  to  a  friend  in  England, 
**  with  a  caution,  among  other  matters,  to  beware  of  being 
"  cheated  by  our  hackney-coachmen,  (who,  it  seems,  in 
•*  those  days,  were  as  errant  rascals  as  they  are  now)  has 
•*  these  remarkable  words :  est  quod  gaudeas  te  in  ista  loca 
"  tenisscy  uhi  aliquid  sapere  viderere.  For,  to  speak  a  bold 
**  truth,  it  is  a  fatal  miscarriage,  so  ill  to  order  affairs,  as  (o 
**  pass  for  a  fool  in  one  company,  when  in  another  you 
**  might  be  treated  as  a  philosopher;  which  I  desire  some 
•'  certain  gentlemen  of  my  acquaintance  to  lay  up  in  their 
"  hearts  as  a  very  seasonable  inuendo,'*  Tale  of  a  Tub.  p.  l64. 
•  Tr«batius,  it  is  probable,  had  informed  Cicero,  in  the 
letter  to  which  this  is  an  answer,  that  he  had  been  summoned 
by  Caesar  to  attend  him  as  his  assessor  upon  some  trial ; 
which  seems  to  have  led  our  author  into  the  railleries  of  this 
and  the  preceding  passages. 


Book  IL 


OF  CICERO. 


151 


1 


are  that  I  interest  myself  in  them  with  as  much 
zeal  as  if  they  immediately  related  to  myself. 
Accordingly,  as  I  am  extremely  afraid  you 
will  have  no  employment  to  keep  you  warm  m 
your  winter-quarters,  I  would,  by  all  means, 
advise  you  to  lay  in  a  sufficient  quantity  of 
fuel.  Both  Mucins  and  Manilius*  have  given 
their  opinions  to  the  same  purpose ;  especially 
as  your  regimentals^  they  apprehend,  will 
scarce  be  ready  soon  enough  to  secure  you 
against  the  approaching  cold.  We  hear,  how- 
ever, there  has  been  hot  work  in  your  part  of 
the  world,  which  somewhat  alarmed  me  for 
your  safety ;  but  I  comforted  myself  with  con- 
sidering, that  you  are  not  altogether  so  despe- 
rate a  soldier,  as  you  are  a  lawyer.  It  is  a 
wonderful  consolation,  indeed,  to  your  friends, 
to  be  assured  that  your  passions  are  not  an 
over-match  for  your  prudence.  Thus,  as 
much  as  I  know  you  love  the  water^  you 

would 

*  Mucius  and  Manilius,  it  must  be  supposed,  were  two 
lawyers,  and  particular  friends  of  Trebatius,  as  the  humour 
of  this  witticism  evidently  consists  in  an  allusion  to  that  pro- 
fession. 

^  In  the  original  it  is  studiosissimus  homo  natandi,  the  am* 
biguity  of  which  could  not  have  been  preserved  in  a  more 
literal  translation.  The  art  of  swimming  was  among  the 
number  of  polite  exercises  in  ancient  Rome,  and  esteemed  a 
necessary  qualification  for  every  gentleman.  Thus  we  find 
Cato  the  elder  himself  instructing  his  son  in  this  accom- 
plishment ;  as  Augustus  likewise  performed  the  same  ofiice 

L  4  in 


U2 


The  letters         Book  U. 


would  not  venture,  I  find,  to  cross  it  with  Cae- 
sar ;  and  tho'  nothing  could  keep  you  from  the 

combats 

in  the  education  of  bis  two  grandsons,  Caius  and  Lucius. 
It  waS)  indeed,  one  of  the  essential  arts  in  military  disci- 
pline, as  both  the  soldiers  and  officers  had  frequently  no 
other  means  of  pursuing  or  retreating  from  the  enemy.  Ac- 
cordingly the  Campus  Martius,  a  place  where  the  Roman 
youth  were  taught  the  science  of  arms,  was  situated  on  the 
banks  of  the  Tiber ;  and  they  constantVy  finished  their  exer- 
cises of  this  kind  by  throwing  themselves  into  the  river.—- 
This  shews  the  wonderful  propriety  of  those  noble  lines 
which  Shakespear  puts  into  the  mouth  of  Cassius,  in  that 
masterly  scene  where  he  is  endeavouring  to  sound  the  senti- 
ments, and  fire  the  indignation  of  Brutus  towards  Caesar. 

We  can  both 
Endure  the  winter's  cold  as  well  as  he. 
For  once  upon  a  raw  and  gusty  day, 
The  troubled  Tiber  chafing  with  his  shores, 
Caesar  says  to  me,  **  Darest  thou,  Cassius,  now 
Leap  in  with  me  into  this  angry  flood, 
And  swim  to  yonder  point  ?"     Upon  the  word, 
Accoutred  as  I  was,  I  plunged  in, 
And  bade  him  follow :  so  indeed  he  did. 
The  torrent  roar'd,  and  we  did  buffet  it 
With  lusty  sinews,  throwing  it  aside, 
And  stemming  it  with  hearts  of  controversy. 
But  ere  we  could  arrive  the  point  proposed, 
Caesar  cry'd,  **  Help  me,  Cassius,  or  I  sink." 
I,  as  iEneas,  our  great  ancestor, 
Did  from  the  flames  of  Troy,  upon  his  shoulder, 
The  old  Anchises  bear,  so  from  the  waves  of  Tyber 
Did  I  the  tir'd  Caesar  :  and  this  man 
Is  now  become  a  God,  ccc. 
Monsieur  Dacier  observes,  that  this  passage  of  Cicero  disco- 
Ters  the  justness  of  those  verses  in  Horace,  where  Trebatius 
is  represented  as  advising  the  Roman  satirist  to  swim  across 
the  Tyber,  as  an  excellent  remedy  against  his  poetical  pro- 
pensity :  since,  like  other  physicians,  he  prescribed  a  regi- 
men, it  seems,  most  agreeable  to  his  own  taste  and  prac- 
tice.    Plut,  in  nV.  Cato,  Censor,  Stiet.  in  vit.  Augvsti  64. 
Vcgft.  de  re  mility  i.  10.     D^citrrtm.  stir  la  Sat.  i.  du  Hv. 
ii.  d^Uor, 


Book  It. 


OF  CICERO. 


153 


combats  in  Rome,  you  were  niiicli  too  wise, 
i  perceive,  to  attend  them  in  Britain^  \. 

But  pleasantry  apart:  you  know,  without  my 
telling  you,  with  what  zeal  I  have  recommended 
you  to  Cffisar  ;  though,  perhaps,   you  may  not 
be  apprised,  that  I  have  fiequently,  as  well  as 
warmly,  written  to  him  upon  that  subject     I 
had,  for  some  time,  indeed,  intermitted  my  so-     • 
licitations,  as  I  would  not  seem  to  distrust  his 
friendship  and  generosity;  however,  I  thought 
proper,  in  my  last,  to  remind  him  once  more'of 
his  promise.     I  desire  you  would  let  me  know 
what  effect  my  letter  has  produced,  and  at  the 
3ame  time,  give  me  a  full  account  of  every  thing 
that  concerns  you.  For  I  am  exceedingly  auxi- 
ous  to  be  informed  of  the  prospest  and  situation 
of  your  affairs,  as  well  as  how  long  you  ima- 
gine  your  absence  is  likely  to  continue.  Be  per- 
suaded,  that  nothing  could  reconcile  me  to  this 
separation,  but  the  hopes  of  its  proving  to  your 
advantage.    In  any  other  view,  I  should  not  be 
so  impoHtic  as  not  to  insist  on  your  return ;  as 
you  would  be  too  prudent,  I  day  say,  to  delay 
it.     The  truth  is,  one  hour  s  gay,  or  serious 
conversation  together,  is  of  more  importance 
to  us,  than  all  the  foes  and  all  tlie  friends  that 
the  whole  nation  of  Gaul  can  produce.  I  entreat 


^  Alluding  to  his  fondness  of  the  gladiatorial  games.' 
^ee  remark  5,  p.  i3^^  of  thi«  vol. 


you 


I'  'i 


154 


The  letters 


Book  IL 


Book  IL 


OF  CICERO. 


155 


you,  therefore,  to  send  me  an  immediate  ac- 
count in  what  posture  your  affairs  stand  ;  and 
be  assured,  as  honest  Chremes  says  to  his 
neighbour  in  the  play^ 

Whatever  cares  thy  laboring  bosom  grieve, 

Mxf  tongue  shall  soothe  them,  or  my  hand  relieve, 

Farewel. 

LETTER  XVL 

[A.  U.  699.] 

To  the  same. 

You  remember  the  character  given  of  the 
Phrygians  in  the  play^ ;  "  that  their  wisdom 
*'  ever  came  too  late :"  but  you  are  resolved, 
my  dear  cautious  old  gentleman',  that  no  im- 
putation of  this  kind  shall  be  fixed  upon  you. 
Thank  heaven,  indeed,  you  wisely  subdued  the 
romantic  spirit  of  your  first  letters,  as  you 
were  not  so  obstinately  bent  upon  new  adven- 
tures, as  to  hazard  a  voyage  for  that  purpose 

into 

*  Id  Terence's  play  calleH  the  Self  tormentor, 
f  A  tragedy  called   the  Trojan  Horse,   which  seems,  by 
Cicero's  frequent  quotations  Irora  it,  to  have  been  in  great 

esteem. 

»  The  celebrated  Monsieur  Dacier  produces  this  passage 
as  a  proof  that  Trebatius  must  have  been  more  than  four- 
score years  of  age,  when  Horace  addressed  the  satire  to  him 
mentioned  in  the  remarks  on  the  preceding  letter.  But  that 
learned  critic  has  been  led  into  this  error  by  taking  in  a  se- 
rious sense,  what  Cicero  most  evidently  meant  in  a  ludicrous 
one. 


into  Britain;  and  who,  in  troth,  can  blame  you ? 
It  is  the  same  disposition,  I  imagine,  that  has 
immoveably  fixed  you  in  your  winter-quarters, 
and  certainly  there  is  nothing  like  acting  with 
circumspection  upon  all  occasions.  Take  my 
word  for  it,  prudence  is  the  safest  shield. 

If  it  were  usual  with  me  to  sup  from  home, 
most  undoubtedly  I  could  not  refuse  your  gal- 
lant friend  Octavius.  I  will  own,  however,  I 
love  to  mortify  the  man's  vanity  ;  and,  when- 
ever he  invites  me,  I  always  aifect  to  look  with 
some  surprise,  as  not  seeming  to  recollect  his 
person.  Seriously,  he  is  a  wondrous  pretty 
fellow ;  what  pity  it  is  that  you  did  not  take 
him  abroad  with  you* ! 

Let  me  know  how  you  are  employed,  and 
whether  there  is  any  probability  of  seeing  you 
in  Italy  this  winter.  Balbus  assures  me,  that 
you  will  certainly  return  immensely  rich  ;  but, 
whether  he  means  in  the  vulgar  sense,  or  agree- 
ably to  the  maxim  of  his  friends  the  Stoics,  who 
maintain,  you  know,  **  that  every  man  is  rich, 
"  who  has  the  free  enjoyment  of  earth  and 
*'  a?i';"  is  a  doubt  which  time  will  clear  up. 

I  find,  by  those  who  come  from  your  part  of 
the  world,  that  you  are  grown  wonderfully  re- 
served: for  they  tell  me,  you  answer  no  que- 
ries. 

*  See  the  conclusion  of  let.  xiii,  p.  148.  of  this  vol. 


/ 


136 


The   letters         Book  IL 


riey^.  However,  it  is  on  all  hands  a  settled 
point,  (and  you  have  reason,  certainly,  to  con- 
gratulate yourself  upon  it)  that  you  are  the 
most  profound  sage  in  the  law,  throughout  the 
whole  city  of  Samarobriva*^     Farewel. 

LETTER 

'  The  witticism  of  this  passage  consists  in  the  double 
•ense  of  the  verb  responderCj  which,  besides  its  common  ac- 
ceptation, signifies  likewise  the  giving  an  opinion  as  a  lawyer^ 
This  conceit,  such  as  it  is,  seems  to  have  been  a  favourite 
one  with  our  author,  for  he  repeats  it  in  a  subsequent  letter, 
where  he  is  rallying  another  of  his  friends  upon  an  occasion 
of  the  same  nature.  See  note  6.  p.  213.  of  this  vol.     But — 

Antoni  gladios  potuit  contemnere^  si  sic 
Omn  ia  dirisset  ! ^ J  u  v . 

'**  A  principal  town  iu  Gaul,  now  called  Amiens,  and 
where  Trebatius  seems  to  have  had  his  winter-quarters. 


•\ 


Book  IL 


OF  CICERQ. 


157 


LETER  XVII. 


[A.  U.  699.] 
To  LKNTUtUS. 

It  is  with  singular  pleasure  I  perceive,  by  your 
letter,  that  you  are  sensible,  I  will  not  say  of 
my  affection  only,  but  of  my  devotion  towards 
you.     Even  that  sacred  term,  indeed,  can  but 
ill  express  the  sentiments  you  merit  from  me  : 
and  if  you  esteem  yourself  (as  you  would  per- 
suade me)  obliged  by  my  endeavours  to  serve 
you,    it  is   your  friendship   alone  which   can 
make  you  think  so.  I  am  sure,  at  least,  I  could 
not  refuse  you  my  best  good  offices,  without 
being  guilty  of  the  most  unpardonable  ingrati- 
tude.    You  would  have  experienced,  however, 
much  stronger  and  more  powerful  instances  of 
my  friendship,  if,  instead  of  being  thus  long 
separated  from  each  other,  \ve  had  passed  this 
interval  together  at  Rome.    It  is  not  only  in  the 
particular  article  you  mention,  and  in  Avhich 
no  man  is  more  qualified  to  shine,  that  I  impa- 
tiently wish  to  receive  you  as  my  co-adjutor : 
it  is  not,  I  say,  in  the  senate  alone,  that  our 
amicable  concurrence  would  have  been  distin- 
guished ;  it  would  have  appeared  conspicuous, 
my  friend,  in  every  act  of  public  concern- 
ment. 


158 


The  letters 


Book  IL 


Book  II. 


OF  CICERO. 


150 


ment.    Suffer  me  then  to  add,  previously  to  the 
information  you  request  me  to  give  you  of  my 
political  sentiments  and  situation,  that  if  fortune 
had  not  thus  divided  us,  I  should  have  enjoyed 
in  you  a  wise  and  faithful  guide ;  as  you  would 
have   found  in  me,  a   kind,  a  friendly,  and, 
perhaps,  no  unexperienced   associate.      How- 
ever, I  rejoice  (as  undoubtedly  I  ought)  at  the 
honourable  occasion  of  your  absence,   and  in 
which  your  military  conduct  and  success  has 
procured  you  the  illustrious  tit\(^  of  Imperator^. 
Nevertheless,  J  must  repeat  it  again,  it  is  ow- 
ing to  this  circumstance,  that  you  have  not  re- 
ceived far  more  abundant  and  efficacious  fruits 
of  that  friendship,  to  which  you  have  so  undis- 
puted a  claim.     In  particular,  I  should  most 
strenuously  have  united  with  you  in  taking  just 
vengeance  on  those  whose  ill  offices  you  have 
experienced,  partly  in  resentment  of  your  hav- 
ing supported  and  protected  me  in  my  adver- 
sity, and  partly  a,s  they  envy  you  the  glory  of 
so  generous  an  action.    One  of  them,  however, 
has  sufficiently  anticipated  our  revenge,   and 
drawn  down  by  his  own  hands   the  chastise- 
ment he  merits  from  ours.    The  person,  I  mean 

is 

'  History  is  altogether  silent  as  to  the   occasion  upoa 
yi(hich  Lentulus  was  saluted  by  bis  army  witb  tbis  titU. 


is  that  man  who  has  ever  distinguished  himself 
by  opposing  his  benefactors,  and  who,  after 
having  received  from  you  the  highest  services, 
singled  you  out  as  the  object  of  his  impotent 
malice.  This  man,  in  consequence  of  being 
detected  in  his  late  infamous  attempts,  has  en-« 
tirely  and  irretrievably  lost  at  once  both  his 
honour  and  his  liberty*.  As  to  yourself,  tho'  I 
had  much  rather  you  should  gain  experience 
by  my  misfortunes  than  your  own,  yet  it  af- 
fords me  some  consolation,  under  your  present 
disappointment',  that  you  have  not  paid  so  se- 
vere a  fine  as  I  did,  for  being  taught  the  little 
dependence  there  is  upon  the  professions  of  the 
world.  A  reflection  this,  which  may  very 
properly  serve  as  an  introduction  to  the  ac- 
count you  require  of  the  motives  of  my  late 
transactions. 

You  are  informed,  then,  it  seems,  that  I  am 
reconciled  with  Csesar  and  Appius*:  a  step, 
you  assure  me,  which  you  do  not  disapprove. 

But 

*  The  conj(5Cture  of  Manutrus  seems  highly  probable, 
that  the  persoa'to  whom  Cicero  alludes  isCaius  Cato,  whose 
ill  offices  to  Lentulus  have  been  often  mentioned  in  the  pre- 
ceding letters.  .  But  what  the  secret  practices  were  which 
had  been  discovered  so  much  to  his  disgrace,  is  a  point  ia 
which  history  does  not  afford  any  light. 

^  In  not  obtaining^  the  commission  to  replace  Ptolemy  on 
his  throne. 

♦  He  was  embroiled  with  Appius,  as  being  the  brother  of 
bis  inveterate  enemy,  Clodius. 


[A.    \ 


160 


The  letters 


Book  II. 


.\-'/i 


I      4 


Is 


But  you  are  at  a  loss  to  guess  what  yeasQus  could 
induce  me  to  appear  at  the  trial  of  Vatinius,  not 
only  as  an  advocate,  but  as  a  witness  ip  his  fa- 
vour?. To  set  this  matter  in  the  clearest  light> 
it  will  be  necessary  to  trace  back  the  motives  of 
mv  conduct  to  their  orisiinal  sou^.ge..  LetJaie 
observe  then^  my  Lentulus,  that  when  I  was- 
recalled  from  exile  by  your  generous  pfl^c^  .1. 
considered  myself  as  restored,  not  only  to  my 
friends  and  to  my  family,  but  to  the  comn^qi;^ 
wealth  in  general.  And  as  you  had  a  right  to 
the  best  returns  of  my  affection  and  gratitude 

for 

v*  ft  wascastomary  ^t  trials  for  the  person  arraigned  t6 
produce  witnesses  to  his  cbaraclcr,  who  were  called  Laudct- 
iorts,  aod  ten  was  the  number  requibite  for  this  purpose. 
Vairnios  was  tribune  of  thj&  people  in  the  consulate  orf<22esar,. 
and  had  been  in  the  number  of  Cjcero's  most  inveterate  ene- 
mies, as  he  was  his  constant  opposer  likewise  in  politics. 
lie  was  a  man  of  a  most  abandoned  characler,  and  whose 
person  (as  Palerculus  assures  us)  was  not  less  deformed  than 
kis  mind.  A  very  learned  and  polite  author,  whose  just 
e:»tcem  for  Cicero's  writings  has  betrayed  him,  jwrhaps,  into^ 
some  partiality  towards  his  actions,  acknowledges  that  **  the 
*'  defence  of  Vatinius  gave  a  plausible  handle  for  some  cen** 
»*  sure  upon  Cicero."  The  truth  of  it  is,  the  censure  was 
more  than  plausible^  for  nothing  certainly  could  discover 
more  meanness  of  spirit  than  thus,  in  compliance  with  those 
in  power,  not  only  to  defend  Vatinius  as  an  advocate,  but 
to  bear  public  testimony  likewise  to  his  general  good  con- 
duct. Some  colourable  excuse,  indeed,  may  be  given  fot 
the  former,  by  considering  it  in  the  light  which  Valerius. 
Maximus  has  placed  it,  as  an  instance  of  Cicero's  genero- 
sity Inwards  his  enemies ;  but  the  latter  seems  to  stand  be- 
yond the  reach  even  of  a  plausible  justification.  Pat,  ii.  69-» 
t'al.  Max.  i\\  2. 


[/■ 


Book  II. 


OF  CICERO, 


I6l 


for  the  distinguished  part  you  acted  in  that  af^ 
fair ;  so  I  thought  there  was  something  more 
than  ordinary  due  from  me  to  my  country, 
which  bad  so  singularly  co-operated  with  you 
upon  this  occasion,     I  often  took  an  opportur 
nity,   during  your  consulate,  of  publicly  dcr 
glaring  these  my  sentiments  in  the  senate ;  as  J 
always,  you  well  know,  expressed  myself  to  the 
same  purpose   in   our  private   conversations. 
Nevertheless,  I  had  many  reasons  at  that  time 
to  be  highly  disgusted,    I  could  not,  in  truth, 
but  observe  the  disguised  malice  of  some,  an4 
the  coolness  of  others,  when  you  were  endea-^ 
vouring  to  procure  a  decree  for  restoring  the  in- 
scription of  that  honourable  monument  of  my 
public  services,  which  had  been  erected  by  the 
senate^     But  it  was  not  only  in  this  instance 
that  those  who  had  many  obligations  to  concur 
in  your  good  offices  towards  me,  acted  a  part  I 
had  little  reason  to  expect.     They  looked  in^ 
deed  with  niuch  ungenerous  indjflerepce  oji  the 

cruel 

•  The  expression  which  Cicero  makes  use  of  in  this  place 
IS  am^guous  :  neque  de  monumentis  meis  ah  its  adjutus,  e*. 
*c.  The  commentators  have  supposed  that  this  relates  to 
Uceros  bouse:  but  Mr.  Ross,  with  much  greater  proba- 
bility, imagmes  It  alludes  to  X\it  Atrium  Ubertatis.vflixch 
had  been  erected,  by  order  of  the  senate,  as  a  memorial  of 
Uceros  services  in  rescuing  the  commonwealth  fr€>m  the 
dangerous  conspiracy  of  Catiline.  For  Clodius  had  erased 
the  original  inscription,  and  placed  his  own  name  in  it« 
8tead.     See  rem.  27  on  this  letter.  '        '     " 


, 


Vol.  I. 


M 


162 


The  letters 


Book  II. 


Book  H,  ^JV^CICIJIIO. 


<f€5 


cruel  outrage  which  was  oflFered  to  my  brother 
and  myself  under  our  own  roof ;  and  the  esti- 
mate they  made,  in  pursuance  of  the  senate  s  or- 
der, of  the  damages  I  had  sustained  by  these 
acts  of  violence,  was  far  unequal  to  my  real 
loss'.     This  last  article  of  their  injustice,  tho; 
least,  indeed,  in  my  concern,  I  could  not  but 
very  sensibly  feel  amidst  the  general  wreck  of 
my  fortunes.     But  though  these  mortifying 

marks 

7  Clodius,  after  havin?  procured  a  law  which  declarea  it 
treason  t^  vote  or  take  any  step  towards  recalling  Cicero 
from  his  banishment,  proceeded  to  pillage  and  burn  all  bis 
houses  both  in  town  and  country.     Cicero    however,  being 
restored   in   the  manner    which  he  himself  will  relate,  in  a 
subsequent  part  of  this  letter,  the  senate  decreed  that  his 
houses  should  be  rebuilt  at  the  public  expence.     But  while 
the  workmen  were  employed  on  bis  Palatine  house,  and  had 
carried  it  up  almost  to  the  roof,  Clodius  made  a  second  at- 
tack, and,  after  driving  them  off,  set  fire  te  the  adjoining 
edifice,  which  belonged  to  Cicero's  brother,  and  wherein  he 
himself  likewise  at  that  time  was ;   so  that  they  were  both 
obliged  to  mnke  thnr  escape  with  the  utmost  preapitation. 

^d  Ait  iv.  Orat.  post.  red. 

•  Hi.  houve  upon  the  Palatine  hill  in  Rome,  together 
with  his  Tusculan  and  Formian  villas,  were  jointly  estimated 
at  22  OOOl.  a  valuation  universally  condemned  as  extremely 
unequitable.     But  "  those  who  had  dipt  his  wings   (as  he 

-  expresses  himself  in   a  letter  to  Aiticus  upon  this  occa- 

-  sion)  were  not  disposed  they  should  grow  again  It  seems 
highly  probable  that  Lentulus  himself  Vv^as  in  this  number; 
«  it  appears,  by  a  letter  of  our  author  to  his  brorher,  that  he 
had  reasons  to  be  dissatisfied  with  his  conduct  towards  h.m. 

^^But  though,  in  the  pa^sage  before  us,  bespeaks  of  the  injus- 
Ike  that  bad  been  done  him,  as  arising  solely  fron  those  who 
were  concerned  with  Lentulus  m  takmg  an  e»t  mate  of  his 
losses;  yet,  at  the  same  time,  he  expresses  himself  in  such  a 
mani^er,  as  to  throw  a  very  artful  reproach  upon  the  lattfer. 
Jd  Ait.  IV.  2.     Ad  Q.  F.  ii.  2.  '       ^ 


marks  of  their  disposition  towards  me  wer# 
much  too  notorious  to  escape  my  observation, 
they  could  not  eflface  the  more  agreeable  in^ 
pressions  of  their  former  friendship.     For  this 
reason,    notwithstanding   those   high   obliga- 
tions I  Irad  to  Pompey,  of  which  vou  yourself 
were  witness,  and  have  often  mentioned,  not- 
withstanding  also   the   affection  and   esteem 
:which  I  always  entertained  for  him  ;  yet  I  stUl 
firmly  adliered  to  my  political  principles,  nor 
suffered  these  considerations  of  private  amity  to 
influence  me  in  favour  of  his  public  measures. 
Accordingly,  when  Vatinius  (who  at  the  trial  of 
P.  Scxtius^  was  examined  as  a  witness  agaiijst 
iuni)  intimated  that  Caesar's  successes  had  re^. 
conciled  me  to  his  party,  I  told  him,  in  the 
presence  of  Poiiipey,  that  I  preferred  the  fate 
of  Bibulus,  unhappjr  as  he  might  esteem  it,  to 
all  the  splendid  triumphs  of  the  most  victorious 
generar°,     I  asserted,  likewise,  upon  another 

occasion, 

41  k  "  ^^  S^J^^i^s  was  a  tribune  of  the  people  A.  U.  696.  in 
>^  the  consulship  of  Lentulus,  and  a  great  instrument  m  re. 
rr  storing  Cicero,     He   resisted   the  taction  of  Clodius  by 

>  force  of  arms,  and  was,  upon  that  account,  in  the  follow- 

lowing  year,  accused  of  public  violence  by  M,  Tullius 

:f  Albinovanus.     Cicero  defended  him  in  an  elxcelleiit  ora- 

..tion,  which  is  still  extant,  and  he  was  acquitted  by  the 
^<  suffrages  of  all  the  judges.'^     Mr.  Ross. 

IT  ^'  ^*'^P"''"^"8  Bibulus  was  joint  consul  with  J.  Caesar 

Av  U.  694i.     The  senate  secured  the  election  of  the  former, 

U^Mmt  ^.his  bein^  ^  check  to  the  ambitious  designs  of 

■  Jiisi 

M2 


I 


i 


I 


l64  Trti  LETTERS  Boo^  If. 

occasion  (and  asserted  too,  in  the  hearing  of 
Pompey,)  that  the  same  persons  who  confined 
Bibulus  to  his  house,  had  driven  rae  from  mine. 
Indeed,  the  whole  series  of  those  interroga- 
tories",  which  I  put  to  Vatinius  at  this  trial,, 
was  entirely  designed  as  an  invective  against  hi$ 
tribunate  :  and  I  particularly  exposed,  with 
much  freedom  and  indignation,  his  contempt 
of  the  auspices,  his  corrupt  disposal  of  foreign 
kingdoms",    together  with   the   rest   of   his 

violent 

bis  colleague  ;  ard  it  was  thought  of  so  much  importance  to 
the  republic,  that  he  should  be  chosen,  that  even  Cato  did  not 
scruple,  upon  this  occasion,  to  employ  methods  of  bribery 
for  that  purpose.  But  Bibulus,  after  many  vain  efforts  ot 
patriotism,  and  being  gros^ly  insulted  m  the  forum  by  Lae- 
lar's  mob,  at  length  withdrew  from  the  functions  of  his  ot- 
lice,  and  voluntarily  confined  himself  (as  Suetomui  relate^ 
to  his  own  house;  though,  by  tl»e  expression  which  Tully 
liere  uses,  it  rather  seems  as  if  Casar  had  employed  some 
force  in  keeping  him  there.  After  which,  as  the  same  his- 
torian informs  us.  Casar  governed  the  republic  without  con- 
trol      Suet,  in  Jul.  Cttsar,  c.  $0.  ..     r    . 

"  "  Cicero,  instead  of  examining  Vatinius  upon  the  tact* 
•«  in  his  evidence  against  Sexlius,  put  to  him  a  series  of  ques- 
«  lions  in  such  an  artful  manner,  that  he  exposed  all  the 
"  intrigues  and  iniquity  of  his  tribunate.  This  examination 
"  is  still  extant,  under  the  title  of  Interrogatio  m  Vatimum. 

^'»  It  is  wholly  uncertain  to^what  particular  facts  Cicero 
%llude«,  when  he  imputes  to  Vatinius  what  he  calls  the  dma- 
tioregnorwn:  however,  by  comparing  this  expression  with 
the  oration  to  which  it  refers,  and  w.ih  a  passage  in  a  letter 
to  Atticus,  it  seems  probable  that  Vatmius,  when  he  was  tn- 
bune,  kad  been  bribed  to  procure  a  confirmation  from  the 
people  of  some  disputed  regal  title,  or,  perhaps,  to  ob  am 
.issistance  from  the  republic,  in  transferring  a  contested 
crown  from  iU  rightful  possessor  into  the  ^^a^^^f^^  *° 
usurper.     It  18  certain,  U  IwU  that  buch  unworthy  me- 


Book  IL  t3*^  CICERO, 


v-» 


IG5 


Violent  and  illegal  proceedings.  But  it  was 
not  only  upon  this  occasion  that  I  spoke  thus 
unreservedly,  I  frequently  avowed  my  senti- 
ments with  the  same  resolute  spirit  in  the  se- 
nate. Thus>  when  Marcellinus  and  Philippus 
were*  consuls,  I  carried  a  motion  that  th? 
affair  of  the  Campanian  lands''  should  be  re- 
ferred to  the  re-consideration  of  a  full  house'*, 
on  the  15th  of  May  following.     Now  tell  me, 

my 

methods  were  frequently  practised  at  this  time,  in  order  to 
gratify  the  insatiable  avarice  and  profusion  of  these  degene- 
rate Romans.     Orat.  in  Vdtin.     Ad  Aft,  ii.  9. 

*  They  were  consuls.  A.  U.  S^J, 

"  The  lands  in  Campania,  a  district  in  Italy,  now  called 
the  Terra  di  lavoro,  in  the  kingdom  of  Naples,  were  partly 
appropriated  to  the  use  of  the  republic,  and  partly  in  pri- 
vate hands.      Casar  had  procured  a  law  ibr  dividrng  the 
former  among  25,000  poor  citizens,  and  for  purchasing  the 
latter  in  order  to  distribute  them  in  the  same  manner.   Both 
these  designs  seem    to  have  been  very  artfully  calculated 
by  Caesar  to  promote  and   facilitate  his  grand  purpose  of 
usurping   the  supreme  power.     For  by  parcelling  out  these 
lands  among  the  common  people  which  belonged  to  the  re- 
public, he  secured  the  populace  to  his  interest,  and,   at  the 
^ame  time,  deprived  the  government  of  those  very  conside- 
itible  supplies  both  of  money  and  corn,  which  it  derived  from 
its  demesnes  in  Campania;  as  on  the  other  side,  by  purchas- 
ing the  reraaintler  of  therie  estates,  he  must  necessarily  have 
weakened   those  public  treasures  which  were  already  much 
impoverished,  and  consequently  rendered  the  commonwealth 
less  capable  of  opposing  his  ambitious  measures.    Suet,  in  J. 
'€ces,  c.  20.     Cic.  Agrar.  li.  29. 

**  A  decree  of  the  senate  had  not  its  complete  force,  un- 
less it  passed  in  a  full  house ;  that  is,  when  a  competent 
fiumber  of  the  members  were  present.  It  seems,  by  a  pas- 
sage ^^hich  M anutius  quotes  from  Dio,  1.  5-fc.  that  before  the 
times  of  Augustus,  who  made  some  alteration  therein,  th« 
'ttumber  requisite  to  make  an  act  valid  was  400. 

Ms 


t66 


The  letters        BdoK It 


Book  II. 


OF  CICERO. 


167 


ftiy  friend,  could  I  possibly  have  made  a  bolder 
or  mote  formidable  attack  upon  this  party  ? 
Could  1  possibly  have  given  a  more  convincing 
evidence,  that  I  had  not  departed  from  my  old 
principles,  notwithstanding  all  I  had  formerly 
suffered  for  their  sake  ?    The  truth  of  it  is,  this 
motion  greatly  exasperated,   not   only    those 
whom  it  was  reasonable  to  expect  it  would  of- 
fend* but  others  upon  whom  I  did  not  imagine  it 
would  have  had  any  such  effect.    Pompey,  soon 
dfter  this  decree  had  passed,  set  forward  up6n 
his  expedition  into -Sardinia  and  Africa*,  with- 
out giving  me  the  least  intimation  of  his  being 
disgusted.     In  his  way  thither,  he  had  a  con- 
ference with  Cajsar  at  Lucca^  who  made  great 

complaints 

*  •  This  expedition  of  Pompey  into  Sardinia  ami  Africa, 
trasin  pursuance  of  the  commission  with  which  he  had  been 
invested  for  supplying  the  public  magazines  with  corn.  S«e 
rem.  6.  p.  56.  of  this  vol. 

**  Lucca  was  a  frontier  town  in  Cx>ar's  province  of  Cisal- 
pine Gaul,  adjoining  to  Italy  :  it  still  subsists  under  the 
same  names  and  is  a  celebrated  republic.  It  was  Casar's 
poiicy,  at  thp  end  of  every  campaign,  to  fix  his  winter-quar- 
ters as  near  Italy  as  possible,  in  order  to  be  within  observa- 
tion of  what  passed  at  Rome.  A  numerous  court  was  imme- 
diately formed  around  him  in  these  places  of  his  residence, 
consisting  of  the  most  distinguished  persons  in  Rome,  and 
the  neighbouring  provinces,  and  no  less  than  200  senators 
have  been  observed  among  his  attendants  upon  these  occar 
sions.  Candidates  for  offices  ;  young  men  who  had  run  out 
their  estates  ;  and,  in  a  word,  all  whose  affairs  of  any  kind, 
were  embarrassed,  flocked  to  him  in  these  cities;  and  by 
liberal  concessions  to  their  respective  wants  and  interests,  he 

strengthened 


complaints  of  this  motion.     He  had  before,  it 
seems,  been  informed  of  it  by  Crassus  at  Ra- 
venna''; who  took  that  opportunity  of  incens- 
ing him  against  me.  And  it  appeared  afterwards 
that  Pompey  \ras  likewise  much  dissatis^ed 
upon  the  same  account.     This  I  learnt  from 
several  hands,  but  particularly  from  my  brother, 
who  met  him  in  Sardinia,  a  few  days  after  he  had 
left  Lucca,  Pompey  told  him  he  was  extremely 
glad  of  that  accidental  interview,  as  he  wanted 
much  to  talk  with  him.     ^e  begun  with  say- 
ing, that  as  my  brother  stood  engaged**,  for 
my  conduct,  he  should  expect  him  to  exert  all 
his  endeavours  to  influence  me  accordingly. 
Pompey  then  proceeded  very  warmly   to  re- 
monstrate against  my  late  motion  in  the  senate; 
reminding  my  brother  of  his  services  to  us  both, 
and  particularly  of  what  had  passed  between 
them  concerning  Caesar's  edicts,  and  of  those 

assurances, 

strengthened  his  faction,  and  forwarded  his  grand  enterprise. 
It  was  th\is  (as  the  judicious  Plutarch  observes)  he  had  the 
address  to  employ  the  forces  of  the  republic  against  Gaul, 
and  the  spoils  of  Gaul  against  the  republic.  PluL  in  Cas.  4* 
Pomp,  Suet,  in  Jul. 

^  A  city  in  Cisalpine  Gaul,  still  subsisting  under  the  same 
name  in  the  Pope's  dominions. 

This  alludes  to  those  engagements  which  Quintus  Ci- 
ceto  entered  into  in  behalf  of  his  brother,  in  order  to  induce 
Pompey  to  favour  his  recal  from  banishment.  And,  it  ap- 
pears,  by  what  fellows,  that  he  promised,  on  the  part  of  Ci- 
<?ero,  an  unlimited  resignation  to  the  measures  of  that  ambi* 
iious  •hief. 

M4 


168 


TitE  LETTERS        BooK.tl. 


^OOK  IL 


8#  tiCERO. 


1*9 


i^Assurances,  he  said,  my  brother  had  given  him 
of  the  measures  I  would  pursue  with  respect  to 
that  article.     He  added,  that  my  brother  iMm-* 

:  jself  was  a  witness  that  the  steps  he  had  formerly 
taken  for  procuring  my  recal,  were  with  the 
full  consent  and  approbation  of  Caesar.    Upon 

y^the  whole,  therefore,  he  entreated  him,  if  it  were 

,i  either  not  in  my  power  or  my  inclination  to 
support  the  interest  and  dignity  of  the  latter, 
that  he  would  at  least  prevail  with  me  not  to 
oppose  them.  Thp  account  which  my  brother 
gave  me  of  this  conversation,  together  with  a 
message  I  had  before  received  from  Pompey  by 
Vibullius,  to  request  that  I  would  not  proceed 
any  farther  in  the  aifair  of  the  Campanian  lands, 

'*  till  his  retuni^  threw  me  into  a  very  serious  train 
of  reflections.  I  could  not  but  think,  after 
having  performed  aiKl  suftered  so  much  for  my 
country,  that  I  might  now  at  least  be  permit- 

*  ted  to  consider  what  was  due  to  gratitude  and 
to  the  honour  of  my  brother ;  and  as  1  had 
ever  conducted  myself  with  integrity  towards 
the  public,  I  might  be  allowed,  I  hoped,  to 

.  act  the  same  honest  part  in  my  more^private 

:*'  connexions'^ 


■  f  •  1^  m 


t'-*  itJT,»*  'C^ 


During 

■5  j^  destructive  views  of  C^Bsar,  in  procuring  the  law 
iu  qtfesiion,  have  been  already  c^^nsidered  in  these  notes  3 
weakj  i^refwe,  undoubtedly,  iS  the  reason  which  Cicero 


^* 


.^-  ^Ji;^%-.T 


*.  8; J    v.' 


hert 


iv    During  the  time  I  was  engaged  in  these 

0VOtes  and  other  prooeedings  with  whkh  Pom- 

*'|iey  appeared  thus  dissatisfied,  1  was  informed 

v^Jof  what  passed  in  the  conversations  of  a  adUb^f 

^vinen,  whom  you  will  now  guess  without  my 

naming.     This  party,  though  they  approve<l 

"^  of  my  public  measures,  as  being  agreeable  to 

what  had  ever  been  their  professed  sentiments, 

were  yet  «o  ungenerous  as  to  express  great 'sa-* 

tisfaction  in  believing  that  my  conduct  would 

by  no  means  oblige  Pompey,  at  the  same  time 

that  it  would  highly  exasperate  Csesar.     Weil 

might  I  resent,  indeed,  so  injurious  a  ti^eat* 

ment ; 

here  a?signs,  for  renouncing  an  o^()09ition  so  evidently  im- 
portant to  the  true  interest  of  his  couiilry.     Had  Catsar  aiid 
Pompey,  indeed,  been  ever  so  much  his  real  friends,  no  con- 
siderations of  amity  ought  to  have  prevailed  with  hira,  to 
have  acquiesced  in  a  scheme  which  was  cpnlrary  to  tht  sen- 
timents of  all  the  real  patriots  of  the  republic,  and  contrary 
likewise  to  his  own  ;  a  scheme  which  he  himself  tells  AuLcus 
was  formed  for  the  destruction  of  the  commonwealth.  Ad 
Att,  ii.  17.     Haid  he  attended  to  the  indisputable  nia^im 
which  he  himself  lays  down  in  one  of  his  philoiophjcai  trea- 
tises, it  would  have  decided  at  once  the  conduct  which  be- 
tartje  him  to  observe  upon  an  occasion  where  private  friend- 
vyship  interfered  with  more  extensive  obligaiiois  :  Hacprimd 
lex  in  amicitia  sanciatur  (says  he)  ut  neqtte  rogemus  res  tnrpeSf 
'^met  fackmui  rogati.    'But  the  truth  of  it  is,  private  I'riend- 
ship  was  not  concerned  in  the  case;  for  he  well ^x^ew. that 
neither  Pompey  nor  Ciesar  had  any  attachments  to  him  of 
that  kind.     It  was  fear  alone  t-hat  determined  his  resolution  ; 
and,  having  once  already  suffered  in  the  cause  of  liberty,  he 
did  not  find  himsielf  disposed   to  be  twice  a  martyr;    The 
ittwkward  manner,  however,  in  which  he  attempts  to  justify 
••liimself  throughout  this  letter,  very  evidently  shews  how  jm- 
** "possible  it  is  to  bid  farewcl  to  integrity  with  a  jood  grace. 


*% 


' 


170 


The  letters 


Book  IL 


Book  II. 


OF  CICERO. 


ment ;  but  much  more  when  I  saw  them,  even* 
before  my  face,  maliciously  encouraging  and 
caressing  my  avowed  enemy'V— i^^ij^^  do  I  call 
hi^a  ?  Rather  let  me  say,  an  enemy  to  the 
laws  and  tranquillity  of  his  country,  and  to^ 
every  character  of  worth  and  virtue  amongst, 
us. 

Their  malevolence,  however,  had  not  the  ef- 
fect they  intended,  and  it  could  not  warm  me 
into  those  transports  of  indignation,  of  which 
my  heart  is  now,  indeed,  no  longer  suscepti- 
ble* On  the  contrary,  it  only  induced  me  tot 
examine  my  situation  in  all  its  various  circum- 
stances and  relations,  witli  the  greatest  cool- 
ness and  impartiality ;  the  process  and  result  of, 
It^hich  I  will  lay  before  you,  in  as  few  wordssts 
I  am  able. 

There  have  been  times,  as  experience  no  less 
than  history  has  taught  me,  when  tJie  power  of 
flie  commonwealth  was  in  worthless  and  wicked 
hands.  In  such  a  conjuncture,  no  hope  of  in- 
terest (which  I  have  at  all  times  most  heartily 
contemned)  nor  fear  of  danger  (which,  upon; 
some  occasions,  however,  has  influenced  the*- 
greatest  minds)  shotild  prevail  with  me  t6  cO^- 
operate  in  their  measures ;  no  not  though  I 
were  attached  to  them  by  the  strongest  ties  of 

friendship 


^Godius* 


-ie:' 


friendship  and  gratitude.  But  when  a  man  of 
Pompey's  distinguished  character  presides  over 
the  republic ;  a  man  who  has  acquired  that 
eminence  of  power  and  honour  by  the  most  he^- 
roic  actions,  and  the  most  signal  services ;  I 
could  not  imagine  it  would  be  imputed  to  me 
as  a  levity  of  disposition,  if,  in  some  few  in- 
stances, I  declined  a  little  from  my  general 
maxims,  and  complied  with  his  inclinations'^ 
But  my  justification,  I  thought,  would  still  rise 
in  strength,  when  it  should  be  remembered 
that  I  favoured  his  credit  and  dignity  even  from 
the  earliest  part  of  my  life,  as  I  particularly- 
promoted  them  in  my  praetorship  and  consu^ 
late  ;  when  it  should  be  remembered^  that  he 
not  only  assisted  me  with  his  vote  and  his  in- 
fluence in  the  senate  during  my  adversity,  but 

joined 

■'  It  appears  by  what  has  already  been  remarked,  that 
Cicero's  compliance  can  by  no  means  be  considered  in  the 
favourable  light  in  which  he  here  represents  it;  but  was  in 
reality,  a  concession  most  injurious  to  his  honour  and  fatal 
to  the  liberties  of  Rome.  It  is  certain,  likewise,  that  it  was 
not  from  any  advantageous  opinion  of  Pompey's  political 
character  and  designs,  that  he  was  induced  lo  fail  in  with 
bis  measures.  On  the  contrary,  Cicero  most  undoubtedly 
had  no  estt^em  for  him ;  and',  as  to  his  political  views,  Yte 
saw  and  acknowle<iged  long  before  the  date  of  ihi5|  letter, 
that  they  uere  turned  on  the  destruction  of  the  republic, 
OfcoXoyw^vwf  (says  he  in  one  of  the  epistles  to  Atticu*) 
Tv^ayu^u  cvcKival^eTai ;  as  in  another,  written  upon  the 
breaking  cut  of  the  civil  war,  he  calls  him  hominem  awoXiT*- 
xoraroy,  a  man  utterly  unacquainted  with  the  artsof  govern- 
meot.     Ad4it.  ii.  17.  viii,  iQ,     S«e  remaik  4.  p.  27.  vol. 


j 


178 


The  letters 


Book  IL 


joined  his  counsels  and  his  efforts  with  yours, 
for  the  same  generous  purpose :  in  a  word^ 
when  it  should  be  remembered,  that  he  has  no 
Other  enemy  in  the  whole  commonwealth,  ex* 
cept  the  man  who  is  my  professed  adversary*^ 
tn  consequence  of  these  sentiments,  it  was  ab- 
solutely necessary  for  me,  you  see,  to  unite 
with  Caesar,  as  one  who  was  joined  in  the  same 
views  and  the  same  interest.  His  friendship, 
likewise,  which,  you  are  sensible,  my  brother 
and  I  have  long  shared,  together  with  his  hu- 
mane and  generous  disposition,  which  I  have 
abundantly  experienced,  both  by  his  late  let- 
ters, and  his  good  offices  towards  me,  contri-^ 
buted  greatly  to  confiiTn  me  in  these  resolu- 
tions. To  which  I  must  add,  that  the  com- 
monwealth in  general  seemed  to  be  most 
strongly  averse  from  giving  any  opposition  td 
these  extraordinary  men  :  more  especially  after 
Caesar  had  performed  such  great  and  glorious 
exploits  for  the  honour  of  his  country;  But 
what  had  still  a  farther  and  very  powerful 
weight  in  my  dehberations,  was  Pompey's  hav- 
ing engaged  his  word  for  me  to  Caesar,  as  my 
brother  had   given   the   same  assurances   to 

rompey* 

Plato, 

**  Clodius,  after  having  driven  Cicero  out  of  Rome,  en- 
tered most  strenuously  into  the  opposition  against  Pompey 
and  Cassar.    Manutius,     See  below;  rem.  24. 


I 


Book  IL 


OF  CICERO. 


173 


Plato,  I  remembered,  lays  it  down  as  a  max* 
Im,  in  his  divine  writings,  that  ''  the  people 
"  generally  model  their  manners  and  their  sen- 
'*  timents  by  those  of  the  great :"  a  maxim 
which,  at  this  juncture,  I  thought  merited  my 
particular  attention.  I  was  convinced,  indeed, 
of  its  truth,  when  I  reflected  on  the  vigorous 
resolutions  which  were  taken  in  the  senate,  oa 
the  memorable'9  Nones  of  December :  and  it 
seemed  no  wonder  so  noble  a  spirit  should 
appear  in  that  assembly,  after  the  animating ' 
example  I  had  given  them  upon  my  first  en- 
tering on  tlie  consular  office.  I  reflected  also^ 
that,  during  the  whole  time  which  intervened 
between  the  expiration  of  my  consulship,  and 
that  of  Caesar  and  Bibulus^°,  when  I  still  re- 
tained a  very  considerable  authority  in  the  se^- 
nate,  all  the  better  part  of  the  republic  were 
united  in  their  sentiments.    On  the  other  hand, 

about 

'^  The  fifth.  It  was  on  this  day,  in  the  consulship  of 
Cicero  and  Antonius  A.  U.  6^0,  that  the  senate  came  to  a 
resolution  of  inflicting  capital  punishment  on  all  those  who 
were  concerned  in  Catiline's  conspiracy  :  *^  And  it  is  certain 
'^  (as  the  learned  and  polite  historian  of  Cicero's  life  ob* 
**  serves)  that  Rome  was  indebted  to  him  on  this  day  for 
**  one  of  the  greatest  deliverances  which  it  had  ever  received 
**  since  its  foundation ;  and  which  nothing,  perhaps,  but  bjs 
**  vigilance  and  sagacity  could  have  so  happily  effected/' 
VoL  i.  231. 

***  Cicero  was  chosen  consul  in  the  year  of  Rome  69O. 
Caesar  and  ^ibulus  in  the  year  6$^. 


i 


174 


The  letters 


Book  IL 


Hi 


abo^the  time  you  took  possession  of  your  go- 
vernment in  Spain,  the  commonwealth  could 
not  so  properly  be  said  to  be  under  the  admi- 
viiistration  of  consuls,  as  of  infamous  barterers 
of  provinces^',  and  the  mean  vassals  and  mi- 
nisters of  sedition.  It  was  then  that  discord 
and  faction  spread  thro' all  ranks  amongst  us; 
and  I  was  marked  out  as  the  victim  of  party 
rao*e.  In  this  critical  season,  however,  not  oaly 
every  man  of  worth,  but  the  greater  part  of 
the  senators,  and  indeed  all  Italy  in  general, 
rose  up  with  remarkable  unanimity  in  my 
cause".     What  the  event  proved,  I  forbear  to 

mention ; 

*'  The  consuls  to  whom  Cicero  alludes,  arc  Lucius  Cal- 
purnitts  Piso,  whose  daughter  Cxsar  had  married  ;  and  Au- 
las Gabinius,  a  dependent  and  favourite  of  Pompey.  They 
succeeded  Caesar  and  Bibulus  in  this  office  in  695,  the  year 
when  Cicero  went  into  exile,  "  Clod»us  secured  (hem  to  his 
*'  measures  by  a  private  contract  to  procure  for  them,  by  a 
♦•  grant  from  the  people,  two  of  the  best  governments  of  the 
<*  empire:  Piso  was  to  have  Macedonia,  with  Greece  and 
**  Thessaly  ;   Gabinius,  Cilicia.     For  this  price  they  agreed 

)*•  to  serve  him  in  all  his  designs,  particularly  in  the  oppres- 
**  sion  of  Cicero/'     MiddUton's  Life  ofCic,  i.  336. 

**  "  Clodius  procured  a  law,  importing,  that  whoever 
"  bad  taken  the  life  of  a  citizen  uncondemned,  and  without  a 
"■^  trial,  should  be  prohibited  from  Jire  and  water.  Tho*  Ci- 
•*  ccro  was  not  named,  yet  he  was  marked  out  by  ibis 
"  law.  His  crime  was,  the  putting  Catiline's  accomplices 
**  to  death;  which,  tho'  not  done  by  bis  single  authority, 
**  but  by  a  general  vote  of  the  senate,  and,  after  a  solemn 

^t-  hearing  and  debate,  was  alledged  to  be  illegal,  aiwi  con^ 
t  trary  to  the  liberties  of  the  people.  Cicero,  finding 
"  himself  thus  reduced  to  the  condition  of  a  criminal, 
I?  changed  his  habit  upon  it,  «a  was  usual  in  the  case  of 

a  public 


Book  II. 


OF  CICERO. 


175 


mention  ;  as,  in  truth,  it  is  to  be  imputed  to  a 
complication  of  errors  and  artifices.  But  this, 
I  will  say,  it  was  not  forces,  so  much  as  leaders 
to  conduct  them,  that  were  wanting  to  me  at 
this  crisis.  I  must  add,  that  whatever  censure 
may  justly  fall  on  those  who  refused  me  their 
assistance ;  most  certainly  they  who  first  pro- 
mised it  and  then  deserted  me,  are  not  less  to 
be  blamed^^  In  a  word,  if  some  of  my  friends 
^may  well  be  reproached  for  the  timid,  tho'  sin- 
cere, counsels  they  gave  me;  how  much  more 

severe 

**  a  public  impeachment,  and  appeared  about  the  street^  in 
'*  a  mourning  gown,  to  excite  the  compassion  of  his  fellow- 
'*  citizens  ;  whilst  Clodius,  at  the  head  of  his  mob,  contrived 
**  to  meet  and  insult  him  at  every  turn.  But  Cicero  soon 
**  gathered  friends  enough  to  secure  biro  from  such  insults ; 
**  and  the  whole  body  of  the  knights,  together  with  the 
*' young  nobility,  to  the  number  of  20,000,  headed  by 
'^  Crassus  the  son,  sill  changed  their  habit,  and  pepetually  at- 
"  tended  him  about  the  city  to  implore  the  protection  and 
"  assistance  of  the  people."  Plut,  in  Cic,  Orat.  post  red, 
Middletons  Life  of  Cic,  i.  340. 

*'  In  this  number  was  Pompey  himself,  who,  though  he 
had  given  Cicero  the  mpst  solemn  assurances  that  he  would, 
;at  the  hazard  of  his  life,  protect  him  against  Clodius  ;  yet^ 
when  afterwards  our  author  solicited  the  execution  of  this 
promise,  he  treated  him  with  much  rudeness,  as  well  as  great 
treachery,  and  absolutely  refused  to  concern  himself  in  the 
affair.  AdAtt,  ii.  20.  x.  4.  It  seems  altogether  unaccountable 
that  Cicero  should  be  so  injudicious  as  to  touch  upon  a 
circumstance  that  destroys  the  whole  force  of  his  apology  ; 
•o  far,  I  mean,  as  he  intended  to  justify  his  conduct  by  his 
-friendship  to  Pompey.  For  it  exceeds  all  power  of  credu- 
lity to  imagine,  that  he  could  really  be  influenced  by  a  mo- 
tive of  that  kind  with  respect  to  a  man,  whobe  insincerity  be 
bad  so  lately  aod  so  severely  experieaced. 


m. 


i 


i 


I'i 


176 


The  letters         Book  II. 


^  CICERO. 


177 


severe  must  their  condemnation  prove,  who 
artfully  alarmed  me  with  their  pretended  fears  ? 
Let  it  be  noted  at  the  same  time  to  my  honour, 
that  zealous  as  my  fellow^citizens  shewed 
themselves  to  rise  up  in  the  defence  of  a  man 
who  had  formerly  stood  forth  in  theirs;  yet  I 
would  not  suffer  them  to  be  exposed  (unsup- 
ported  as  they  were  by  those  who  ought  to  have 
been  their  protectors)  to  the  barbarous  insults 
of  a  lawless  banditti.  On  the  contrary,  I  ra- 
ther chose  the  world  should  judge  by  the  power 
of  my  friends  in  recalling  me  from  my  exile, 
what  their  honest  unanimity  could  haveeffected, 
had  1  permitted  them  to  have  drawn  their 
swords  to  prevent  it. 

.  You  were  sensible  of  this  general  zeal  in  my 
favour,  when  you  undertook  my  cause,  an4 
you  not  only  encouraged,  but  confirmed  it,  by 
your  influence  and  authority.  J  shall  always 
most  willingly  acknowledge,  that  you  were 
aasisted  upon  this  occasion  by  some  of  the  most 
considerable  persons  in  Rome** ;  who,  it  must 

be 

>*Clodius  was  so  elated  wilb  his  success  against  Cicero, 
that  be  had  no  sooner  driven  him  out  of  Home,  than  be 
conceived  hopes  of  rendering  himself  no  lest  formidable  to 
Cxs^r  and  Pompey.  Accordingly,  he  entered  into  an  open 
opposition  against  them  both  ;  which  he  carried  on  with  s^ 
much  warmth  and  petulance,  that  at  length  they  fovnd 
it  expedient  for  their  purposes,  to  mortify  bim  by  recalUn^ 
Cicero. 


Be  o^ned,  exerted  themselves  with  much  fineate? 
vigow  in  procuri'^ig  my  return,  than  irr  pre»vent- 
ing'  my  banislmient     And  had  they  persisted 
in  the  same  resolute  disposition,  they  might  have 
recovered  their  own  authority  at  the  sante  tim^ 
that  they  obtained  my  restoration.    The  spirits, 
in  truth,  of  the  aristocratical  part  of  the  re- 
public were,  at  this  juncture,  greatly  raised  and 
animated  by  the  inflexible  patriotism  of  youi 
conduct  during  your  consulship,  together  with 
Pompey 's  concurrence  in  the  same  measures. 
Csesar,  likewise,  when  he  saw  the  senate  distin- 
guishing his  glorious  actions  by  the  most  sin- 
gular and  unprecedented  honours,  joined  in  add- 
ing weight  to  the  authority  of  that  assembly. 
Had  these  happy  circumstances,  therefore,  been 
rightly  improved,  it  would  have  been  impossi-^ 
ble  for  any  ill-designing  citizen,  to  have  vio- 
lated the  laws  and  liberties  of  the  commoti- 
v/ealth.    But  let  me  entreat  you  to  reflect  a  mo- 
ment on  the  subsequent  conduct  of  my  political 
associates.     In  the  first  place,  they  screened  ' 
from  punishment  that  infamous  intruder  on  the 
matron-mysteries,  who  shewed  no  more  reve- 
rence for  the  awful  ceremonies  of  the  goddess  in 
whose  honour  these  sacred  solemnities'  are  cele*" 
brated,  thanfor  thechastity  of  his  tliree  sisters*^ 

And 

'5  Clodius  (as  Plutarch  relates  the  story)  had  ati  intrigue 
Vol.  1.  N  with 


178 


The  letters         Book  II. 


And  thus,  by  preventing  a  worthy  tribune 
of  the  people  from  obtaining  that  justice 
upon  Clodius  which  he  endeavoured  to  pro- 
cure, they  deprived  future  times  of  a  most 
salutary  example  of  chastised  sedition*^  Did 
not   they   suffer,    likewise,    that    monument, 

that 

with  Pompeia,  Caesar's  wife  :  but  as  be  could  not  easily  gain 
access  lo  h^r,  he  look  ihe  opportunity,   while  she  was  cele- 
braiing  iiu  in\>ieries  of  the  6owa  Dec  at  her  own  house,  to  en- 
ter di^^u'^o.i  in  a  woman's  habi'.     While  he  was  waiting  m 
one  uftho  apartments  for  Pompeia,   he  vvas  discovere^i  by  a 
maid  servant  of  CiEsar's  mother:  who  immediately  giving  the 
alarm,  he  uas  driven  out  of  this  female  assembly  with  great 
indignaiinn.     The  bona  Dea,  as  the  same  author  inlorms  us, 
was  supposed  to   have   been   a  Dryad    with   whom  the  God 
Faunus  had  an  amour.     These  nics  were  held  in  the  highest 
veneration,  and  conducted  wnh  the  most  profound  secresy. 
They  were  celebrated  annually  by  women  at  the  house  of  the 
consul  or  prsctor,  and  it  was  not  lawful  for  any  male  to  be 
present.    Seneca  tells  us,  they  carried  this  precaution  so  far, 
that  if  there  happened  to  be  a  picture  of  any  male  animal  in 
the  room  where  these  mystic  ceremonies  were  performing,  it 
was  thought  necessary  it  should  be  veiled.     Plut.  tn  Ca:s. 

Sen.  ep.  97>  .    .     , 

Clodius  was  suspected  of  having  a  criminal  commerce 

with  his  three  sisters. 

*«  Lentulus,  immediately  upon  entering  on  his  consular 
office,  A.  U.  696,  moved  the  senate  that  Cicero  might  be 
restored :  in  which  he  was  seconded  by  Pompey  with  much 
zeal,  and  the  wh(.le  house  unanimously  concurred  in  the 
motion.  Serranus,  however,  a  tribune  of  the  people,  m- 
terpoiing  his  negative,  no  decree  could  pass  at  that  time : 
nevertheless,  it  was  with  one  consent  resolved,  that,  on  the 
22d  of  the  same  month,  a  law  should  be  proposed  to  the 
people  for  Cicero's  recal.  When  the  appointed  day  ar- 
rived, the  friends  of  Cicero  found  the  Forum  in  the  pos- 
session of  Clodius,  who  had  planted  his  mob  there  over-night 
in  order  to  prevent  the  promulgation  of  this  law.  A  very 
bloody  skirmish  ensued,  in  which  several  lives  were  lost  and 
many  other  outrages  committed  :  in  consequence  of  which, 
Clodius  was  impeached  by  Milo  as  a  disturber  of  the  public 
*^  .  peace. 


Book  II. 


OF  CICERO. 


179 


that  glorious  monument,  which -waS' erededf^ 
not  indeed  with  the  spoils  I  had  "gained 
in  foreign  wars,  but  by  the  generosity  t)F^ie 
senate  for  my  civil  services ;  di<4  they  not  niosl: 
shamefully  suffer  it  to  be  inscribed  with  the 
name  of  the  cruel  and  avowed  enemy  of  Ri$ 
country  ^7?  Obliged,  most  certainly,  I  am  to 
them  for  having  restored  me  to  the  common- 
wealth :  but  I  could  wish  they  had  conducted 
themselves,  not  only  like  physicians,  whose 
views  terminate  merely  in  the  health  of  their 
patients,  but  like  the  Alipt^^'  also,  who  en- 
deavour to  establish  the  spirits  and  vigour  of 

those 

peace.  But  Metellus,  the  colleague  of  Lentulus,  together 
«»iih  Appius  the  praetor,  and  Serranus  the  tribune,  deter- 
mined  to  screen  Clodius:  and  accordingly,  by  a  most  dan- 
gerous exercise  of  their  authority,  they  published  their  se- 
veral edicts,  commanding  all  farther  proceedings  in  this  pro- 
secution to  be  discontinued.  It  was  a  very  impolitic  power 
(as  a  lale  ingenious  writer  upon  government  observes)  which 
was  lodged  in  the  tribunes,  of  thus  preventing  the  execution 
of  the  laws  as  well  as  the  passing  of  them,  and  which  caused 
inhnite  mischiefs  to  the  republic.  Orat,  pro  sext,  34,  35, 41. 
L  Esprit  des  loix,  i.  223. 

^  *7  "  After  the  suppression  of  Catiline's  conspiracy,  the 
^  senate  decreed  that  a  temple  should  be  erected  to  liberty, 
^  as  a  public  monument  of  their  late  happy  deliverance. 
^  1  his  temple  was  raised  at  the  foot  of  Mount  Palatine,  near 
i  Ai"^  s  n^>"se.  And  as  the  inscription  fixed  thereon,  un- 
^  doubtedly  mentioned  Cicero  with  honour,  Clodius  erased 
MamJtivT^^''  and   placed  his  own  name  in  their  stead." 

41.  '*I!'^  "^^'^^  "^^^^  persons  who  prepared  the  bodies  of 
the  athletic  combatants,  by  unctions  and  other  proper  me- 
thods,  for  rendering  them  vigorous  and  active  in  their  SN-ra. 
uasiic  exercises.  ^       t    1.  v 

N  2  ,^      "     ,    , 


180 


The  letters         Book  IL 


those  under  their  care.  Whereas  they  have 
keted  with  regard  to  me,  as  Apelles  did  in  rela- 
tion to  his  celebrated  picture  of  Vetius*' :  they 
have  finished  one  part  of  their  work  with  great 
skill  and  accuracy,  but  left  all  the  rest  a  mere 
rude  and  imperfect  sketch. 

In  one  article,  however,  I  had  the  satis- 
faction to  disappoint  my  enemies.  They  ima- 
gined my  banishment  would  have  wrought 
the  same  effect  on  me,  which  they  falsely 
supposed  a  calamity  of  a  like  kind  produced 
formerly  in  Quintus  IMetellus.  This  excel- 
lent person  (whom  I  look  upon  to  have 
been  a  man  of  the  greatest  fortitude  and 
magnanimity  of  any  in  his  times)  they  repre- 
sented 

^'  Apelles,  one  of  the  greatest   masters  of  painting  in 
ancient  Greece,   was  a  native  ot  Coos,  and  flourished  in  the 
112tlr  Olymp.  or  about  332  years  before  Christ.     His  prin-    • 
cipal  excellency  consisted  in  the  inimitable  grace  which  dis- 
tinguished all  his  performances.     Pliny  the  elder  has,  by  a 
very  strong  expression,  informed  us  of  the  amazing  force  of 
his  pencil :  pinxit  (says  that  author)   qufe  pingi  noji  possunt^ 
tonitrua,  fuigura  et  fulgetra.     lie  could   even  convey  ideas 
which  seemed  impossible  to  be  raised  by  colours,  and  ani- 
mate his  sublime  pieces  with  all  the  terrors  of  thunder  and 
lightning.     His  capital  performance  was  a  figure  of  Venus, 
which  appears  to  have  been  at  Rome  in  the  times  of  Augustus. 
The  lower  parts  of  this  picture  being  damaged,  no  painter 
would  venture  to  retouch   it.     Something  of  the  same  kind 
is  mentioned  to  the  honour  of  Raphael,  whose  paintings  in 
the  little  Farn«se,  at  Rome,  being  somewhat  spoiled,  it  wa^ 
with  the  greatest  difficulty  that  even  Carlo  Maratti  was  pre- 
vailed upon  to  restore  them.     Apelles  began  a  second  figure 
of  Ventis  which  he  intended  should  excel  his  first :  but  he 
died  before  he  had  proceeded  any  farther  in  that  design  than 
the  head  and  shoulders.     Quiftct.  xii.  10.  Plm,  H,  N,  xxxv. 
10.    Rejiex,  sur  la  Poes,  et  sur  U  Feint. 


Book  IL 


OF  CICERO. 


m, 


sented  as  broken  and  dispirited  after  his  return 
from  exile'"*.     But  if  broken  he  really  were,  it 

could 

2°  Q.  Caicilius  Mctellus  was  in  the  number  of  those  who 
opposed   the   faction   of  Caius  JMarius;  in  consequence  of 
which  he  was  at   length   driven  into  exile.     The  immediate 
occasion,  however,  of  his  sentence  was  this :  Saturninus,  a 
tribune  of  ihe  people,  and   creature  of   Marius,  proposed  a 
law  in  the  year  653,  which,  among  other  things,  enacted, 
that  *'  the  senators  should  swear  to  ratify  whatever  the  peo- 
**  pie  ordained."     This  oath,    Metellus,  with  the  true  spirit 
of  ancient  Rome,  resolutely  refused   to    take,  and  when  his 
friends  represented  to  him  the  dangerous  consequences  which 
would  probably  attend   his  persevering  in  that  honest  reso- 
lution, he  nobly  replied,  "  it  is  the  characteristic  of  a  man  of 
**  virtue  and  honour  to  act  right Ij/^  whatever  consequences  may 
"  ensue."     Accordingly,  a  decree  passed  in  an  assembly  of 
the  people  for  his  banishment;  and  when  his  friends  otl'ered 
him  their  assistance  to  withstand  this  piece  of  public  injus- 
tice, he  generously  refused  their  aid  ;  **,/or,"  said  he,  "  either 
"  public  measures  will  be  changed ^  and  the  people  will  repent  of 
**  the  injury  they  have  done  ine  ;  and  then  I  shall  be  recalled 
**  with  honour :  or  they  will  continue  in  the  same  sentiments  ; 
**  and  in  that  case  banishment  will  be  a  happiness.'*    He  greatly 
chose,  therefore,  to  withdraw  himself  trom  the  destructive 
politics  of  his  country;  and,  retiring  to  Rhodes,  he  calmly 
spent  his  time  in  philosophical  studies.     His  virtues,  how- 
ever, prevailed  at  last  over  the  iniquity  of  his  persecutors, 
and  he  was  restored  to  the  republic,  notwithstanding  all  the 
opposition  of  Marius,     Cicero  has  recorded  a  circumstance 
relating  to  Metellus,  that  gives  one  the  highest  idea  of  thp  cha- 
racter he  enjoyed  amongst  bis  countryinen.  Pie  was  accused, 
it  seems,  by  the  Marian   faction,  of  having  been  guilty  of 
public  extortion  ;    but  when  he  entered  upon  his  defence, 
and  produced  his  acoounts,  the  judges  refused  to  inspect 
them,  as  being  well  convinced  that  Metellus  had  a  soul  much 
too  enlarged  to  be  capable  of  any  thing  so  mean  as  injustice, 
J  cannot  forbear  mentioning  likewise  a  noble  expression  of 
this  great  man  in  a  letter  written  during  his  banishment,  as 
it  shews  the  spirit  with  which  he  bore  his  misfortune.     Illi 
(inimici  sc.)jure  et  honestate  interdicti  ^  ego  n^que  aqua  nequ^ 
igifi  careo,  ef  summa  gloria fruniscor,  **  Whilst  my  enemies,'* 

N  3  sftyfi 


182 


The  letters 


Book  IL 


could  not  be  the  effect  of  his  adversity  ;  as  it  is 
certain  he  submitted  to  his  sentence  without  the 
least  reluctance,  and  hved  under  it,  not  only 
with  indifference,  but  with  cheerfulness.  The 
truth  is,  no  man  ever  equalled  him  in  the 
strength  and  heroism  of  his  mind;  no,  not  even 
the  celebrated  Marcus  Scaurus'\  Neverthe- 
less. 

says  hfj  "  vainly  hopecl  to  banish  me  from  the  common  be- 
**  n*  fits  of  society  ;  wiiich,    r.owever,  I  still  enjoy,  together 
**  With   the  highest  ulury  ;  they   have   much  more  severely 
»*  banished  from  their  own   breasts,  all  seniimonls  of  justice 
"  and  honoHf."     One  cannot  but  acknowledge  with  regret, 
that  neither    the  enemies  nor  the  fnends  of  Cicero  did  hin> 
justice,  when  they  compared  him  to  Metellus  ;  for,  besides 
the  great  superiority  of  ihe  latter  in  the  present  instance,  he, 
upon  all  occasions,  acted  con^IstcI»tly  with  his  avowed  poli- 
lical  principles,  and  preserved  an  uniform  and  unsullied  re- 
putation to    tiie  end  of  his  days.     Plut.  in  vit.  C.  Mar,  Ep. 
ad  Att.  \.  1().     Orat.  pro  Balbo  in  princip,  AuL  Gel.  xvii.  2^ 
Sal.  bcl.  Jugurth.  47. 

5'  M.  .^milius  Scaurus  was  advanced  a  second  time  to 
the  hoikour  of  the  consular  office,  in  the  jcir  of  Rome  64-6, 
hav;n'»  enjoyed  that  dignity  eight  years  before.     He  is  men- 
tioned by  Cicero  among  the  orators  of  that  age ;  but  there 
was  more  ol  force  and  authority  in  what  he  delivered,  than 
of  grace  in  his  manner,  or  elegance   in  his  expression.     He 
was  accused,  in  his  latter  days,  of  having  carried  on  a  trai- 
torous correspondence  wiih  Mithridates.     The  short  speech 
which  he  made  in  his  defence,  is  extremely  remarkable,  and 
gives  one  a  lively  image  of  that  manly  contempt  with  which 
a  msnd,  conscious  of   its   integrity,  ought  ever  to  treat  the 
calumnies  of  an  accuser,  whose  known  characUr  dffoTds  th« 
best  and  most  expeditious  antidote  against  his  malice.     The 
venerable  old  man  stood  forth  in  the  midst  of  the  assembly, 
and  addresbing  himself  to  the  whole  audience,  spake  to  this 
effect :  **  It  IS  somewhat  hard,  my  countrymen,  that  1  should 
**  be  obliged  to  give  an  account  to  the  present  generation,  of 
**  what  1  transacted  before  they  were  born.     But,   notwith- 

**  standing 


Book  II. 


OF  CICERO. 


183 


less,  such  as  they  had  heard,  or,  at  lease,  chose 
to  imagine  Metellus  to  have  been,  they  figured 
me  to  themselves ;  or,  if  possible,  indeed,  even 
yet  more  abject.  The  reverse,  however,  proved 
to  be  the  case,  and  that  general  concern  which 
the  whole  republic  expressed  at  my  absence, 
inspired  me  with  more  vigorous  spirits  than  I 
had  ever  before  enjoyed.  The  fact  is,  that  the 
sentence  of  banishment  against  Metellus  was  re- 
pealed by  a  law  proposed  only  by  a  single  tri- 
bune of  the  people;  whereas,  I  was  recalled  from 
mine  upon  the  motion  of  the  consul  himself'*, 
and  by  a  law  in  which  every  magistrate  of  Rome 
concurred.  Let  me  add,  likewise,  that  each 
order  and  degree  in  the  commonwealth,  headed 
by  the  senate,  and  supported  by  all  Italy,  zea- 
lously 

"  standing  the  greater  part  of  this  assembly  are  too  young  to 

**  have  been  witnesses   of  the  services   aud  honours  of  my 

**  former  life,  I  will  venture  to  rest  the  whole  of  my  defence 

**  upon  a  single  question.     Varius,  then,  a^>e^ts,  thatScau- 

**  rus  was  bjibed  to  betray  his  country  ;  Scaurus,  on  the  oi her 

**  hand,  utterly  denies  that  he  ever  was  tainted  with  a  crime 

"  of  this  nature.     Now  lay  your  hands  upon  your  hearts, 

.**  and  tell   me,  my  leliovy-citizens,  to  xyhich   of  these  two 

"  men  you   will  give  credit  f"      Ttie  people  were  so  struck 

with    the    honest  simplycity    of   ihis   speech,    that  Scauius 

was  dismissed  with  honour,  and  his  infamous  accuser  hissed 

out  ot  the  assembly.     Declar.     Orat.  110,  111.   Val.  Mux. 

iii.  7.     Salust.  bel.  JugurtL  Orat  pro  Fronteio.  Act.  1.  m 
Verr, 

^"  Lentulus,  the  person  to  whom  this  letter  is  addressed. 

N4 


184 


The  letters 


Book  II. 


lously  united  in  one  common  effort  for  reco- 
vering me  to  my  country.     Yet,  high  as  these 
unexampled   honours  were,  they  have  never 
jclated  my  heart  with  pride,  or  tempted  me  to 
assume  an  air  which  could  give  just  offence 
even  to  the  most  malevolent  of  my  enemies. 
The  whole  of  my  ambition  is,  not  to  be  wanting 
either  in  advice  or  assistance  to  my  friends ;  or 
jeven  to  those  whom  I  have  no  great  reason  to 
Tank  in  that  number.    It  is  this,  perhaps,  which 
has  given  the  real  ground  of  complaint  to  those 
who  view  only  the  lustre  of  my  actions,  but  can- 
not be  sensible  of  the  pains  and  sohcitude  they 
fcost  me.     But  whatever  the  true  cause  may  be, 
the  pretended  one  is,  my  having  promoted  the 
honours  of  CiEsar;  a  circumstance  which  they 
interpret,  it  seems,  as  a  renunciation  of  my  old 
maxims.     The  genuine  motives,  however,  of 
my  conduct,    in  this  instance,   are,  not  only 
what  I  just  before  mentioned,  but  particularly 
what  I  hinted  in  the  beginning  of  my  letter, 
and  will  now  more  fully  explain. 

You  will  not  find  then,  my  friend,  the  aristo- 
cratical  part  of  the  repubhc  disposed  to  pursue 
the  same  system  as  when  you  left  them.  That 
system,  I  mean,  which  I  endeavoured  to  establish 
when  I  was  consul,  and  which,  tho'  afterwards 

occasionally 


Book  II. 


OF  CICERO. 


185 


4 


occiisionally  interrupted,  and  at  length  entirely 
overthrown,  was  again  fully  restored  during 
your  admijiistration.  It  is  now,  however,  totally 
abandoned  by  those  who  ought  most  strenu- 
ously to  have  supported  it  I  do  not  assert  this 
upon  the  credit  only  of  appearances,  in  which 
it  is  exceedingly  easy  to  dissemble;  I  speak  it 
upon  the  unquestionable  evidence  of  facts,  and 
the  public  proceedings  of  those  who  were 
styled  patriots  in  my  consulate.  The  general 
scheme  of  politics,  therefore,  being  thus 
changed,  it  is  time,  most  certainly,  for  every 
man  of  prudence  (in  which  number  I  have  the 
ambition  to  be  justly  accounted)  to  vary  likcr 
wise  his  particular  plan.  Accordingly  that 
chief  and  favourite  guide  of  my  principles, 
whom  I  have  already  quoted,  the  divine  Plato 
himself,  advises  not  to  press  any  political  point 
farther  than  is  consonant  with  the  general 
sense  of  the  community ;  for  methods  of  vio- 
lence, he  maintains,  are  no  more  to  be  used  to^ 
wards  one's  country,  than  one's  parent.  Upon 
this  maxim,  he  tells  us,  he  declined  engaging 
in  public  affairs ;  and,  as  he  found  the  people 
of  Athens  confirmed,  by  long  habit,  in  their 
mistaken  notions  of  government,  he  did  not 
think  it  lawful  to  attempt,  by  force,  what  he 
despaired  of  effecting  by  persuasion.  My  si- 
tuation, however,  is,  in  this  respect,  different 

from 


186* 


The  letters 


Book  II. 


from  Plato's ;  for,  on  the  one  hand,  as  I  have 
already  embarked  in  public  affairs,  it  is  too  late 
to  deliberate  whether  I  should  now  enter  upou 
them  or  not :  so,  on  the  other,  the  Roman  peo- 
ple are  by  no  means  so  incapable  of  judging  of 
their  true  interest,  as  he  represents  the  Athe- 
nians. It  is  my  happiness,  indeed,  to  be  able, 
by  the  same  measures,  to  consult  at  once  both 
xny  own  and  my  country \s  Melfare".    To  these 

considerations 

33  If  Cicero  was  sincore  in  what  he  here  assered,  and 
reaUy  imag^inea,  that,  by  falling  in  wiih  the  schemes  of  Cae- 
sar and  Pompey,  he  could  mure  effectually  serve  his  coun- 
try,  as  well  as  himself,  bis  policy,  as  far  as  we  can  judge  of 
It  at  this  di>tance,  seems  to  have  been  very  extraordinary. — 
To  have  supported  the  one,  in  opposition  to  the  other,  migh^, 
perhaps,  have  been   a  pr(»bable  method  of  defeating  the  de- 
signs of  both,  as  they  could  neither  of  them  have  advanced 
to  so  formidable  a  height,  if  they  had  not  mutually  assist 
in  raising  each  other.     But  to  join  in  their  coalition,  was  ia 
effect  to  be  accessary  in  cemenlin2  an  union  most  evidently 
calculated  for  the  ruin  of  the  commonwealth.     This  reason- 
ing is  Hot  built  merely  upon  distant  speculation,  but  is  sup- 
ported by  the  express  testimony  of  one  who  was  not  only  an 
actor  in 'this  important  scene,  but  well  understood  the  plot 
that  was  carrying  on.     "  You  are  mistaken  (said  Caio,  to 
**  those  who  were  lamenting  the  breach  that  afterwards  hap- 
»*  pened  between  Pi)mpey  aud  Caesar)  you.  arc  roistakenin 
**  charging  our  calamities  on  that  event :  they  pwe  iheir  rise 
**  to  another  cause,  and  began,  not  when  Pompey  and  Gaesar 
"  became  eremies,  but  when  they  were  made  friends."     The 
d.t^iculiy   of  justifying  Cicero  in   this  measure  grows   still 
strongtr,  when  it  is  rtmembered   that  he  must  have  been 
sensible  at  this  very  t»me  how  much  was  to  be  dreaded  irom 
the  power  of  these  his  pretended  friends.     For  he  assures 
Atticus,  in  a  letter  which  was  written  at  the  breaking  out  of 
^he  civil  war,  that  he  toresaw  the  storm  that  had  been  gather- 
ingto  destroy  the  republic,  fourteen  years   before  it  fell; 
and  calls  the  union  of  these  ambitious  chiefs,  scelttata  cojir 
mcnmnii  Jidcs,  a  wicked  confederacy.    To  which  he  adds, 
t "  tii&« 


Book  II. 


OF  CICERO. 


187 


considerations  I  must  add  those  uncommon  acts 
of  generosity  which  Caesar  had  exerted  both  to- 
wards my  brother  and  myself:  so  much,  indeed, 
beyond  all  example,  that,  even  whatever  had 
been  his  success,  I  should  have  thought  it  in- 
cumbent upon  me  at  least  to  have  defended 
him.  But  now,  distinguished  as  he  is  by  such 
a  wonderful  series  of  prosperity,  and  crowned 
with  so  many  glorious  victories,  I  cannot  but 
esteem  it  a  duty  which  I  owe  the  republic,  ab- 
stracted from  all  personal  obHgations  to  himself, 
to  promote  his  honours  as  far  as  lies  in  my 
power.  And  believe  me,  it  is  at  once  my  con- 
fession and  my  glory,  that,  next  to  you,  toge- 
ther with  the  other  generous  authors  of  my  re- 
storation, there  is  not  a  man  in  the  world  from 
whom  I  have  received  such  amicable  offices. 

And  now,  having  laid  before  you  the  prin- 
cipal motives  of  my  conduct  in  general,  I  shall 
be  the  better  able  to  satisfy  you  concerning  my 
behaviour  with  respect  to  Crassus  and  Vatini- 
us  in  particular :  for  as  to  Appius  and  Caesar, 
I  have  tfie  pleasure  to  find  that  you  acquit  me 

of  all. reproach. 

My 

that  they  had,  upon  all  occasions,  preferred  the  interest  of 
their  families,  and  the  advancement  of  their  power,  to  the 
honour  and  welfare  of  their  country.  Fl>ut.  in  ut.  Pomp, 
Adi  Att.  ^.4. 


18S 


The  letters 


Book  JI. 


My  reconciliation  then  with  Vatinius^*  was 
effected  by  the  mediation  of  Ponipey,  soon  af* 
ter  tlic  former  was  elected  Praetor.  I  must 
confess,  wlien  he  petitioned  to  be  admitted  a 
candidate  for  that  office,  I  very  wannly  opposed 
him  in  the"  senate :  but  it  was  much  less  from 

'**  Some  observations  have  already  been  made  upon  Ci- 
cero's conduct  with  regard  to  Vaiinius ;  see  remark  the  5th 
on  this  letter. 

^'  The  passage  in  the  original,  it  is  acknowledged,  docs 
not  absolutely  imply  the  sense  ivhich  is  given  to  it  in  the 
t;-anslation.  It  runs  thus:  cum  quidem  e^o  ejus  pefitionem 
gruvissimis  in  senatu  sent ent its  oppugnassem.  But  it  is  not 
easy  to  conceive  in  what  manner  the  competition  between 
Cato  and  Vatinius,  in  relation  to  the  office  ot  Prscior,  could 
come  before  the  senate,  unless  the  authority  of  that  assem* 
bly  were  some  way  necessary  in  nominating  or  recommend- 
ing the  candidates  to  the  people.  This  interpretation  seems 
to  be  favoured  by  a  passage  in  one  of  Pliny's  letters.  Mfa 
sufFragio  (says  he,  speaking  of  a  friend  for  whom,  not  being 
legally  qualified  to  sue  for  the  Tribunate,  he  had  obtained  & 
dispensation  from  the  Emperor  for  that  purpose)  Mco  suffra- 
gio  pcrxenit  ad  jus  Tribunutum  petcndij  quern  nisi  obtinet  in 
seaatu,  vercor  ne  decepisse  Cctsarem  videar,  ii.  9.  That  the 
Senate  originally  claimed  this  prerogative  with  respect  to  the 
election  of  kings,  is  indisputable.  Patrcs  decreventnt  (as 
Livy  informs  us)  ut  cum  populus  regemjussisset,  id  sic  raium 
eueif  «  patres  auctores  Jicrent,  i.  17.  It  is  equally  clear, 
likewise,  that  the  Senate  exercised  a  privilege  of  the  same 
kind,  after  the  republican  government  was  tstablisbed ;  for 
Cicero,  taking  notice,  in  one  of  his  orations,  of  an  unsuccess- 
ful attempt  that  had  been  formerly  made  by  that  August  as- 
sembly, in  order  to  extend  their  power,  adds,  turn  enim  m0- 
gistratum  non  gerebat  is  qui  ceperaty  si  patres  auctores  non 
€rantjacti,  Orat.  pro  Plane.  3.  But  the  difficulty  is,  this 
speech  was  delivered  in  the  very  same  year  in  which  the  pre- 
sent letter  was  written  ;  so  that  the  passage  quoted  from  it 
seems  to  imply  that  no  such  right  subsisted  at  the  time 
under  consideration  :  and  indeed  Dr.  Chapman  produces  it 
in  confirmation  of  this  notion,  (Essay  on  R.  S.  p.  3*7.) 

3 


Book  II. 


OF  CICERO. 


185 


liiy  resehtment  to  the  man  himself,  than  in  or- 
der to  support  the  honour  and  interest  of  Ca- 
to*. Soon  after  this,  he  was  impeached;  and  it 
Was  in  compliance  with  the  earnest  solicitation 
of  Caesar,  that  I  undertook  his  deftnce.  But 
you  must  not  enquire  why  I  appeared  at  this 
trial,  or,  indeed,  at  any  other  of  the  same  kind, 
as  a  witness  in  favour  of  the  accused,  lest  t 
should  hereafter  have  an  opportunity  of  retort- 
ing the  question  upon  you.  Though,  to  say 
truth,  I  may  fairly  ask  it  even  now ;  for  do  yon 
not  remember,  my  friend,  in  whose  behalf  it 
was  that  you  formerly  transmitted  certain  ho- 
nourable 

*rhe  difficulty,  however,  may,  pierhaps,  be  solved  by  suJ)pos- 
ing  that  Cicero's  meaning  is  to  be  taken  restrictively,  and 
that  the  prerogative  of  the  senate,  in  the  nornination  of  can- 
didates  for  the  several  magistracies,  or  at  least  in  confirming 
their  election,  was  abolished  only  with  respect  to  the  elec- 
tion of  ^Ediles,  which  it  is  certain  he  had  principally  in  view, 
but  remained,  nevertheless,  in  its  usual  force  as  to  all  others. 
Conjectures  are  allowable  in  points  of  so  much  obscurity, 
and  in  which  neither  critics  nor  commentators  afford  any 
light :  but  what  solidity  there  may  be  in  that  which  runs 
through  the  present  remark,  is  submitted  to  the  judgment  of 
more  successful  inquirers. 

*  Cato,  the  year  before  the  date  of  this  letter,  had  solicited 
the  praetorship,  in  order  to  arm  himself  with  the  authority  of 
that  important  office  against  the  dangerous  designs  of  Cras- 
«us  and  Pompey,  who  were  at  that  time  Consuls.  But  they 
were  too  well  aware  of  the  honest  purposes  of  this  inflexible 
patriot,  not  to  obstruct  his  election ;  and  accordingly  they 
t'arried  it  against  him  in  favour  of  the  pliant  and  worthless 
Vatinius,  whose  pretensions  they  supported  by  every  infa- 
mous method  of  artifice,  corruption,  and  violence.     Vlut.  in 


190 


The  letters 


Book  IL 


nourable  testimonials  even  from  the  utmost  li- 
mits of  the  Roman  Empire  ?  You  need  not 
scruple,  however,  to  acknowledge  the  fact : 
for  I  have  acted,  and  shall  continue  to  act,  the 
same  part  towards  those  very  persons.  But  to 
return  to  Vatinius:  besides  the  reasons  I  have 
already  assigned,  I  M^as  provoked  to  engage  in 
his  defence,  by  an  opposition  of  the  same  sort 
which  the  parasite  recommends  to  the  amorous 
soldier  in  the  play'^  The  obsequious  GnathOj 
you  know,  advises  his  friend,  the  captain, 
whenever  his  mistress  endeavours  to  pique  his 
jealousy,  by  mentioning  his  rival  Phaedria,  to 
play  off  Pamphila  upon  her  in  return.  Thus, 
as  I  told  the  judges  at  this  trial,  since  certain 
honourable  persons,  who  were  formerly  much 
in  my  interest,  had  thought  proper,  by  many 
little  mortifying  instances  in  the  senate,  to  ca- 
ress my  avowed  enemy  before  my  face,  I 
thought  it  but  equitable  to  have  a  Clodius  on 
my  part,  in  opposition  to  the  Clodius  on 
their  s.  Accordingly,  I  have  upon  many  occa- 
sions acted  suitably  to  this  declaration,  and  all 
the  world  acknowledges  I  have  reason". 

Having 

^*  The  Eunuch  of  Terence. 

"  The  Conduct  of  Ciceru,  with  regard  to  Vatinius,  ap- 
pears by  no  means  parallel  with  that  of  the  aristocratical 
party  towards  Clodius.  The  latter  was  m-tw  at  variance 
ynfith  Czsar  and  Pompey  ;  and  it  was  undoubtedly  a  just 
and  rational  policy  to  take  advantage  of  that  dissention, 


'  3, 


m 


Book  II. 


OF  CICERO. 


151 


'  \(\ 


Having  thus  explained  my  conduct  with  re- 
gard to  Vatinius,  I  will  now  lay  before  you 
those  motives  which  determined  me  in  respect 
to  Crassus^^  I  was  willing,  for  the  sake  of 
the  common  cause,  to  bury  in  oblivion  the 
many  and  great  injuries  I  had  formerly  receiv- 
ed from  him.  Agreeably  to  this  disposition, 
as  we  were  then  upon  good  terms,  I  should 
have  borne  his  unexpected  defence  of  Gabi- 
nius'5»,  (whom  he  had  very  lately  with  so  much 

wai'mtlr 

and  endeavour  by  an  artful  management  to  gain  him  over  to 
the  cause  of  liberty.  But  Cicero's  engaging  in  the  sLpport 
of  Vatinius,  cannot  be  justified  by  any  poljtical  reasons  of 
tbis  nature;  and,  to  speak  truth,  it  seems  to  be  altoj*etb«r 
without  excuse.  For  Vatinius  was  actually  in  league  witb 
tbe  enemies  of  his  country  ;  to  esptmse  his  cause,  therefore, 
was  to  strengthen  their  faction,  and  sacrifice  public  interest 
to  private  |)ique. 

-    ^  See  the  remarks  on  the  7th  letter  of  this  B.  particu- 
larly rem.  6.  and  9.  p.  128. 

^5>  Aulus  Gabinius   was  consul  the  same  year  in  which 
Cicero   was   so   outraoeouvly   persecuted   by  Clodius ;  with 
whoni  (as  has  been  observed   in  the  notes  above)  Gabinius 
most  zealously  concurred.     To  gi%e  his  character  as  Cicero 
himself  has  drawn  it,  in  several  of  his  orations,  he  was  effemi- 
nate in  his  mien,  dissolute  in  his  principles,  and  a  professed 
libertine  in  every  kind.     After  the  expiration  of  his  consu- 
late, in  696,   he  went  governor  into  Syria;  from  whence  he 
was  recalled   the  following  year  by  a  decree  of  the  senate. 
Cicero  spiike  very  warmly  in  favour  of  the  decree,  and  it  is 
probable  that  the  dispute  here  mentioned  between  him  and 
Crassus,  happened  in  the  debates  which  arose  upon  this  oc- 
casion.    Not  many  months  after  the  date  of  this  letter,  Ga- 
binius was  impeached  for  mai-practices  durina  the  adminis- 
tration of  his  proconsular  government,  and  Cicero  was  now 
so  entirely  at  the  disposal  of  Caesar  and  Pompey,  tbat    in 
compliance  with  their  request,  he  meanly  undertook  his'de- 

fenc* 


II 


wt 


The  letters 


BdoK  IT. 


t 


waimtb  opposed)  if  he  had  avoided  all  personal 
reflections  on  myself.  But  when,  with  the  most 
unprovoked  violence,  he  broke  in  upon  me 
whilst  I  was  in  the  midst  of  my  speech,  I  must 
confess  it  raised  my  indignation ;  and,  perhaps, 
I  took  fire  so  much  the  sooner,  as  possibly  there 
still  remained  in  my  heart  some  latent  sparks  of 
my  former  resentment.  However,  my  beha  - 
viour  in  the  senate  upon  this  occasion  was  much 
and  generally  applauded.  Among  the  rest,  I 
was  complimented  likewise  by  the  same  men 
whom  I  have  often  hinted  at  in  this  letter,  and 
who  acknowledged  I  had  rendered  a  very  essen- 
tial service  to  their  cause,  by  that  spirit  which 
1  had  thus  exerted.  In  short,  they  affected  to 
speak  of  me  in  public,  as  being  now,  indeed,  re- 
stored to  the  commonwealth  in  the  best  and 

most 

fence.  But  it  was.  not  without  great  struggles  with  himself, 
that  he  submitted- to  an  office  so  unworthy  of  his  principles 
and  his  charactw.-  However,  he  endeavoured  to  represent 
it  to  the  world  as  an  act  of  pure  generosity ;  and,  indeed, 
the3cnt'imcnt  with  which  he  defended  himself  from  the  cen- 
sure that  pas^eJ  upon  him  on  this  occasion,  is  truly  noble : 
Neque  me  vero  pahitet  mortahs  inimkitias,  sempifernas  amici- 
Has  habere.  But  Gabinius  was  by  no  means  entitled  to  the 
benedt  of  this  generous  maxim,  nor  was  it  true  (as  will  in- 
contestibly  appear  by  a  passage  I  shall  presently  have  occa- 
sion to  produce)  that  Cicero  was  governed  by  it  m  the  case 
under  consideration.  Cicero's  conduct,  indeed,  upon  this 
occasion,  is  so  utterly  indefensible,  that  his  very  ingenious 
and  learned  advocate,  Dr.  Middleton  himself  is  obliged  to 
confess,  that  it  was  "  contrary  to  his  judgment,  his  resolu- 
«  uon,  and  his  dignity."  Orat.  pro,  Sext.  in  Piso  de  Prov. 
conndar.  pro  Rabir.  Plut.  in  tit,  Caton.  Uticin.  JJfc  of 
Cker.  11.  12\.  Svo.  Edit.    See  rferaark  44  below. 


Book  IL 


OF  CICERO. 


]9S 


most  glorious  sense.  Neverthelsss,  they  had  the 
malice  in  their  private  conversations  (as  I  was 
informed  by  persons  of  undoubted  honour)  to 
express  singular  satisfaction  in  the  new  variance 
that  had  thus  happened  between  Cr^ssus  and  my- 
self; as  they  pleased  themselves  with  imagining 
it  would  for  ever  throw  me  at  a  distance  from 
those  who  were  joined  with  him  in  the  same  in* 
terest^.     Pompey,  in  the  mean  time,  employed 
incredible  pains  to  close  this  breach :  and  Cgesar 
also  mentioned  it  in  his  letters,  as  an  incident 
that  gave  him  much  concern.  Upon  these  con- 
siderations, therefore,  I  thought  it  expedient  to 
act  agreeably  both  to  the  dictates  of  my  natural 
temper,  and  to  that  experience  which  I  had 
gained  by  my  former  misfortunes.  In  pursuance 
of  tht  ;e  sentiments,  I  consented  to  a  reconcile- 
ment ;  and,  in  order  to  render  it  more  con* 
spicuous  to  the  world,  Crassus  set  out  for  Im 
government**  almost  from  under  my  roof;  for, 

having 

♦*"  C«sar  and  Pompey.  The  former  (who  was  undoubt- 
ediy  as  much  superior  to  the  rest  of  his  contemporaries  in 
genius  as  m  fortune)  finding  it  necessary  for  his  purposes 
that  Crassus  and  Pompey  should  act  in  concert,  procured  a 
reconciliation  between  them  ;  and  by  this  means,  says  Plu- 
tarch, formed  that  invincible  Triumvirate  which  ruined  the 
authority  both  of  the  senate  and  the  people ;  and  of  which 

ll^IJf  ^«<^e'^ed  the  advantage.     Plut,  in  Crass 

The  province  of  Syria  was  allotted  to  Crassus,  for 
which  he  set  out  a  month  or  two  before  the  expiration  of  his 
consulate,  m  the  year  6^8,  and  from  whence  he  never  re- 
.     ^^^-^^  O  turned. 


194 


The  letters 


Book  IL 


having  iavited  himself  to  spend  the  preceding 
night  with  me  ;  we  supped  together  in  the  gar- 
dens of  my  son-in-law  Crassipes**.    It  was  for 
these  reasons  that  I  thought  my  honour  obliged 
me  to  defend  his  cause  in  the  senate*',  and  I  con- 
fess, I  mentioned  him  with  that  high  applause, 
of  which,  it  seems,  you  have  been  informed. 
- .  Thus  I  have  given  you  a  full  detail  of  the 
several  views  and  motives  by  which  I  am  go- 
verned in  the  present  conjuncture,  as  well  as  of 
the  particular  disposition  in  which  I  stand  with 
respect  to  the  slender  part  I  can  pretend  to  claim 
in  the  administration  of  public  affairs.     And, 
believe  me,  I  should  have  judged  and  acted 
entirely  in  the  same  manner,  had  I  been  totally 
free  from  every  sort  of  amicable  bias.    For,  on 
the  OTie  hand,   I  should  have  esteemed  it  the 
most  absurd  folly  to  have  attempted  to  oppose 
80  superior  a  force;  and,  on  the  other,  suppos-^ 
ing  it  possible,  I  should  yet  have  deemed  it  im- 
prudent to  weaken  the  authority  of  persons  so 
eminently  and  so  justly  distinguished  in  the 
commonwealth^.     Besides,  it  appears  to  mc 

to 

turned,  as  has  already  been  observed  ift  the  notes  on  the  7tb 
letter  of  this  book.     Seep.  128. 

♦*  These  gardens  were  situated  a  small  distance  from 
Rome,  on  the  banks  of  the  Tiber.  Ad  Att.  iv.  12.  Ad  Q. 
F,  iii.  7. 

♦'  See  rem.  7.  p.  128.  of  this  vol. 

^  It  will  appear  very  evident,  perhaps,  from  tfce  fore- 
going 


Book  II. 


OF  CICERO. 


1$5 


to  be  the  dictates  of  sound  policy,  to  act  in 
accommodation  to  particular  conjunctures, 
and  not  inflexibly  pursue  the  same  unalterable 
scheme,  when  public  circumstances,  together 
with  the  sentiments  of  the  best  and  wisest 
members  of  the  community,  are  evidently 
changed.  In  conformity  to  this  notion,  the 
most  judicious  reasoners  on  the  great  art  of 
government,  have  universally  condemned  an 
obstinate  perseverance  in  one  uniform  tenor  of 
measures.     The  skill  of  the  pilot  is  shewn  in 

weathering 

going  observations,  that  what  Cicero  here  asserts,  could  not 
possibly  be  his  real  sentiments.  That  it  was  not  practicable 
to  bring  down  Caesar  and  Pompey  from  that  height  of  power 
to  which  they  were  now  arrived,  will  not,  probably,  be  dis- 
puted ;  though,  at  the  same  time,  it  is  very  difficult  to  set 
limits  to  what  prudence  and  perseverance  may  effect.  This 
at  least,  seems  undeniable,  that  if  their  power  were  abso- 
lutely immoveable,  Cicero's  conduct  was  in  the  number  of 
those  causes  which  contributed  to  render  it  so.  However, 
one  cannot  but  be  astonished  to  find  our  author  seriously 
maintaining,  that,  granting  it  had  not  been  impossible,  it 
would  yet  have  been  impolitic,  to  have  checked  these  tower- 
ing chiefs  in  their  ambitious  flight.  For  it  is  plain,  from  a 
passage  already  cited  out  of  his  letters  to  Alticus  (see  above, 
remark  33.)  that  he  long  foresaw  their  immoderate  growth 
of  power,  would  at  last  overturn  the  liberties  of  the  com- 
monwealth. It  had  already,  indeed,  destroyed  his  own ; 
and  this  too,  by  the  confesbion  of  himself.  For,  in  a  letter 
which  he  writes  to  his  brother,  taking  notice  of  the  strong 
applications  that  Pompey  had  made  to  him  to  defend  Gabi- 
nius,  he  declares  he  never  will  comply  with  that  unworthy 
request,  so  long  as  he  retained  the  least  spark  of  liberty. 
But,  comply,  however,  he  actually  did ;  equally,  in  truth, 
to  his  own  disgrace,  and  to  the  confutation  of  the  doctrine 
he  here  advances.     Ad  Q.  F.  iii.  1.     See  remark  39.  above. 

0  2 


196 


The  letters 


Book  IL 


Book  II. 


OF  CICERO. 


197 


weathering  the  storm  at  least,  tho'  he  should 
not  gain  his  port;  but  if  shifting  his  sails,  and 
changing  his  direction  will  infallibly  carry  him 
with  security  into  the  intended  harbour,  would 
it  not  be  an  instance  of  most  unreasonable  te- 
naciousness  to  continue  in  the  more  hazardous 
course,  wherein  he  began  his  voyage  ?     Thus 
(and  it  is  a  maxim  I  have  often  had  occasion 
to  inculcate)  the  point  we  ought  all  of  us  to 
keep  in  view  in  our  administration  of  the  com- 
monwealth, is  the  final  enjoyment  of  an  ho- 
nourable repose ;  but  the  method  of  securing 
to  ourselves  this  dignity  of  retreat,  is  by  hav- 
ing been  invariable  in  our  intentions  for  the 
public  welfare,  and  not  by  a  positive  persever- 
ance in  certain  favourite  modes  of  obtaining 
it**.     To  repeat,  therefore,  what  I  just  now  de- 
clared, had  I  been  absolutely  uninfluenced  by 
every  motive  of  friendship,  I  should  still  have 
pursued  the  same  public  measures  in  which  I 

am 

♦*  The  reasoniivg  which  Cioero  here  employs  is  certainly 
just,  considered  abstractedly  ;  but  by  no  means  applicable 
to  the  present  case.  The  question  between  the  arisiocraiical 
party,  and  ihose  who  ntre  favourers  of  Csesar  and  Pompey, 
was,  not  what  road  should  be  taken  to  the  same  end,  but 
wheiht-r  Rome  should  be  free  or  enslaved.  Let  who  would 
then  have  changed  their  sentiments  in  this  point,  it  became 
Dot  the  father  of  his  country  to  increase  the  number.  But 
as  Cicero  acquired  that  mobt  honourable  of  all  appellations, 
by  Catiline,  he  lost  it  again  by  Clodius ;  or,  to  express  the 
same  thing  in  his  own  words,  non  recordor  (as  be  confei)8es 
to  Atticus)  unde  ccciderim,  scd  wide  ierrexerim.  Ad  Att,  iv.  l6. 


am  now  engaged.  But  when  gratitude  and  re- 
sentment both  conspire  in  recommending  tliis 
scheme  of  action  to  me,  I  cannot  hesitate  a 
moment  in  adopting  it,  especially,  since  it  ap- 
pears most  conducive  to  the  interests  of  the 
republic  in  general,  as  well  as  to  my  own  in 
particular.  To  speak  freely,  I  act  upon  this 
principle  so  much  the  more  frequently,  and 
with  the  less  reserve,  not  only  as  my  brother 
is  Lieutenant  under  Caesar,  but  as  the  latter 
receives  the  slightest  action  or  even  word  of 
mine  in  his  favour,  with  an  air  that  evidently 
shews  he  considers  them  as  obligations  of  the 
most  sensible  kind.  And,  in  fact,  I  derive  the 
same  benefit  from  that  popularity  and  power 
which  you  know  he  possesses,  as  if  they  were 
so  many  advantages  of  my  own.  The  sum  of 
the  whole,  in  short,  is  this :  I  imagined  that  I 
had  no  othermethodof  counteractingthose  per- 
fidious designs  with  which  a  certain  party  were 
secretly  contriving  to  undermine  me,  than  by 
thus  uniting  the  friendship  and  protection  of  the 
men  in  power,  with  those  internal  aids  which 
have  never  yet  beea  wanting  to  my  support*. 

lam 

•  There  is  no  character  in  all  antiquity,  perhaps,  that 
lies  so  open  to  discovery'as  that  of  Cicero;  and  yet  there  is 
none,  at  the  same  time,  which  seems  to  be  less  generally 
underblood.  Had  there  been  no  other  of  his  writings  extant, 
however,  but  this  single  letter,  the  patriot  character,  one 
^         r  ),;  O  3  shoul(i 


i. 


If 


V 


^1 


I 


198 


The  letters         Book IL 


^ 


I  am  well  persuaded,  had  you  been  in  Rome, 
yon  would  have  concurred  with  me  in  these 
sentiments.  I  know,  indeed,  the  candour  and 
moderation  of  your  temper;  and  I  know,  too, 
that  your  heart  not  only  glows  with  friendship 
towards  me,  but  is  wholly  untainted  with  male- 
volence towards  others ;  in  a  word,  I  know  that 
as  you  possess  every  sublime  and  generous  af- 
fection, you  are  incapable  of  any  thing  so  mean 
as  artifice  and  disguise.  Nevertheless,  even 
this  ele%^ated  diisposition  has  not  secured  you 
from  the  same  unprovoked  malice,  which  I 
have  experienced  in  my  own  affairs.  I  doubt 
not,  therefore,  if  you  had  been  an  actor  in  this 
scene,  the  same  motives  would  have  swayed 
your  conduct,  which  have  governed  mine.  But, 

however 

should  have  imagined,  would  have  been  the  last  that  the 
world  would  ever  have  ascribed  to  our  author.  It  is  obser- 
vable, and  it  is  a»  observatio.n  for  which  I  am  obliged  to  a 
gentleman,  who,  amidst  far  more  important  occupations, 
did  not  refuse  to  be  the  censurer  of  the^e  ^japers)  that  "  the 
**  principles  by  which  Cicero  attempts  to  justify  himself  in 
'*  this  epistle,  are  such  as  will  equally  defend  the  most  aban- 
"  doned  prostitution  and  desertion  in  political  conduct.  Per- 
**  sonal  gratitude  and  reicntmcni ;  an  eye  to  private  and 
«*  particular  interest,  mixed  with  a  pretended  regard  to  pub- 
**  lie  good  ;  an  attention  to  a  brother's  advancement  and 
•*  farther  favour;  a  sensibility  in  being  carested  by  a  great 
"  man  in  power;  a  calculation  of  the  advantages  derived 
"  from  the  popularity  and  credit  of  that  great  man  to  one's 
"  "  own  personal  ^elf,  arc  very  weak  foundations,  indeed,  to 
*'  support  th«  .superstructure  of  a  true  patriot's  character. 
"Yet  these  are  the  principles  which  Cicero  here  expressly 
"  avows  and  defends !" 


Book  Ilf 


OF  CICERO.:^ 


199 


however  that  may  be,  I  shall  most  certainly 
submit  all  my  actions,  to  your  guidance  and 
advice,  whenever  I  sliall  agaiaenjoy  your  com-? 
pany;  and  I  am  sure  yoa  will  nqt  be  less,  at-? 
tentive  to  the  preserv^tionof  my  honour,  than 
you  formerly  were  to  that  of  my  person.  Of 
this,  at  least,  you  may  be  persuaded,  that  you 
will  find  me  a  faithful  friend  and  associate  in 
all  your  counsels  and  measures ;  as  it  will  b^ 
the  first  and  daily  purpose  of  my  life,  to  sup* 
ply  you  with  additional  and  more  powerful 
reasons  for  rejoicing  iq  those  obligations  ybit 

have  conferred  upon  mc.  ■ 

As  you  desire  me  to  send  you  those  compo^ 
sitions  which  I  have  written  since  you  leffc 
Rome,  I  shall  deliver  some  orations  into  the 
hands  of  Menocrates  for  that  purpose,  -  How- 
ever, not  tQ  alarm  you,  their  number  is  but 
inconsiderable;  forl'withdraw  as  much  as  pos- 
sible from  the  contention  of  the  bar,  in  order 
to  join  those  more  gentle  Muse^  which  wcxc 
always  my  delight,  and  are  particularly  so  at 
this  juncture,  Acc9rdingly,  I  have  drawn  up 
thre^  dii^logues  upoii  oratory,  wherein  I  hav^ 
endeavoured  to  imitate  the  manner  of  Aristotle. 
J  trust  they  will  not  prove  altogether  useless 
to  your  son,  as  I  have  rejected  the  modem 
precepts  of  rhetoric,  and  adopted  the  ancient 

O  4  Aristotelian 


I 


mMm 


t09 


THt  tETTERS 


Book  IF. 


i 


Aristbtclian  and  Isocratic  rules.  To  this  cata- 
logue of  my  writings,  I  must  also  add  an  his« 
torical  poem  which  I  have  lately  composed  in 
three  cantos,  upon  the  subject  of  my  banish* 
xnent**,  and  as  a  lasting  memorial  likewise  of 
your  friendship  and  my  gratitude.  This  I 
should  long  since  have  transmitted  to  you,  had 
it  beeu  my  immediate  intention  to  make  it  pub- 
lic. But  I  am  discouraged  from  this  design  at 
present,  not,  indeed,  as  fearing  the  resentment 
of  those  who  may  imagine  themselves  the  ob- 
jects of  my  satire,  (for,  in  this  respect,  I  have 
been  extremely  tender)  but  as  finding  it  im- 
possible to  make  particular  mention  of  every 
^ne  from  whom  I  received  obligations  at  that 
season.  However,  when  I  shall  meet  with  a 
proper  opportunity,  I  will  send  it  to  you ;  sub* 
mitting  my  writings  as  well  as  my  actions  en- 
tirely to  your  judgment.  I  know,  indeed, 
these  literary  meditations  have  ever  been  the 
favourite  employment  of  your  thoughts,  no 

less  than  of  mine*^ 

Your 

**  This  poem  Cicero  delivered,  scaled  up,  to  hit  son ; 
•njoining  him,  at  the  same  time,  not  to  publish  or  read  it 
tilJ  alter  his  death.     Manut, 

♦^  To  turn  from  the  actions  of  Cicero  to  hit  writings,  is 
changing  our  point  of  view,  it  must  be  acknowledged,  ex- 
tremely to  bis  advantage.  It  is  on  this  bid«,  indeed,  that 
liis  character  can  never  be  too  warmly  admired ;  and  ad- 
mired it  will  undoubtedly  be,  so  long  as  manly  eloquence 
•nd  genuine  philosophy  have  any  friends.     Perhaps  there  is 

something 


Book  II*         of  CfCEKOr^ 


26} 


Yourfamily  concerns,  which  yoti  fecbnimend 
to  me,  are  so  much  a  part  of  my  own,  that  I 
am  sorry  you  should  think  it  necessary  even  td 
remind  me  of  them.  I  cotild  not,  "therefore, 
read  your  solicitations^  for  that  purpose,  with* 
out  some  uneasiness/ 

I  find  you  were  prevented,  by  an  indisposi- 
tion, from  going  the  last  summer  into  CiKcia; 
which  was  the  occasion,  it  seems,  of  your  riot 
settling  my  brother's  affairs  in  that  province; 
However,  you  give  me  assurance  that  you  will 
now  take  all  possiblemethods  of  adjusting  them* 
You  cannot,  indeed,  oblige  him  more :  and  he 
will  think  himself  as  much  indebted  to  you  for 
procuring  him  this  additional  farm,  as  if  yoii 
had  settled  him  in  the  possession  of  his  patri- 
mony. In  the  mean  time,  I  entreat  you  to  inform 
me  frequently  and  freely  t)f  all  your  affairs,  and 
particularly  give  me  ah  account  of  the  studies 
and  exercises  in  which  your  son  is  engaged. 
For  be  well  persuaded,  never  friend  was  more 
agreeable  or  more  endeared  to  another,  than 

you 

something  in  that  natural  mechanism  of  the  human  frame 
necessary  to  constitute  a  fine  genius,  which  is  not  altogether 
favourable  to  the  exeellencies  of  the  heart.  It  is  certain,  at 
least,  (and  let  it  abate  our  envy  of  uncommon  parts)  that 
great  superiority  of  intellectual  qualifications,  has  not  often 
been  found  in  conjunction  with  the  much  nobler  advantages. 
of  a  moral  kind. 


202 


Thi;  betters        .Upok  II, 


Book  II. 


OF  CICERO. 


203 


I 


you  arc  to  me :  and  of  this  truth  I  hope'  to 
render  not  only  you,  but  all  the  world,  and 
even  posterity  itself,  thoroughly  sensible. 

Appius^9  has  lately  declared  in  the  senate 
(what  he  had  before,  indeed,  often  intimated  in 
conversation)  that  if  he  could  get  his  procpn- 
sular  commission  confirmed  in  an  assembly  of 
the  Curiae^^,  he  would  cast  lots  witli  his  col^ 
league  for  the  particular  province  to  which  thpy 
should  respectively  succeed:  if  not,  that,  by  an 
amicable  agreement  between  theniselves,  he  had 
resolved  upon  yours*'.  He  added,  that,  in  the 
case  of  a  consul,  it  was  not  absolutely  neces- 
sary, tho',  perhaps,  it  might  be  expedient,  to 
procure  a  law  of  this  kind:  and,  as  a  govern- 
ment had  been  appointed  him  by  a  decree  of 
the  senate,  he  was  entitled,  he  said,  in  con^e-: 

quence 

*9  Appius  Claudius  Pulcher,  one  of  the  present  consuls. 
See  remark  3.  p.  225  of  this  vol, 

'®  Romulus  divided  the  city  into  a  certain  nurpber  of 
districts  called  Curi;E,  which  somewhat  resembled  our  pa- 
lishcs.  When  the  people  were  supimoned  together,  to  trans- 
act any  business  agreeably  to  this  division,  it  was  called  an 
assembly  of  the  Curise:  where  the  most  votes  in  every  Cu- 
riae was  considered  as  ihe  voice  of  the  whole  district,  and  the 
most  Curix  as  the  general  consent  of  the  people.  Ken, 
R.A. 

''  The  senate  annually  nominated  the  two  provinces  Xo 
which  the  consuls  should  succeed  at  the  expiration  of  their 
office;  but  it  was  left  to  the  consuls  themselves  to  deter- 
mine, either  by  casting  lots,  or  by  private  agreement,  which 
of  the  particular  provinces  so  assigned,  they  should  respec- 
tively administer.    Manut,  de  Ug,  c.  x. 


quence  of  the  Cornelian  law,  to  a  military 
command,  till  the  time  of  his  entrance  into 
Rome^*.  I  know  not  what  accounts  you  may 
have  received  of  this  matter  from  your  other 
friends  :  but  I  find  the  sentiments  of  the  world 
are  much  divided.  Some  are  of  opinion,  that 
you  are  not  obliged  to  resign  your  govern- 
ment, if  your  successor  should  not  be  autho- 
rised by  an  assembly  of  the  Curiae :  whilst  others 
maintain,  that,  notwithstanding  you  should 
think  proper  to  leave  the  province,  you  may, 
nevertheless,  depute  a  person  to  preside  in  your 
absence.  As  to  myself,  I  am  not  altogether  so 
clear  with  respect  to  the  law  in  question :  tho' 

I  must 

5*  Tho'  the  nomination  of  the  proconsular  provinces  was 
a  privilege  reserved  to  the  senate,  yet  it  was  the  prerogative 
of  the  people  to  confer  on  the  proconsuls  the  power  of  exe- 
cuting the  hulitary  functions,  and  likewise  it  should  seem  to 
grant  the.  necessary  appointments  for  conveying  them  to 
their  respective  governments.  '  By  a  law,  however,  which 
was  made  by  Cornelius  Sylla,  during  his  Dictatorship,  in 
the  year  672,  it  was  enacted,  that,  whatever  magistrate, 
at  the  expiration  of  his  office,  should  obtain  a  province  by  a 
decree  of  the  senate,  he  should  be  invested  with  the  full 
power  of  a  proconsul,  notwithstanding  his  commission  were 
not  confirmed  by  an  assembly  of  the  Curiae.  But  Sylla's 
dictatorship  being  considered  as  an  usurpation,  it  is  proba- 
ble, from  the  passage  before  us,  that  this  law  was  not  gene- 
rally esteemed  valid.  Appius,  nevertheless,  endeavoured  to 
avail  himself  of  it,  from  an  apprehension  that  he  might  meej 
with  some  obstruction  in  the  usual  method  of  applying  for  a 
ratification  of  his  powders:  and,  indeed,  it  may  be  collected 
from  a  letter  to  Atticus,  that  he  at  last  set  forward  to  his 
government  without  the  sanction  of  the  people.  Manut,  de 
Leg.  Grcev.  prcrf.  in  antiq.  1.  Ad  Att,  iv.  l6.  , 


204 


The  letters 


Book  IL 


I  must  own,  at  the  same  time,  that  my  doubts 
are  by  no  means  considerable.  Of  this,  howe^ 
ver,  I  am  perfectly  sure,  that  it  is  agreeable  to 
your  honour,  and  to  that  generosity  of  conduct 
in  which  I  know  you  place  your  highest  grati- 
fication, quietly  to  yield  up  your  province  to 
your  successor;  especially  as  you  cannot  in 
this  instance  oppose  his  ambitious  views,  with- 
out incurring  the  suspicion  of  being  influenced 
by  the  same  motives  yourself.  But,  be  that 
as  it  will,  I  thought  it  incumbent  upon  me  to 
inform  you  of  my  sentiments,  as  I  shall  cer- 
tainly defend  yours,  whichever  way  they  may 
determine  you  to  act. 

After  I  had  finished  my  letter,  I  received 
your  last  concerning  the  farmers  of  the  reve- 
nues". Your  decision  appears  to  me,  I  must 
own,  perfectly  equitable;  yet,  at  the  same 
time,  I  cannot  but  wish  you  might  be  so  happy 
as  not  to  disgust  a  body  of  men  whose  interest 
you  have  hitherto  always  favoured.  However, 
you  may  be  assured  I  shall  support  the  decrees 

you 

"  The  society  of  farmers  of  the  public  revenues,  among 
the  Romans  was  a  body  of  men  in  high  repute,  as  bfing 
composed  ol  the  principal  persons  of  the  eque^ir  an  order  : 
liu^  equitum  Romanorum,  says  Cicero,  ornameiitum  civitatisy 
Jirinamtntum  reip,  Pvblicanorum  ordine  contiiietur.  Pro 
Plam:.  Disputes  frequently  arose  between  ihekC  and  the 
tributary  provinces  :  and  it  is  to  some  difference  of  this  kind 
%kber"in  Lenlulus  had  gi>en  judgment  against  them,  that  Ci- 
cero seems  to  allude. 


Book  II. 


OF  CICERO. 


soi 


you  have  made  upon  this  occasion :  tho'  you 
well  know  the  temper  and  disposition  of  these 
people,  and  what  formidable  enemies  they 
proved  to  the  excellent  Quintus  Scaevola'*.  I 
would  recommend  it  to  you,  therefore,  if  pos- 
sible, to  recover  their  good  graces,  or  at  least 
to  soften  them.  The  task,  I  confess,  is  diffi- 
cult; but  prudence,  1  think,  requires  yoH 
should  use  your  best  endeavours  for  that  pur- 
pose.    FareweL 

'♦  There  were  two  very  eminent  persons  of  this  name  in 
Cicero's  time.  The  first,  the  mo«t  celebrated  lawyer  an4 
politician  of  his  age,  is  distinguished  by  the  title  of  Augur. 
The  other,  who  was  high  Priest,  was  slain  at  th«  entrance  of 
the  temple  of  Vesta,  ai  he  was  endeavouring  to  make  his  es* 
cape  from  that  general  massacre  of  the  senators  which  was 
perpetrated  by  the  orders  of  the  young  Mariu!>.  To  which 
of  these  Tully  alludes  is  uncertain.  Manutius  supposes  to 
the  former,  but  without  assigning  his  reasons.  It  seems  hot 
unlikely,  however,  to  be  the  latter,  as  there  is  a  passage  iu 
Valerius  Maximus,  by  which  we  find  (hat  he  exercised  his 
Asiatic  government  with  so  much  honour  and  integrity,  that 
the  senate,  in  their  subsequent  decrees  for  nominatirrg  the 
Proconsuls  to  that  province,  always  recommended  him  as  an 
example  worthy  of  their  imitation.  It  appears,  by  a  frag- 
ment of  Diodorus  Siculus,  that  he  endeavoured,  during  his 
administration  in  Ai>ia,  to  reform  the  great  abuses  which 
were  committed  by  the  farmers  of  the  revenues  in  his  pro- 
vince, and  imprisoned  many  of  them  for  their  cruel  oppres- 
sions of  the  people.  This  drew  upon  him  their  indignation  : 
but  in  what  particular  instance  he  was  a  suflferer  by  it,  his- 
tory does  Dot  mention.     Liv,  epit.  S6\     VaL  Max»  viii.  15. 

LETTER 


I  ■ 

I 


20^ 


The  letters 


Book  1L 


LETTER  XVIIL 

[A.  U.  699.] 

To  Lucius  CuLLEOLus,  Pfoconsul'. 

It  was  with  the  warmest  expressions  of  gra- 
titude, that  my  friend  Lucceius*  acquainted 
me,  you  had  generously  assured  his  agents  of 
your  assistance  :  as,  indeed,  I  know  not  a  man 
in  the  world  who  has  a  heart  more  sensible  of 
obligations.  But  if  your  promises  only  were 
•  thus  acceptable  to  him,  how  much  more  will 
he  think  himself  indebted  to  you  when  you 
shall  have  performed  (as  I  am  well  persuaded 
you  will  most  faithfully  perform)  these  your 
obliging  engagements  ? 

The  people  of  BuUis'  have  intimated  a  dis- 
position to  refer  the  demands  in  question  be* 
tween  Lucceius  and  themselves,  to  Pompey's 
arbitration :  but  as  the  concurrence  of  your 
influence  and  authority  will  be  necessary,  I 
very  strongly  entreat  you  to  exert  both  for 
this  purpose. 

It 

'  The  person  to  whom  this  letter  is  addressed,  and  the 
province  of  which  he  ivas  proconsul,  are  equally  unknown. 

*  An  account  of  Lucceius  has  already  been  given  in  rem. 
1.  p.  75  of  this  vol. 

3  Geographers  are  not  agreed  as  to  the  situation  of  this 
city,  some  placing  it  in  lilyria,  others  in  Macedonia. 


rCV  ,^'  ■ 


Book  IL 


ot  CICfiRO. 


X 


2or 


It  affords  me  great  satisfaction  to  find  that 
your  letter  to  Lucceius,  together  with  your 
promises  to  his  agents,  have  convinced  them 
that  no  man  has  more  credit  with  you  than 
myself:  and  I  earnestly  conjure  you  to  confirm 
them  in  these  sentiments,  by  every  real  and 
substantial  service  in  your  power.     FareweL 

LETTER  XIX. 

To  the  same. 

m 

You  could  never  have  disposed  of  your  fa- 
vours where  they  would  be  more  gratefully  re- 
membered, than  on  my  friend  Lucceius.  But 
the  obligation  is  not  confined  to  him  only ; 
Pompey  likewise  takes  a  share  in  it :  and  when- 
ever I  see  him  (as  I  often  do)  he  never  fails  to 
express,  in  very  strong  terms,  how  much  he 
thinks  himself  indebted  to  you.  To  which  I 
will  add  (what  I  know  will  give  you  great  sa- 
tisfaction) that  it  aftbrded  me  also  a  very  sen- 
sible pleasure.  As  you  cannot  now  discontinue 
these  obliging  offices,  without  forfeiting  your 
character  of  constancy,  I  doubt  not  of  your 
persevering  in  the  same  friendly  services  for 
your  own  sake,  which  you  at  first  engaged  in 
for  ours.  I  cannot  forbear,  nevertheless,  most 
■1\  ..  earnestly 


s    n 


I 


so» 


The  letters 


Book  II. 


Book  II. 


OF  CICERO. 


209 


II 


earnestly  entreating  you  to  proceed  in  what 
you  have  thus  generously  begun,  till  you  shall 
have  perfectly  completed  the  purposes  for 
which  we  requested  your  assistance.  You  wili 
by  these  means  greatly  oblige  not  only  Luc- 
ceius,  but  Pompey :  and  never,  I  will  venture 
to  assure  you,  can  you  lay  out  your  services  to 
more  advantage.  I  have  nothing  further  to  * 
add,  having  given  you  my  full  sentiments  of 
public  affairs,  in  a  letter  which  I  wrote  to  you 
a  few  days  ago,  by  one  of  your  domestics.— 
Farewel. 

LETTER  XX. 

[A.U.699.]  ' 

To  CuRius,  Proconsul*. 

I  HAVE  long  been  intimately  connected  with 
Quintus  Pompeius,  by  a  variety  of  repeated 
good  offices.  As  he  has  upon  many  former 
occasions  supported  his  interests,  his  credit,  and 
his  authority  in  your  province,  by  my  influ- 
ence; so,  now  the  administration  is  in  your 
hands,  he  ought  undoubtedly  to  find,  by  the 
effects  of  this  letter,  that  none  of  your  prede- 
cessors have  ever  paid  a  greater  regard  to  my 
recommendations.  The  strict  union  indeed  that 
subsists  between  you  and  myself,  gives  me  a 

right 

•  The  person  to  whom  this  letter  is  addressed,  and  the 
time  when  it  was  written,  are  unknown. 


right  to  expect  that  you  will  look  upon  every 
friend  of  mine  as  your  own.  But  I  most  ear- 
nestly entreat  you  to  receive  Pompeius  in  so 
particular  a  manner  into  your  protection  and 
favour,  as  to  convince  him  that  nothing  could 
have  proved  more  to  his  advantage  and  his 
honour  than  my  applications  to  you  in  his  be» 
liajf.     f^ey^d. 


^/^-o<x:^'Py 


LETTER  XXI, 

[A.U.699.] 

To  Basilius^ 

I  CONGRATULATE  both  you  and  myself  on 

the  present  joyful  occasion.     All  your  affairs 

here  are  much  my  concern,  as  your  person  is 

infinitely  dear  to  me.     Love  me  in  return,  and 

let  me  know  what  you  are  doing,  and  what  is 

going  forward  in  your  part  of  the  world,— 

Farewel. 

LETTER 

• 

^  \i  Basilius  be  the  true  name  of  the  person  to  whom  this 
letter  is  inscribed,  (and,  indeed,  all  the  editions  agree  in  call- 
ing him  so)  no  account  can  be  given  concerning  him.  But, 
if  we  may  be  allowed  to  suppose  the  genuine  reading  W  be 
Bacilus,  he  was  praetor  in  the  year  70S  :  and  Caesar  not  hav- 
ing given  him  a  province,  as  was  usual,  at  the  expiration  of 
his  office,  he  was  so  mortified  with  the  affront,  that  he  p\\% 
an  end  to  his  life.     Dio,  xliii.  p.  237- 

Vol.  L  P 


>4J-«MP 


•^iiS 


■  If 

I 


2  Iff 


The  letters 


Book  II. 


I 


I.ETTER  XXII. 

[A.  U.  690.] 

To  QuiNTUs  Philippus,  ProconsuK 

I  coxGRATULATEyour  Safe  return  from  your 
province,  in  the  fulness  of  your  fame,  and 
amidst  the  general  tranquillity  of  the  republic. 
If  I  were  in  Rome,  I  should  have  waited  upon 
you,  for  this  purpose,  in  person,  and  in  order, 
likewise,  to  make  my  acknowledgments  to  you 
for  your  favours  to  my  friends  Egnatius  and 
Oppius. 

I  am  extremely  sorry  to  hear  that  you  have 
taken  great  ofi'ence  against  my  friend  and  host„ 
Antipater.  I  cannot  pretend  to  judge  of  the 
merits  of  the  case ;  but  I  know  your  character 
too  well,  not  to  be  persuaded  that  you  are  in- 
capable of  indulging  an  unreasonable  resent- 
ment. I  conjure  you,  however,  by  our  long 
friendship,  to  pardon,  for  my  sake,  his  sons, 
who  lie  entirely  at  your  mercy.  If  I  imagined 
you  could  not  grant  this  favour  consistently 
with  your  honour,  I  should  be  far  from  mak- 
ing the  request ;  as  my  regard  for  your  repu- 
tation is  much  superior  to  all  considerations  of 
friendship  which  I  owe  to  this  family.     But, 

if 

* 

^  Sec  rem.*  p.  127  of  this  fol. 


Book  II. 


or  cicMa 


81t 


if  I  am  not  mistaken,  (iind,  indeed,  I  very 
possibly  may)  your  clemency  towards  them 
will  rather  add  to  your  character,  than  dero- 
gate from  it.  If  it  be  not  too  much  trouble, 
therefore,  I  should  be  glad  you  would  let  mc 
know  how  far  a  compliance  with  my  request 
is  in  your  power ;  for  that  it  is  in  your  inclina« 
tion,  I  have  not  the  least  reason  to  doubt.— 
FareweL 

P  S  LETTER 


i  I 


1 


tii 


The  letters 


Book  II. 


LETTER  XXin. 


'      '1 


I 


[A.  U.  699.] 

To  Lucius  Valerius*,  the  Lawjer. 

For5  why  should  I  not  gratify  your  vanity 
with  that  honourable  appellation  ?  Since,  as 
the  times  go,  my  friend,  confidence  Mill  rea- 
dily pass  upon  the  world  for  skill. 

I  have  executed  the  commission  you  sent 
me,  and  made  your  acknowledgments  to  Len- 
tulus.  But  I  wish  you  w^ould  render  my  of- 
fices of  this  kind  unnecessary,  by  putting  an 
end  to  your  tedious  absence.  Is  it  not  more 
worthy  of  your  mighty  ambition  to  be  blended 
with  your  learned  brethren  at  Rome,  than  to 
stand  the  sole  great  wonder  of  wisdom,  amidst 

a  parcel 

♦Valerius  is  only  known  by  this  letter  and  another, 
wherein  Cicero  recommends  him  to  Appius  as  a  person  who 
lived  in  his  family,  and  for  whom  he  entertained  a  very  sin- 
gular affection.  By  the  air  of  this  epistle  he  seems  to  have 
been  one  of  that  sort  of  lawyers  who  may  more  properly  be 
said  to  be  of  the  profession  than  the  science.  But,  as  the 
vein  of  humour  which  runs  through  this  letter  partly  cori- 
sists  in  playing  upon  words,  it  is  not  very  easy,  perhaps  it  is 
impossible,  to  be  -preserved  in  a  translation  ;  and,  as  it  al- 
ludes to  circumstances  which  are  now  altogether  unknown, 
it  must  necessarily  lose  much  of  its  original  spirit. 

5  The  abrupt  beginning  of  this  letter  has  induced  some  of 
the  commentators  to  suspect  that  it  is  not  entire.  But  Ma- 
nutius  has  very  justly  observed,  that  it  evidently  refers  to 
the  inscription  :  arid  he  produces  an  instance  of  the  same 

kind 


Book  II. 


(TF  CICERO, 


S13 


a  parcel  of  paltry  provincials^  ?  But  I  long  to 
rally  you  in  person  :  for  which  merry  purpose 
I  desire  you  would  hasten  hither  as  expediti- 
ously as  possible.  I  Avould  by  no  means,  how- 
ever, advise  you  to  take  Apulia  in  the  way, 
lest  some  disastrous  adventure,  in  those  un- 
lucky regions,  should  prevent  our  welcoming 
your  safe  arrival.  And,  in  truth,  to  w^hat  pur- 
pose 

kind  from  one  of  the  epistles  to  Atticus.     Vid.  Ad  Att»  iii. 
20. 

^  After  this  passage  in  the  original,  Cicero  goes  on  in  the 
following  strain  :  Quanqaam  qui  Mnc  leniunt,  partim  te  su* 
perbum  esse  dicunt,  quod  nihil  respondeas  ;  partim  contumelio" 
sum,  quod  male  respondeas.  The  translator,  however,  has 
ventured  to  omit  this  witticism,  upon  the  advice  of  Horace. 


Desperat  tentata  nitcscere  posse,  relinquit. 

It  is  a  pun,  indeed,  which  has  already  occurred  in  one  Qf 
the  preceding  letters  to  Trebatius,  where  our  author  plays 
in  the  same  manner  upon  the  equivocal  sense  of  the  verb 
respondere.  See  p.  156  of  this  vol.  Voiture  has  managed 
an  allusion  of  this  kind  much  more  successfully.  Si  vous 
pretendez  (says  that  agreeable  writer  to  his  friend  the  pleni- 
potentiary at  Munster)  que  la  dignife  de  plenipotentiare  vous 
dispense  de  respondrt,  Papinian  avoit  cl  sa  charge  toutes  les  af- 
faires de  Vempire  Romain,  etje  vous  moristrerai  en  cent  lieux 
dans  de  gros  livreSy  Papinianus  respondit,  et  respondit  Papi- 
nianus.  Les  plus  sages  et  les  plus  prudens  etoient  ceux  qui 
avoient  accoustumc  de  rcpondre,  et  de  la  responsa  sapientum,  et 
prudentum  responsa.  Les  oracles  mtmeSy  quand  vous  en  se- 
riez  uuy  respondoient ;  et  il  n'est  pas  qu*aux  choses  inanimees^ 
qui  ne  se  mettent  quelqitefois  en  devoir  de  repondre : 

Les  eaux  et  les  rockers  et  les  bois  lui  respondent, 

Let.  de  Voit.  i.  1^5. 

P3 


I 


i 


1214 


The  letters 


Book  It. 


Book  II. 


o*  CICERO. 


■215 


I 


pose  should  you  visit  this  your  native  province^? 
For,  like  Ulysses,  when  he  first  returned  to 

his 

'  Manutius  imagines  that  Cicero  means  to  rally  tbe  ob- 
scurity of  bis  friend's  birth.     Perhaps  it  would  be  nearer  the 
truth,  to  acknowledge,  that  it  is  impossible  to  know  what  be 
means  :  yet^  as  this  sense  is  as  consistent  with  the  original  as 
any  other,  it  is  adopted  in  the  translation.     But  if  this  very 
learned   commentator  be  right  in  his  general  notion  of  this 
passage,  he  is  certainly  deceived  in  his  inlerpretation  of  tari' 
quam  Ulysses,  cognosces  tuorvm  neminem,  with  which  the  let- 
ter concludes.     For  he  takes  the  verb  cognosco  in  its  usual 
acceptation  :  by  which  means  he  makes  Cicero  mistake  so 
Ivell  known  a  story  as  that  of  the  behaviour  of  Ulysses  upon 
his  first  return  to  Ithaca.  However,  he  is  persuaded  that  this  is 
a  designed  misrepresentation  in  his  author :  and  discovers  I 
know  not  what  improvement  of  the  humour  by  this  very  per- 
version of  the  fable.     The  labours  of  this  penetrating  com- 
mentator have  cast  such  a  light  upon  the  writings  of  Cicero, 
that  even  his  errors  deserve  to  be  treated  with  respect,  other- 
wise one  might  justly  laugh  at  a  nution  so  exactly  in  the 
true  spirit  of  a  fanciful  critic,  who  refines  upon  his  own  mis- 
takes.    It  is  a  mistake,   nevertheless,  in  which  all  the  suc- 
ceeding commentators  concur  with  him,  except  Mr.  Ross, 
who  has  removed  the  whole  difficulty  of  the  passage,  by  ex- 
plaining cognosco  in  the  sense  of  agnosco.     This  sense  (in 
which,  indeed,  it  is  not  unfrequently  used)  reconciles  the  al- 
lusion to  the  truth  of  the  fact :  and  where  a  word  has  seve- 
ral significations,  it  would  be  out  of  all  rule  of  criticism  to 
understand  it  in  an  application  the  least  favourable  to  an 
author's  meaning.     It  is  not  always  so  easy,  however,   to 
justify  Cicero  with  respect  to  Homer;  and  he  has,  in  cue 
instance,  at  least,  been   betrayed  into  an  error  in  quoting 
that  poet.     The  instance  occurs  in  his  Tu8cu!*<n  disputa- 
tions, where  he   takes   notice  of  that  passage  in  the  sevcnih 
Iliad,  in   which   Ajax  is  described  as  going  forth  to  accept 
the  challenge  of  Hector.     Videmus,  says  he,  progndkntcm 
apnd  Homer  amy  wJjacem  mult  a  cum   hilar  it  ate  cum  depugna^ 
turus  esset  cum  Ilectore ;  cj/Jus,  ut  anna  suwpsitj  in^ressio 
ftztiiiarn  attulit  sociis,  terrorem  autcm  hosiibus :    ut   ipsum 
Hectorem,  quemadmodum  est  apud  Hvmerum,  toto  pectore 
T f emeri tcB,  proroc<754e  ad  pugnam  paniteret,     Tusc.  disp.  iv, 
-22.     But  Homer  by  no  means  represents  Hector  thus  totally 

dismayed 


his  Ithaca,  you  will  be  much  too  prudent,  un- 
doubtedly, to  lay  claim  to  your  noble  kindred. 

Farewel. 

LETTER 

dismayed  at  the  approach  of  his  adversary:  and,  indeed,  it 
would  have  been  inconsistent  with  the  general  character  of 
that  hero  to  have  described  him  under  such  circumstances 
of  terror. 

Toy  h  Kdi  A^eioi  ptsy'  pynSsov  «(To§owvT6f 

*ExTogi  r  avru  ^i/pfcof  ev*  s-wfigfftf*  zsar»G<jiV 

Ver.  21*. 

But  there  is  a  great  difference  (as  Dr.  Clarke  observes,  in 
his  remarks  upon  these  lines)  between  ^vfMS  £vt  s^Ge^ffiv 
^ara(Tff£v,  and  xgt^hm  «?«  rnOeanf  eG^ctfaxei,  »r  r^o^Mi  auvor 
vzsrihv&c  yvix.  The  Trojans,  bays  Homer,  trembled  at  the 
si^ht  of  Ajax;  and  even  Hector  him«=clf  felt  s^me  emotion 
in^'his  breast ;  or  to  express  it  in  the  same  spirit  of  poetry 
which  dibtinguibhcs  the  original, 

Thro'  eo'ry  Argive  heart  new  transport  ran : 
All  Troy  stood  trembling  at  the  mighty  man. 
E'en  Hector  paus*d ;  and,  with  new  doubt  oppresf, 
I'elt  his  great  heart  suspended  in  his  breast. 

P0?E. 

Perhaps  this  slip  of  attention  in  so  great  an  author  may  not 
be  improperly  pointed  out,  as  engaging  the  candour  of  the 
reader  towards  those  errors  of  the  same  nature,  which  he 
will  too  probably  meet  with  in  the  course  of  this  attempt. 

P4 


C    217    ) 


LETTERS 


OF 


MARCUS  TULLIUS  CICERO 


•   f; 


TO 


SEVERAL  OF  HIS  FRIENDS, 


BOOK  III. 


LETTER  L 

[A.  U.  700.] 

To  Caius  Curio'. 

Though  I  am  sorry  you  should  suspect  me 
of  neglecting  you,  I  will  acknowledge  that 
I  am  not  so  much  concerned  at  your  re- 
proaches for  my  not  writing,  as  I  am  pleased 
to  find  that  you  are  desirous  of  hearing  from 
me.  Conscious,  indeed,  of  not  meriting  your 
friendly  accusation,  the  instance  it  afforded 

me 

"  Curio  was  a  young  nobleman  of  great  parts,  spirit,  and 

eloquence ;  but  addicted,  beyond  all  modesty  or  measures, 

^  to 


I 


SIS 


The  letters         Book  III. 


I 


me  that  my  letters  were  acceptable  to  you, 
was  a  very  agreeable  proof  of  the  continuance 

of 

to  the  prevailing  luxury  and  gjillantries  of  a  most  dissolute 
age.  Atter  havin>j;  diaaipated  his  fortune  by  extravagant 
iodulgencie-,  for  which  no  estate  could  suffice,  he  fell  an 
easy  prey  to  corruption.  Accordingly,  Caesar  paid  his  debts, 
amounting  to  almost  500,0001.  and  by  that  means  gained 
him  over  from  rhe  cause  uf  liberty,  to  become  one  of  the 
warmest  and  most  active  of  his  partisans.  It  is  generally 
imagined  thai  Viroil  glances  at  him  in  those  well-known  lines, 
vendidit  hie  auro  patrianty  Sec,  though,  indeed,  they  are  ap- 
plicable to  so  many  uthers  of  his  contemporaries,  that  there 
seems  no  great  reason  to  imagine  the  poet  had  Cur.o  parti- 
cularly in  his  view.  Lucan  mentions  him  as  one  whose  ta- 
lents would  probably  have  been  of  the  highest  honour  and 
benefit  to  his  country,  if  he  had  lived  in  times  of  less  conta- 
gious  depravation  : 

Haud  alium  ttmUt  dvsm  tutU  indole  Romdy 
Aut  cut  plus  leges  deberent^  recta  sequenti. 
Perdita  tunc  urhi  nocuerunt  secula^  post  quant 
Ambitus  et  luxus^  ei  opum  metuendafacultofy 
Transversa  mentem  dubiam  torrente  tulerunt, 

ji  soul  more  formed  to  aid  his  counlr\fs  camcy 
Avenge  her  tnsuUs^  and  support  her  lawsy 
Rome  never  knew  ;  but  ah !  in  evil  hour^ 
Fate  bade  thee  live  when  virtue  was  no  more  ! 
When  lawless  lust  of  power  ^  and  av'rice  dready 
And  baneful  luxury  the  land  o^^rspread. 
Thy  wavering  mind  the  torrent  ill'Withstood, 
Bome^  scarce  resisting^  down  tk*  impefuons  flood. 

He  distinguishied  himself  with  great  bravery  in  support  of 
Cssar's  cause  in  Africa,  where  Varus  commanded  on  the  part 
of  the  republic.  But,  after  some  successful  engagements, 
he  lost  his  life  before  the  battle  of  Pharsalia,  in  an  action 
against  the  troops  of  Juba,  near  Utica.  At  the  time  when 
this  letter,  and  the  rest  that  are  addressed  to  him  in  the  pre- 
sent book,  we  e  written,  he  resided  in  Asia,  where,  as  Ma- 
nutius  conjectures,  he  was  employed  in  quality  of  quaestor 
to  Caius  Clodius.  Vd.  Pat.  ii.  48.  Plut.  in  vit,  Cas,  Vol. 
Max.  ix.  6.     £n,  vi.  620.     Luc,  iv.  814.     Ltv.  epit,  110. 


Book  III.        of  CICERO.  S1J» 

«f  that  affection  which  I  have  already  so  fre- 
quently experienced.  Believe  me,  I  have  never 
omitted  writing,  whenever  any  person  offered 
whom  I  imagined  likely  to  convey  my  letters 
into  your  hands ;  and,  which  of  your  acquaint* 
ance,   I  will  venture  to  ask,  is  a  more  punc- 
tual correspondent  than  myself?     In  return, 
however,  I  have  scarce  received  more  than  one 
or  two  letters  from  you  since  you  left  Rome ; 
and  those  two  extremely  concise.     Thus,  you 
,see,  I  can  justly  retort  your  charge ;  you  must 
not,  therefore,  pass  too  severe  a  sentence  on 
your  part,  if  you  hope  to  receive  a  favourable 
one  on  mine.     But  I  will  dwell  no  longer  on 
this  article  than  to  assure  you,  that  since  you 
are  disposed  to  accept  these  memorials  of  my 
friend&hip,  I  doubt  not  of  acquitting  myself 
to  your  full  satisfaction. 

Tho'  I  regret  extremely  the  being  thus  long* 
deprived  of  your  very  agreeable  company,  yet  I 
cannot  but  rejoice  at  an  absence  which  has  con- 
tributed so  much  to  your  honour  ;  as  fortune, 
indeed,  has,  in  all  that  concerns  you,  answered 
my  warmest  wishes.  I  have  only  to  offer  you 
one  short  piece  of  advice,  and  I  offer  it  in 

compliance 


a  (< 


Curio  had  been  most  probably  absent  from   RiJinft 
**  about  two  years;  for  Caius  Clodius,  to  whom  he  is  sup- 
posed to  have  been  quxstor,  obtained  the  government  ci 
Asia  an  urb.  698.     Pig.  Anual."     Mr.  K(/*c. 

1 


4( 


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i 


I- 


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£20 


The  letters        Book  IIL 


compliance  with  the  sincere  dictates  of  that 
singular  affection  1  bear  you.  Let  me  earnestly 
then,  entreat  you,  to  come  well-prepared,  at 
your  return,  to  act  up  to  those  great  ideas  which 
the  world  has,  with  so  much  reason,  conceived 
of  your  spirit  and  talents.  And  as  nothing  can 
ever  wear  out  the  deep  impressions  your  good 
offices  have  stamped  upon  my  mind^ ;  so,  I  hope, 
you  will  not  forget,  on  your  side,  that  you 
could  not  have  attained  those  honours  or  ad- 
vantages that  attend  you,  if  you  had  not,  in 
tlie  earlier  part  of  your  life,  complied  with  my 
faithful  and  affectionate  admonitions*.  Have 
I  not  reason,  then,  to  expect  in  return,  that  as 
the  weight  of  old  age  now  begins  to  bend  me 
down^  you  will  suffer  me  to  repose  my  declin- 
ing years  upon  your  youth  and  friendship  ? 

Farewel. 

LETTER 

5  Curio  assisted  him  in  his  contest  with  Clodius. 

♦  Curio,  when  he  was  a  very  young  man,  had  entered 
into  a  commerce  of  the  most  criminal  and  detestable  kind 
with  Antony.  His  father,  in  order  to  break  off.this  infamous 
intercourse,  was  obliged  to  call  in  Cicero  to  his  assibiance; 
who,  by  his  prudent  and  friendly  advice,  weaned  the  son 
from  a  passion  not  less  expensive,  it  seems,  than  it  was  exe- 
crable ;  and,  by  this  means,  (as  Cicero  reproaches  Antony 
in  one  of  his  Philippics)  he  saved  an  illustrious  family  from 
utter  ruin.     Flut.  in  vit,  Anton.     Cic.  Pint,  ii.  18. 

5  Cicero  was  at  this  time  in  the  54tu  year  of  his  age. 
Manut, 


Book  III.        of  CICERO, 


221 


M  I  -1. 


LETTER  II. 

[A.  U.  700.] 

To  Trebatius. 


t,:*      ,'J  V,J 


If  you  were  not  already  in  the  number  of  ouf 
absentees,  undoubtedly  you  would  be  tempted 
to  leave  us  at  this  juncture,  for  what  business 
can  a  lawyer  expect  in  Rome,  during  this  long 
and  general  suspension  of  all  juridical  proceed* 
ings^  !  Accordingly,  I  advise  my  friends  whQ 
have  any  actions  commenced  against  them,  to 
petition  each  successive  interrex^  for  a  double 
enlargement  of  the  usual  time  for  putting  in 
their  pleas:  and  is  not  this  a  proof  how  w^onder- 
fuUy  I  have  profited  by  your  sage  instructions 

^  The  feuds  in  the  republic  were  raised  to  so  great  a 
height  towards  the  latter  end  of  the  preceding  year  and 
the  beginning  of  the  present^  that  the  office  of  the  late  con- 
suls had  expired  several  months  before  new  ones  could  be 
elected.  In  exigencies  of  this  kind,  the  constitution  had 
provided  a  magistrate  called  an  Interrex^  to  whom  the  con- 
sular power  was  provisionally  delegated.  But  public  busi- 
ness, however,  was  at  a  stand,  and  the  courts  of  judicature, 
in  particular,  were  shut  up  during  this  interregnum,  a  cir- 
cumstance from  which  Cicero  takes  occasion  to  enter  into 
his  usual  vein  of  pleasantry  with  Trebatius,  and  to  rally  him 
in  perpetual  allusions  to  his  profession.     Dio.  xl. 

'  This  office  of  Interrex  continued  only  five  days ;  at  the 
expiration  of  which,  if  consuls  were  not  chosen,  a  new  In~ 
terrex  was  appointed  for  the  same  short  period.  And  in  thi« 
manner  the  succession  of  these  occasional  magistrates  was 
carried  on,  till  the  elections  were  deterraiRcd. 

3 


!• 


The  letters        Book  IIL 

in  the  law'  ?  But  tell  me,  my  friend,  since  your, 
letters,  I  observe,  have  lately  run  in  a  mor& 
enlivened  strain  than  usual,  what  is  it  that  has 
elevated  you  into  so  gay  a  humour  ?  This  air  of 
pleasantry  I  like  well,  it  looks  as  if  the  world 
went  successfully  with  you,  and  I  am  all  impa- 
tience to  know  what  it  is  that  has  thus  raised 
your  spirits.  You  inform  me,  indeed,  thatCa- 
sar  does  vou  the  honour  to  advise  with  you.  For 
my  own  part,  however,  I  had  rather  hear  that 
Be  consulted  your  interest,  than  youj  judgment* 
But  seriously,  if  the  former  is  really  the  case, 
or  there  is  any  probability  of  its  proving  soy 
kt  me  entreat  you  to  continue  in  your  present 
situation,  and  patiently  submit  to  the  incon- 
veniences of  a  military  life ;  as,  on  my  part,  I 
shall  support  myself  under  your  absence  with  the 
hopes  of  its  turning  to  your  advantage.  But 
if  all  expectations  of  this  kind  are  at  an  end^ 
let  us  see  you  as  soon  as  possible ;  and,  perhaps, 
some  method  may  be  found  here,  of  improving 

your 

*The  minute  forms  of  law- proceedings  among  the  Ro- 
mans, are  not  sufficiently  known  to  distinguish  precisely  the 
exact  point  on  which  Cicero's  humour  in  this  passage  turns; 
and,  accordingly,  the  explanations  which  the  commentators 
have  offered,  are  by  no  means  satUfactory.  It  would  be  fo- 
rei^n  to  the  purpose  of  these  remarks,  to  lay  before  the  rea- 
der their  several  conjectures ;  it  will  be  sufficient,  m  general, 
to  observe,  that  there  was  some  notorious  impropriety  in 
the  advice  which  Cicero  here  represents  himself  as  having 
•given  to  his  friends,  and  in  which  the  whole  force  of  bis  pica- 
santry  consists. 


Book  III. 


OF  CICERO. 


M3 


your  fortunes.  If  not,  we  shall  at  least  have 
the  satisfaction  of  enjoying  each  other's  con^t^ 
pany,  and  one  hour's  conversation  together  is 
of  more  value  to  us,  my  friend^  than  the  whole 
city  of  Samarobriva',  Besides,  if  you  retura 
soon,  the  disappointment  you  have  suffered  may 
pass  unremarked;  whereas  a  longer  pursuit  to 
no  purpose,  would  be  so  ridiculous  a  circum- 
stance, that  I  am  terribly  afraid  it  would  scarce 
escape  the  drollery  of  those  very  arch  fellows*, 

Laberiu& 

•A  city  in  Belgic  Gaul,  and  probably  the  place  whereiir 
Trebatius  had  his  present  quarters. 

*  Laberius  was  a  Roman  knight,  who  distinguished 
himself  by  his  conaic  humour,  and  he  had  written  several 
farces  which  were  acted  with  great  applriuse.  He  was  pre- 
vailed upon  by  Caesar  to  take  a  part  himself  in  one  of  his 
own  performances,  and  the  prologue  which  he  spoke  upon 
that  occasion  is  still  extant.  The  whole  composition  is  ex- 
tremely spirited,  and  affords  a  very  advantageous  specimen 
of  his  genius  ;  but  there  is  something  so  peculiarly  just  and 
beautiful  in  the  thought  of  the  concludirg  lines,  that  the 
reader,  perhaps,  will  not  regret  the  being  carried  out  of  his 
way  in  order  to  observe  it.  Laberius  was  sixty  years  of  age» 
ithen,  in  complaisance  to  Caesar,  he  thus  made  his  first  en^ 
trance  upon  the  stage  ;  and,  in  allusion  to  a  circumstance  sa 
little  favourable  to  his  appearing  with  success,  he  tells  the 
audience, 

Ut  hedera  serpens  vires  arhoreas  necat ; 
It  a  me  vetusias  amplexu  annorum  etiecat: 
Sepulchri  similis^  nihil  nisi  nomen  retineo  ! 

While  round  the  oak  thefraudful  ivy  tzzines^ 
Robbed  of  its  strength^  th€  sapless  tree  declines f 
Thus  envious  age^  advanced  with  stealing  paccj 
Qasps  my  chiWd  limbs^  and  kills  with  cold  embrace, 
lake  empty  monuments  to  heroes  fame  ^ 
Of  all  I  Kos  retaining  but  the  Thame ! 

Macrob.  Saturn^  ii,  7%. 


S24 


The  letters        Book  III. 


11 


i\ 


Laberius  and  my  companion  Valerius*.  And 
what  a  burlesque  character  would  a  British 
lawyer  furnish  out  for  the  Roman  stage !  You 
may  smile,  perhaps,  at  this  notion ;  but  tho' 
I  mention  it  in  my  usual  style  of  pleasantry, 
let  me  tell  you  it  is  no  jesting  matter.  In 
good  earnest,  if  there  is  any  prospect  that 
my  recommendations  will  avail  in  obtaining 
the  honours  you  deserve ;  1  cannot  but  exhort 
you,  in  all  the  sincerity  of  the  warmest  friend- 
ship, to  make  yourself  easy  under  this  absence, 
as  a  means  of  increasing  both  your  fortunes 
and  your  fame  :  if  not  I  would  strongly  advise 
your  return.  1  have  no  doubt,  however,  that 
your  own  merit,  in  conjunction  with  my  most 
zealous  services,  will  procure  you  every  advan- 
tao-e  you  can  reasonably  desire.     Fare\^el. 

LETTER 

'^This  Valerius  is  supposed  by  some  of  the  commentators 
to  be  Quinius  Valerius  Catullus,  a  celebrated  poet,  who,  as 
appears  by  his  works,  which  are  still  extant,  was  patromzed 
by  Gicero.  But  the  opinion  of  Manutius  is  much  more  pro- 
bable, that  the  person  here  meant  is  the  same  to  whom  the 
13th  letter  of  the  tirst  book  in  this  collection  is  addressed, 
and  who  is  likewise  mentioned  in  the  fpUowin^  epistle. 


Book  III. 


OF  CICERO. 


225 


LETTER  IIL 

i  [A.  U.  TOO.] 

To  Appius  Pulcher^ 

If  the  genius  of  Rome  were  himself  to  giv4> 
you  an  account  of  the  commonwealth,  you 
could  not  be  more  fully  apprised  of  public  af- 
fairs, than  by  the  information  you  will  receivo 
from  Phanias :  a  person,  let  me  tell  you,  not 
only  of  consummate  politics,  but  of  infinite  cu- 
riosity. I  refer  you,  therefore,  to  him,  as  Xq 
the  shortest  and  safest  means  of  being  ac- 
quainted with  our  situation.  I  might  trust  him^ 
likewise  with  assuring  you,  at  the  same  time, 
of  the  friendly  disposition  of  my  heart  towards 
you :  but  that  is  an  office  which  I  must  claim 
the  privilege  of  executing  with  my  own  hand. 
Be  persuaded  then,  that  I  think  of  you  with 
the  highest  affection  :  as,  indeed,  you  have  a 

m 

'  Appius  Clodius  Pulcher  had  been  consul  the  preceding 
year,  and  was,  at  this  time,  governor  of  Cilicia.  The  parti- 
cular traits  of  his  character  will  be  occasionally  marked  out 
in  the  observations  on  the  several  letters  addressed  to  him  in 
this  and  the  subsequent  books.  In  the  mean  time  it  may  be 
efficient  to  observe  that  Cicero  very  zealously  cultivated 
his  friendship,  not  from  any  real  opinion  of  his  merit,  but  as 
one  x^hose  powerful  alliances  rendered  him  too  considerable 
to  be  despised  as  an  enemy.  For  one  of  Appius's  daughters 
wa.  married  to  Pompey's  son,  and  the  other  to  Brutus.  S90 
Life  ofCic.  ii.  204.  ^vo,  ed.     Ep,  Fa?n.  ii.  13. 

Vol.  I.  Q 


226 


The  letters 


Book  III. 


•1 


fiill  right  to  these  sentiments,   not  only  from 
the  many  generous  and  amiable  qualities  of  your 
mind,  but  from  that  s:rateful  sensibility,  with 
which,  as  I  am  informed,  both  by  your  own  let- 
ters and  the  general  account  of  others,  you  re- 
ceive my  best  services.  I  shall  endeavour,  there- 
fore, by  my  future  good  offices,  to  compensate 
for  that  lohg  intermission  which  unhappily  sus- 
pended bur  former  intercourse*.      And  since 
you  seem  willing  to  renew  our  amicable  com- 
merce, I  doubt  not  of  engaging  in  it  with  the 
general  approbation  of  the  world^ 

Your  freedman  Cilix,  w^as  very  little  known 
to  me  before  he  delivered  your  obliging  letter 
into  my  hands:  the  friendly  purport  of  which  he 
confirmed  with  great  politeness.     The  account 

indeed 

♦  Appius  was  brother  to  Cicero's  declared  enemy,  thetur- 
buknt  Clodius;  which  occalsioned  that  interruption  of  iheir 
friendship  to  which  he  here  alludes.  It  appears  by  a  passage 
in  the  oration  for  Milo,  that  Clodins,  in  the  absence  of  his 
brother,  had  forcibly  taken  poiisession  of  an  estate  belonging 
to  Appius;  and  the  indignation  which  this  piece  of  injustice 
must  Dccessarily  raise  in  the  latter,  rendered  him,  it  is  pro- 
bable, so  much  the  more  disposed  to  a  re-union  with  Cicero. 

Oraf.pro  Mil.'27.  ,     .  ttrr 

5  The  whole  passage,  in  the  original,  stands  thus  :  "  Idque 
"  we,  quoniajn  tui(a  vis,  puto  non  inxita  Miucna  Jacturum: 
•*  quam  qiiidem  ego,  si  forte  de  tuis  sutnpsero,  non  solum 
•«  Pallada,  sed  etium  Appiada  nominabo."  The  former  part 
of  this  sentence  is  translated  agreeably  to  the  interpretation 
<^f  the  learned  Gronovias  :  but  the  latter  is  wholly  omitted. 
For,  notwithstanding  all  the  pains  of  the  commtentators  to 
explain  its  difficulties,  it  is  utterly  unintelligible  ;  at  least,  I 
«lo  not  scruple  lo  confess,  it  is  so  to  me. 


Book  III;  of  CICERO.  337 

indeed  he  gave  me  of  you  sentiments,  as  well 
as  of  the  frequent  and  favourable  mention  you 
are  pleased  to  make  of  my  name,  were  circum- 
stances which  I  heard  with  much  pleasure.  In 
short,  during  our  two  days  conversation  to- 
gether, he  entirely  won  my  heart :  not  to  the 
exclusion,  however,   of  my  old  friend  Phania^ 
whose  return  I  impatiently  expect.     I  imagine 
you  will  speedily  order  him  back  to  Rome :  and 
I  hope  you  will  not  dismiss  him  without  send- 
ing me,  at  the  same  time,  your  full  ^  and  unre- 
served commands. 

I  very  strongly  recommend  to  your  patron- 
age Valerius  the  lawyei^;   even  though  you 
should  discover  that  he  has  but  a  slender  clalni 
to  that  appellation.     1  mention  this,  as  being 
more  cautious  in  oWiating  the  flaws  in  his  title, 
than  he  usually  is  in  guarding  against  those  of 
his  clients.  But,  seriously,  I  have  a  great  affec- 
tion for  the  man :  as  indeed  he  is  my  partiSiiiar    ' 
friend  and  companion.    I  must  do  him  the  jus- 
tice to  say,  that  he  is  extremely  sensible  of  the 
favours  you  have  already  conferred  upon  him. 
^Nevertheless  he  is  desirous  of  my  recommenda- 
tJOn,  as  he  is  persuaded  it  will  have  much  weight 
With  you.     i  entreat  you  to  convince  hxra  that 
lie  is  not  mistaken.     Farewel. 

.  „,  LETTER 

•  See  p.  212.  of  this  vol. 
Q  S 


V 


i 

i 


!i 


it 


«5$  Ths  letters        Book  IIL 

LETTER  IV. 

[A.  U.  TOO.] 

To  Caius  Memmius'. 

Your  tenant  Caius  Evander,  is  a  person  mtli 
whom  I  am  very  intimate:  as  his  patron  Mar- 
cus iEmiUus  is  in  the  number  of  my  most  par- 
ticular friends.     1   entreat  your  permission, 
therefore,   that  he  may  continue  some  time 
onger  in  your  house,  if  it  be  not  mconve- 
b' ent  to  you :  for  as  he  has  a  great  deal  of 
work  upon  his  hands,  he  cannot  remove  so 
soon  as  the  first  of  July,  without  being  ex- 
tremely hurried.     I  should  be  ashamed  to  use 
„,any  words  in  soliciting  a  favour  of  .this  na- 
tur7at   your  hands:    and  1   am  persuaded 
that,  if  it  is  not  veiy  much  to  your  preju- 
.     dice    you  wiU  be  as  well  inclined  to  grant 
„.e 'thU  request,   as  1  should  be  to  con^^ 
with  any  of  yours.    I  will  only  add,  there- 
IZ  tl^at  your  indulgence  will  greatly  obhge 
me.    Farewel.  LETTER 

7  See  an  account  of  him  in  remark  5.  on  the  27th  letter 
ofthisbook,  p.281. 


Book  IIL 


aw 


909 


or  eiCERO. 
LETTER  V. 

[A.  U.  700.] 

To  Trebatius. 

I  WAS  wondering  at  the  long  intermission  of 
your  letters,  when  my  friend  Pansa  accounted 
for  your  insolence,   by  assuring  me  that  you 
were  turned  an  Epicurean,    Glorious  effect  in- 
deed orcamp-conversation  !  But  if  a  metamor- 
phosis so  extraordinary  has  been  MTOUght  in 
you  amidst  the  martial  air  of  Samarobriva,  what 
would  have  been  the  consequence  had  I  sent 
you  to  the  softer  regions  of  Tarentum\^  I  have 
been  in  some  pain  for  your  principles,  I  confess, 
ever  since  your  intimacy  with  my  friend  Seius, 
But  how  will  you  reconcile  your  tenets  to  your 
profession,,  and  act  for  the  interest  of  your  client, 
now  that  you  have  adopted  the  maxim  of  doing 
nothing  but  for  your  own  ?    With  what  grace 
can  you  insert  the  usual  clause  in  your  deeds  of 
agreement:  The  parties  to  these  presents  as  be^ 
comes  good  men  and  true,   ^x\  ?    For  neither 
truth  nor  trust  can  there  be  in  those  who  pro*  > 

fessedjy 

•  Tarentum  was  a  city  in  Italy  distinguished  for  the  soft- 
ness  and  luxury  of  its  inhabitants.  Geographers  inform  us 
that  the  greatest  part  of  their  year  was  consumed  m  the  cele- 
bration oi  btaled  lesiivals.  Vid.  Bunon,  comment,  in  Cluverii 
ideograph. 

Q  3 


1 


0 


The  letters  Book  III. 


230 

fesscdly  govern  themselves  upon  motives  of  ab- 
solute selfishness  ?  I  am  in  some  pain,  likewise, 
how  you  will  settle  the  law  concerning  the  par- 
tition of  "  rights  in  common :"  as  there  can  be 
nothing  in  common  between  those  who  make 
their  own  private  gratification  the  sole  criterion 
of  right  and  wrong.    Or  can  you  think  it  pro- 
per to  administer  an  oath,  while  you  maintain 
that  Jupiter  is  incapable  of  all  resentment  ?  In  a 
word,  what  will  become  of  the  good  people  of 
UiubriE^who  have  placed  themselves  under  your 
protection ;  if  you  hold  the  maxim  of  your  sect, 
*'  that  a  wise  man  ought  not  to  engage  himself 
**  in  public  aflFairs  ?"  In  good  earnest  I  shall  be 
extremely  sorry,  if  it  is  true  that  you  have  really 
deserted  us.    But  if  your  conversion  is  nothing 
more  than  a  convenient  compliment  to  the  opi- 
nions of  Pausa,  I  will  forgive  your  dissimula- 
tion,  provided  you  let  me  know  soon  how  your 
affairs  go  on,  and  in  what  manner  I  can  be  of 
any  service  in  them.     Farewel.  t  £txer 

'  «*  Cicero  jocosely  speaks  of  this  people,  as  if  they  be- 
"  lonecd  to  the  most  considerable  town  in  Italy ;  whereas  it 
'*  was  so  mean  and  contemptible  a  place,  that  Horace,  in 
"  order  to  shew  the  power  of  contentment,  says,  that  a  per- 
"  son  possessed  of  that  excellent  temper  of  mmd,  may  be 
"  happy  even  at  Ulubrai :  ,^ 

**  Est  Ulubris,  animus  si  U  non  deficit  ccquus. 

Mr.  Ross^ 


— -ta 


Book  IIL 


OF  eiCERO. 


SSI 


LETTER  Vl. 

[A.  U.  700j 

To  Caius  Curio.    . 

Our  friendship,  I  trust,  needs  not  any  other 
evidence  to  confirm  its  sincerity,  th^n  whi^t 
arises  from  the  testimony  of  our  own  hearts.  I 
cannot,  liowever,  but  consider  the  death  of  your 
illustrious  father,  as  depriving  me  of  a  most 
venerable  witness  to  that  singular  affection  I 
bear  you'.  I  regret  that  he  had  not  the  saris- 
faction  of  taking  a  last  farewel  of  you,  before 
he  closed  his  eyes :  it  was  the  only  circumstance 
wanting  to  render  him  as  much  superior  to  the 
rest  of  the  w^orld  ^n  his  domestic  happiness,  as 
in  his  public  fan^e*, 

I  sincerely  wish  you  the  happy  enjoyment  of 
your  estate :  and  be  assured,  you  will  find  in 
tne  a  friend  who  loves  aJ^d  values  you  with  the 
same  tenderness  as  your  father  himself  coa- 
ceived  for  you,     Farewdt 

LETTER 

• 

^  See  remark  4th  on  the  first  letter  of  this  book. 

*  He  was  consul  in  the  year  of  Rome  6Y6',  when  he  acted 
with  great  spirit  in  opposition  to  theatiempis  of  Sicinius,  for 
restoring  the  tribunitial  power,  which  had  been  much  abridged 
by  Sylla.  In  the  following  year  he  went  governor  into  Mace- 
donia, and,  by  his  military  conduct  in  that  province,  obtained 
^he  honour  of  a  triumRb.  He  distinguished  himself  among 
the  friends  of  Cicero  when  he  was  attacked  byClodius, 
Jfreuishm,  suppkm,  in  Liv,  xci.  ciii. 

Q  4 


f 


! 


% 

u 


232 


The  letters         Book  III, 


LETTER  VIL 

[A.U.700.]  ,1 

ToTrebatius. 

Can  you  seriously  suppose  me  so  unreasonable 
as  to  be  angry,  because  I  thought  you  disco^ 
vered  too  inconstant  a  disposition  in  your  im- 
patience to  leave  Gaul  ?    And  can  you  pos- 
sibly believe  it  was  for  that  reason  I  have  thus 
long  omitted  writing  ?  The  truth  is,  I  was  only 
concerned  at  the  uneasiness  which  seemed  to 
have  overcast  your  mind :  and  I  forebore  to 
write  upon  no  other  account,  but  as  being  en- 
tirely ignorant  where  to  direct  my  letters.     I 
suppose,  however,  that  this  is  a  plea  which  your 
loftiness  will  scarce  condescend  to  admit.    But 
tell  me  then,  is  it  the  weight  of  your  purse,  or 
the  honour  of  being  the  counsellor  of  Caesar, 
that  most  disposes  you  to  be  thus  insufferably 
arrogant  ?    Let  me  perish  if  1  do  not  believe 
that  thy  vanity  is  so  immoderate,  as  to  choose 
rather  to  share  in  his  councils  than  l]^|^p|gers, 
But  should  he  admit  you  into  a  particTpaffbn 
of  both,  you  will  undoubtedly  swell  into  such 
intolerable  airs,  that  no  mortal  will  be  able  to 
endure  you :  or  none,  at  least,  except  myself, 
who  am  philosopher  enough,    you  know,  to 


it 


Book  IIL  of  CICERO,  333 

endure  any  thing.  But  I  was  going  to  tell  you, 
that  as  I  regretted'  the  uneasiness  you  formerly 
expressed,  so  I  rejoice  to  hear  that  you  are 
better  reconciled  to  your  situation.  My  only 
fear  is,  that  your  wonderful  skill  in  the  lav 
will  little  avail  you  in  your  present  quarters  ; 
for  I  am  told,  that  the  people  you  have  to  deai 
with, 

Mest  the  strength  of  their  cause  on  the  force  of 
their  viight. 

And  the  sword  is  supreme  arbitrator  of  righf."    ^p-^i^uJ^ 

As  I  know  you  do  not  choose  to  be  concerned 
m forcible  entries,  and  are  much  too  peaceably 
disposed  to  be  fond  of  making  assaults,  let  mc 
leave  a  piece  of  advice  with  my  lawyer,  and  by 
all  means  recommend  it  to  you  to  avoid  the 
Treviri* :  for  I  hear  they  are  ipost  fonnidable 
fellows.  I  wish  from  my  heart  they  were  as 
harmless  as  their  name-sakes  round  the  edges  of 
o&r  coin'.     But  J  must  reserve  the  rest  of  my 


he  Treviri  were  a  most  warlike  people,  borderine 
on  Germany.  They  were  defeated  about  thij  time  by  l^! 
GarWii!"*  "f  Csesar's   lieutenants  in  Gaul.     C«/,r.  &/. 

ficersIJllH"^  ^  ^"'"  ""'  "J"^"  ""*  ''"P«<:tion  °(  three  of- 
are?,iiri^  r^^^n  "lOBe^afe, ;  and  several  pieces  of  money 
are  still  extant  in  the  cabinets  of  the  curious,  inscribed  with 
wLT"  Jnagistrates.    Vid.  Petri  Bembi  epist.  apui 


234f 


The  letters  Book  III. 


jokes  to  another  opportunity:  in  the  mean 
time,  let  me  desire  you  would  send  me  a  full 
account  of  whatever  is  going  forward  in  your 
province.     Farewel. 

March  the  4th. 


t  • 


i 


LETTER  VIIL 

[A.  U.  700.] 
To    CORNTFICIUS*. 

Your  letter  was  extremely  agreeable  to  me  in 
all  respects,  except  that  I  wj^s  sorry  to  find  by 
it,  you  had  slighted  my  lodge  at  Sinnuessa.  I 
shall  not  excuse  the  affront  you  have  thys 
passed  upon  my  little  hovel,  unless  you  give 
me  double  satisfaction  by  making  use  both  of 
my  Cuman  and  Pompeian  villas.  Let  me  en- 
treat you  then  to  do  so,  and  to  preserve  me 
likewise  in  your  affection.  I  hope  you  will 
provoke  me  to  enter  into  a  literary  contest  with 
you,  by  some  of  your  writings :  as  I  find  it 
much  easier  to  answer  a  challenge  of  this  kind, 
than  to  send  one.  However,  if  you  shlSfffd  per- 
severe in  your  usual  indolence,  I  shall  ventui>e 
to  lead  the  way  myself;  in  order  to  shew  you, 
that  your  idleness  has  not  infected  me, 

I  I  ste4 

•  Sec  an  account  of  him,  vol.  iii.  p.  6l.  rem.  6. 


Book  IIL 


OF  CICERO. 


235 


I  steal  a  moment  to  write  this  whilst  I  am  in 
tlie  senate :  but  you  shall  have  a  longer  let* 
ter  from  me  when  I  shall  be  less  engaged* 
Farevrel. 

LETTER  IX. 

[A.  U.  700.] 

To  Trebatiu3. 

T  •  • 

1  AM  givmg  you  an  mstance,  that  those  who 

love  are  not  easily  to  be  pleased,  when  I  assure 
you,  that  though  I  was  very  much  concerned 
when  you  told  me  that  you  continued  in  Gaul 
with  reluctance,  yet  I  am  no  less  mortified  now 
your  letter  informs  me,  that  you  like  your  si- 
tuation  extremely  well.    To  say  the  truth,  as  I 
regretted  you  should  not  approve  a  scheme, 
M'hich  you  pursued  upon  my  recommendation; 
so  I  can  ill  bear  that  any  place  should  be  agree- 
able to  you  where  I  am  not.     Nevertheless,  I 
had  much  rather  endure  the  uneasiness  of  your 
absence,  than  suffer  you  to  forego  the  advan* 
tages'with  which,  I  hope,  it  will  be  attended. 
It  is  impossible,  therefore,  to  express  how  much 
I  rejoice  in  your  having  made  a  friendship 
with  a  man  of  so  improved  an  understanding 
and  so  amiable  a  disposition  as  Matius  :  whose 
pstcem,  I  hope,  you  wiU  endeavour  to  culti- 
vate, 


23«  The   LETTERS  Book  III. 

vate,  by  every  means  in  your  power.  For,  be- 
lieve me,  you  cannot  bring  home  a  more  valu- 
able acquisition.     Farewcl 

LETTER  X. 

[A.  U.  700.] 

To  Caius  Curio. 
You  must  not  impute  it  to  any  neglect  in 
Rupa,  that  he  has  not  executed  your  commis- 
sion ;  as  he  omitted  it  merely  in  compliance 
with  the  opinion  of  myself  and  the  rest  of  your 
friends.     We  thought  it  most  prudent  that  no 
steps  should  be  taken  during  your  absence, 
^vhich  might  preclude  you  from  a  change  of 
measures  after  your  return:    and,    therefore, 
that  it  M'ould  be   best  he  should  not  signify 
your  intentions  of  entertaining  the  people  with 
public  games^     I  may,  perhaps,  in  some  fu- 
ture  letter,    give   you  my   reasons   at   large, 
ag.ainst  your  executing  that  design  :  or  rather, 
that  vou  may  not  come  prepared  to  answer  my 
"  objections, 

•  Curio's  pretence  for  exhibiting;  these  n^mes,  ^^"  ^o  pay 

an  bonour  .>  the  memory  of  h.s  ^^^^^^^^^-'^^^^^^^  ^^o 

bis  principal  motive  wa.  to  inorat.ale  l^""^*^^^/^''^^;^^^^^^ 
n  e   who  were  passionately  attached  to  entertainments  of  tb.s 
D      ArcTce^ro  well  knew  the  pr<.fusion  o  Curn/s  temper 
ind  thaf  the  scheme  h.  .as  meaitating cou  .1  not  be  executea 
luhout  great  expence,  he  acted  a  very  jud.cious  «na  hone. 
Trt    in  labouring  to  turn  him  aside  from  a  pr.yect  that 
&  contribute  to  embarrass  his  finance*,  ana  most  proba- 
biy,  therefore,  impairlhe  foundation  of  hi»  integrity. 


Book  III. 


OF  CICERO. 


237 


objections,  I  believe  it  will  be  the  wisest  way  to 
reserve  them  till  we  meet.     If  I  should  not 
bring  you  over  to  my  sentiments,  I  shall  have 
the  satisfaction,  at  least,  of  discharging  the  part 
of  a  friend:  and  should  it  happen,  (which  I 
hope,  however,  it  will  not)  that  you  should 
hereafter  have   occasion    to   repent  of  your 
scheme ;  you  may  then  remember  that  I  en- 
deavoured to  dissuade  you  from  it     But  this 
much  I  will  now  say,  that  those  advantages 
which  fortune,   in  conjunction  with  your  own 
industry  and  natural  endowments,  have  put  in- 
to your  possession,  supply  a  far  surei*  metliod  of 
opening  your  way  to  the  highest   dignities^ 
than  any  ostentatious  display  of  the  most  splen- 
did spectacles.     The  truth  of  it  is,  exhibitions 
of  this  kind,  as  they  are  instances  of  wealth 
only,  not  of  merit,  are  by  no  means  considered 
as   reflecting  any  honour  on  the   authors  of 
them  :  not  to  mention  that  the  public  is  quite 
satiated  with  their  frequent  returns.— .But  I  am 
fallen  unawares  into  what  I  designed  to  have 
avoided,  and  pointing  out  my  particular  rea- 
sons against  your  scheme.     I  will  wave  all  far- 
ther discussions,  therefore,  of  this  matter,  till 
we  meet;  and  in  the  mean  time,  inform  you, 
that  the  world  entertains  the  highest  opinion 
of  your  virtues.    Whatever  advantages  may  be 

hoped 


238 


The  letters  B6bK  III 


hoped  frbm  the  most  exalted  patriotism  united 
with  the  greatest  abilities,  the  public,  believe 
me,  expects  from  you.  And  should  you  come 
prepared  (as  I  am  sure  you  ought,  and  I  trust 
you  will)  to  act  up  to  these  its  glorious  expec- 
tations, then,  indeed,  you  will  exhibit  to  your 
friends,  and  to  the  commonwealth  in  general,  a 
spectacle  of  the  noblest  and  most  affecting 
kind\  In  the  mean  while,  be  assured,  no  man 
has  a  greater  share  of  my  aifection  and  esteem 
than  yourself.     Farewel.  LETTER 

7  Curio  was  not  of  a  disposition  to  listen  to  this  prudent 
council  of  his  friend  :  but,  in  opposition  to  all  the  grave  ad- 
-vice  of  Cicero,  he  persevered  in  his  resolution,  and  executed 
it  with  great  magnificence.  The  consequence  was,  just  what 
Cicero  foresaw  and  dreaded  :  he  contracted  debts  which  he 
tvas  incapable  of  discharging,  and  then  sold  himself  to  Caesar,' 
in  order  to  satisfy  the  clamours  of  his  creditors.  See  rem.  1. 
OD  the  first  letter  of  this  book, 


I 


,« /  u  i ' 


Book  III. 


Dt  ClCEROi 


239 


L    ETTER  XL 


[A.  U.  TOO.] 

To  Trebatius. 

Two  or  three  of  your  letters  which  lately 
came  to  my  haiids  at  the  same  time,  though  of* 
different  dates,  have  afforded  me  great  plea- 
sure :  as  they  were  proofs  that  you  have  recon- 
ciled yourself,  with  much  spirit  and  resolution, 
to  the  inconveniences  of  a  military  life.  I  had 
some  little  suspicion,  I  confess,  of  the  contra- 
ry :  not  that  I  questioned  your  courage,  but 
as  imputing  your  uneasiness  to  the  regret  of 
our  separation.  Let  me  entreat  you  then  to 
persevere  in  your  present  temper  of  mind :  and, 
believe  me,  you  will  derive  many  and  consider- 
able advantages  from  the  service  in  wliich  you 
are  engaged.  In  the  mean  while,  I  shall  not 
fail  to  renew  my  solicitations  to  Caesar  in  youf- 
favour,  upon  all  proper  occasions;  and  have 
herewith  sent  you  a  Greek  letter  to  deUver  to^ 
him  for  that  purpose  :  for,  in  truth,  you  cannot 
be  more  anxious  than  I  am  that  this  expedition 
may  prove  to  your  benefit.  In  return,  I  desire 
you  woidd  send  me  a  full  relation  of  the  Gal- 
lic war :  for  you  must  know,  I  always  depend 

most 


4  II 


1 


/ 


240 


The   letters        Book  III. 


most  upon  the  accounts  of  those  who  are  least 
engaged  in  the  action* 

As  I  do  not  imagine  you  are  altogether  so 
considerable  a  person  as  to  retain  a  secretary  in 
your  service,  1  could  not  but  wonder  you  should 
trouble  yourself  with  the  precaution  of  sending 
me  several  copies  of  the  same  letter.  Your  par- 
simony, however,  deserves  to  be  applauded ;  as 
one  of  them,  I  observed,  was  written  upon  a 
tablet  that  had  been  used  before.  I  cannot 
conceive  what  unhappy  composition  could  be 
so  very  miserable  as  to  deserve  to  give  place 
upon  this  occasion  :  unless  it  were  one  of  your 
own  conveyances.  I  flatter  myself,  at  least,  it 
was  not  any  sprightly  epistle  of  mine  that  you 
thus  disgraced,  in  order  to  scribble  over  it  4  dull 
one  of  your  own.  Or  was  it  your  intention  to 
intimate  affairs'  go  so  ill  with  you,  that  you 
could  not  afford  any  better  materials  ?  If  that 
should  be  your  case,  you  must  even  thank 
yourself  for  not  leaving  your  modesty  behind 
you. 

I  shall  recommend  you  in  very  strong  terms 
to  Balbus,  when  he  returns  into  Gaul.  But 
you  must  not  be  surprised  if  you  should  not 
hear  from  me  again  so  soon  as  usual :  as  I  shall 
be  absent  from  Rome  during  all  this  month.  I 
.3"  write 


4 


Boox  III.  ov  CICERO.  g4j 

write  this  from  Pomptinus,  at  the  villa  of  Me- 
trilius  Philemon,  where  I  am  placed  within 
hearing  of  those  croaking  dients  whom  you  re- 
commended to  my  protection :  for  a  prodigious 
number,  it  seems,  of  your'  Ulubrean  frogl  are 
assembled,  in  order  to  compliment  my  arrivai 
among  them.    FareweL 

April  the  8th. 

P.  S.  I  have  destroyed  tlie  letter  I  received 
from  you  by  die  hands  of  Lucius  Aiuntius, 
though  it  was  much  too  innoceat  to  deseirve  «, 
severe  a  treatment :  for  it  contained  no(iiing 
that  might  not  have  been  {proclaimed  before  a 
general  assembly  of  the  peopfc.    However  it 
wa»  your  express  desire  I  should  destroy  iu 
and  I  have  complied  accordingly.    I  mil  only 
add,  that  I  wonder  much  at  not  having  imvd 
from  you  since;  especiaUy  as  ao  many  extra* 
ordmaiy  events  have  lately  happened  in  ymt 
|>rovince. 

LETTER 

«Je&n  '"'"T"''^  ^"V^""  inl.sbit.nt,  of  Ulubra!*his 

(^tr*  "L*""*'""  '^  •!'«  Jo*  «nd  marshy  situation^ 
weir  town.    See  rem.  9,  p.  330.  of  this  vol. 

'0  Vox.  I.  n 


I 


II 


ll 


f. 


442  The  LETTERS         Book  III. 

LETTER  XIL 

[A.  U.  700.] 

To  Caius  Curio. 

pf  uMberless  arc  the  subjects  which  may  en- 
ter into  a  correspondencie  of  the  epistolary  kind : 
but  the  most  usual,  and  which  indeed  gave  the 
first  rise  to  this  amicable  commerce  is,  to  inform 
an  absent  friend  of  those  private  affairs,  which 
it  may  be  necessary,  either  for  his  interest  o^ 
pni-'Own,  that  he  should  know.  You  must  not, 
however,  expect  any  thing  of  the  latter  sort 
from  me V*is  your  family  correspondents,  I  am 
sensible,  communicate  to  you  what  relates  to 
your  own  concerns ;  and  nothing  new  has  hap- 
pened in  mine.  There  are  two  other  species  of 
letters,  wth  which  I  am  particularly  pleased  t 
those,  I  mean,  that  are  written  in  the  freedom 
and  pleasantry  of  common  conversation;  an^ 
those  which  turn  upon  grave  and  moral  topics. 
But  in  which  of  these  it  would  be  least  im- 
proper for  me  to  address  you  at  this  juncture, 
is  a  question  not  easily  determined.  111,^  in- 
deed, would  it  become  me  to  entertain  you 
with  letters  of  humour,  at  a  season  when  every 
man  of  common  sensibility  has  bidden  adieu  to 

mirth. 


Book  III. 


OF  CICERO. 


^iS 


mirths     And  what  can  Cicero  write  that  shall 
deserve  the  serious  thoughts  ©f  Curio,  unless  it 
be  on  public  aflairs?  My  situation,  however,  is 
such,  that  I  dare  not  trust  my  real  sentiments 
of  those  points  in  a  letter' :  and  none  other  will 
I  ever  send  you*.  Thus  precluded  as  I  am  from 
every  other  topic,  I  must  content  myself  with 
repeating  what  I   have  often  urged  :  and  ear- 
nestly exhort  you  to  the  pursuit  of  true  and 
5olid  gbry.     Believe  me,  it  will  require  the  ut- 
most efforts  of  your  care  and  resolution,  to  act 
up  to  those  high  and  uncommon  expectations 
which  the  world  has  conceived  of  your  merit. 
There  is,  indeed,  but  one  possible  method  that 
can  enable  you  to  surmount  this  arduous  task. 

-qBil  cci:  The 

»  Affairs  at  Rome  were,  at  this  time,  in  the  utmost  con- 
fiision,  occasioned  (as  has  alreadj  been  observed  in  the  notls 
above)  by  the  factious  interruption  that  was  given  to  the  usual 
ejection  of  the  maoistraies.  See  note  6.  p.  221.  of  this  vol; 
This  state  of  tumult,  or  indeed,  to  speak  more  properly,  of  al- 
most absolute  anarchy,  was,  however,  somewhat  cbmposcd 
towards  the  latter  end  of  the  present  year,  by  the  election  of 
Domiiius  Calvinus  and  Vateiius  Messala  to  the  consular  of- 
fice.    Dio,xlf,  14J. 

*  The  disturbances  mentioned  in  the  preceding  note,  were 
artfully  fomented  by  Cresar  and  Porapey,"in  order  tp  turn 
them  to  the  advantage  of  their  ambitious  purposes.  But  this 
was  too  delicate  a  circumstance  for  Cicero  to  explain  him-, 
self  upan:  especially  as  he  was  now  cultivating  a  friendshira 
with  both.  **  * 

*The  text  in  the  original  is  evidently  defective:  otque  in 
hoc  gencre  hac  mea  causa  est,  at  neque  ea  qua  mn  sentio  Veiim' 
^cn^re.  The  seii5,e  is  supplied  in  the  translation,  in  a  waw 
that  seemed  to  coincide  best" with  tliis  mutilated  sentence. 

R2 


244 


The  letters         Book  IIL 


Tbetnethod  I  mean  is,  by  diligwitly  cultivating 
those  qualities  -which  arc  the  foundation  of  a 
just  applause:  of  that  applause,  my  friend, 
which  I  know  is  the  constant  object  of  your 
warmest  ambition.  I  might  add  much  more 
to  this  purpose :  but  I  am  sensible  you  stand 
not  in  need  of  any  incitements.  And  indeed  I 
have  thrown  out  these  general  hints,  far  less 
Mith  a  view  of  inflaming  your  heart,  than  of 
testifying  the  ardency  with  which  I  give  you 
mint.     Farewel. 


LETTER  XIIL 

[A.  U.  700.] 

To  Memmius. 

i  CLAIM  the  promise  you  gave  me  when  we 
met  last,  and  desire  you  to  treat  my  very  inti- 
inate  knd  zealous  friend  Aulus  Fusius  in  the 
manner  you  assured  me  you  would.  He  is^  a 
man  of  letters  as  well  as  great  politeness  :  arid, 
indeed,  in  every  view  of  his  character,  he  is 
Iilghty  deserving  your  friendship.  Thecivdities 
you  shall  shew  him  will  be  extremely  agreeable 
to  me :  as  they  will,  at  the  same  time,  for  ever 
sfttach  to  your  interest  a  person  of  a  most 
•bilging  and  friendly  disposition.     FareweK 

LETTER 


. 


Booh  III. 


OF  CICERO.  845 


.  u.  LETTER  XIV. 

[A.U.  TW.} 

To  Caius  Curio. 

Public  affairs  are  so  circumstanced,  that  I 
dare  not  communicate  my  sentiments  of  them 
in  a  letter.  This,  however,  I  will  venture  in 
general  to  say,  that  I  have  reason  to  congratu- 
late  you  on  your  removal  from  the  scene  in 
which  we  are  engaged.  But  I  must  add,  that 
in  whiatever  part  of  the  world  you  might  be 
placed,  you  would  still  (as  I  told  you  in  my 
lastO  be  embarked  in  the  same  common  bottom 
with  your  friends  here.  I  have  another  reason 
likewise  for  rejoicing  in  your  absence,  as  it  has 
placed  your  merit  in  full  view  of  so  consider- 
able a  number  of  tlie  most  illustrious  citizens, 
and  allies  of  Rome:  and  mdeed  the  reputation 
you  have  acquired  is  universally,  and  without 
the  l^ast  exception,  confirmed  to  qs  on  all 
hands.  But  there  is  one  circumstance  attendt 
wig  y<^u,  upon  which  I  know  not  whether  I 
ought  to  send  you  my  congratulations,  or  not; 
I  mean  with  respect  to  those  high  and  singular 

.       '        advantages 

d       ^  The  letter  to  which  Cicero  refers  is  not  extant. 

"i  [  n.  !  '    R  3 


£45 


The  LETTERS 


IJOOK  lift 


advantages  which  the  commonwealth  promises 
itself  from  your  return  amongst  us.  Not  that 
I  suspect  your  proving  unequal  to  the  opinion 
which  the  world  entertains  of  your  virtues;  but 
as  fearing  that  whatever  is  most  worthy  of  your 
care  will  be  irrecoverably  lost  ere  your  arrival 
to  prevent  it :  such,  alas,  is  the  weak  and  welU 
nigh  expiring  condition  of  our  unhappy  re- 
public !  But  prudence,  perhaps,  will  scarce 
justify  me  in  trusting  even  this  to  a  letter  :  for 
the  rest,  therefore,  I  mu3t  refer  you  to  others. 
In  the  mean  while,  whatever  your  fears  or  your 
hopes,  of  pubhc  affairs  may  be;  think,  my 
friend,  incessantly  think  on  those  virtues  which 
that  generous  patriot  ^lust  possess,  who,  in  these 
evil  times,  and  amidst  such  a  general  deprava^ 
tion  of  manners,  gloriously  purposes  to  vindi- 
cate the  ancient  dignity  an<;l  liberties  of  his  op- 
pressed country.    .Farewel. 

LETTER 


~»f  t'Vt 


Jl^T 


:iL 


w 


ji  9   > 


n 


Jr. 


i  : 


Book  III. 


OF  CICERO. 


247- 


LETTER  XV. 

[A.  U.  700.] 

To  Trebatius. 

If  It  were  not  for  the  compliments  you  sent 
;ne  by  Chrysippus,  the  freedman  of  Cyrus  the 
architect,  I  should  have  imagined  I  no  longer 
possessed  a  place  in  your  thoughts.  But  surely 
you  are  become  a  most  intolerable  fine  gentle- 
man, that  you  could  not  bear  the  fatigue  of 
writing  to  me ;  when  you  had  the  opportunity^ 
of  doing  so  by  a  man,  whom,  you  know,  I 
look  upon  as  one  almost  of  my  own  family. 
Perhaps,  however,  you  may  have  forgotten  the 
use  of  your  pen,  and  so  much  the  better,  let 
me  tell  you,  for  your  clients ;  as  they  will  lose 
no  more  causes  by  its  blunders.  But  if  it  i^ 
myself  only  that  has  escaped  your  remembrance, 
I  must  endeavour  to  refresh  it  by  a  visit,  before 
T  am  worn  out  of  your  mind  beyond  all  power 
of  recollection.  After  all,  is  it  not  the  appre* 
hensions  of  the  next  summer's  campaign,  that 
has  rendered  your  hand  too  unsteady  to  perform 
its  office?  If  so,  you  must  e'en  play  over  again 
the  same  gallant  stratagem  you  practised  last 
year  in  relation  to  your  British  expedition,  and 
frame  some  heroic  excuse  for  your  absence. 

R  4  How- 


li 


2^ 


Th b  letters      iro0K  III, 


HoH^eycr,  I  v\ras  extremely  glad  to  hear,  by 
Chrysippus,  that  you  are  much  in  Csesars  goo4 
graces.  But  it  would  be  more  like  a  man  of 
equity^  methiuks,  as  well  as  more  agreeable  to 
my  inclinations,  if  you  were  to  give  me  frer 
quent  notice  of  what  concerns  you,  by  your 
own  hand:  a  satisfaction  I  should  undoubtedly 
^PJoy,  if  you  had  chosen  to  study  the  laws  of 
good  fellowship,  rather  than  those  of  conteu- 
tion.  You  see  I  rally  you  as  usual,  in  your  own 
way,  not  to  3ay  a  little  in  mine.  But  to  end 
seriously ;  be  assured,  as  I  greatly  love  you,  I 
aim  no  less  confident  than  djesirous  of  your  af- 
fection in  return.     Farewel. 


LETTER  XVI. 


1 


[A.  U.700.] 

To  Py^i-ivs  Sextius*. 
HOPE  you  will  not  imagine  by  ray  long  sir 
lence  that  I  have  been  unmindful  of  our  friend- 
ship,, or  that  I  had  any  intention  of  dropping 
my  usual  correspondence  with  you..   The  siur 

cere 

*  The  Commentators  are  greatly  divided  as  to  the  time 
w^cn  this  letter  was  written,  and  the  pierson  to  whom  it 
is  addressed.  To  examine  the  several  reasons  upon  which 
they  support  their  respective  opiniuas,  would  be  leading 
tfcte  English  reader  into  a  field^  of  criticism,  which  could 
afford  him  neither  amusement  nor  instruction.  The  sub- 
ject, indeed,  of  this  letter,  whicH  is  merely  consolatory, 
to  a  friend  in  exi^e,  is  not  of  consequenco  enough  to  merit 
any  pains  in  ascertaining  (if  it  were  possiblp  to  ascertain) 

iU 


W 


Book  (II# 


OF  CICERCX 


U9 


cere  trudi  is,  I  was  prevented  from  writing  dur- 
ing the  former  part  of  our  sepatration,  by  those 
cabmities  in  which  the  general  confusion  of  the 
times  had  involved  me :  as  I  afterwards  delayed 
it,  frona  an  unwilHngness  to  break  in  upon  youj 
whilst  your  own  severe  and  unmerited  injuries 
were  yet  fresh  upon  your  mind^  But  when  I 
J-eflect  that  ti  sufficient  time  has  elapsed,  to  wear 
off  the  first  rmpi-es^ons  of  your  misfortUiles : 
^ml  consider,  likewise,  tlie  virtues  and  masmaiii- 
Wity  of  your  heart;  I  think  I  may  nbw  write 
to  you  consistently  with  my  general  caution  of 
a^^oiding  an  unseasonable  officiousness* 

Yuu  are  sensible,  my  dejjir  Sextiu^,  that  I 
warmly  stood  forth  your  advocate,  when  a  pro* 
secution  ^as  foriiierly  commenced  against  you 
in  your  absence :  as  afterwards,  when  you  was 
involved  in  that  accusation  which  was  brought 
against  your  frienjd^  I  exerted  every  means  in  my 
power  for  your  defence.  Thus,  likewise,  upon 
my  return  into  Jt^ly^,  tho'I  found  your  aifair<s 
had  beeh  managed  in  4  very  difierent  manner 

than 


^ffi 


its  precise  date  :  and  it  is  su^cifent  to  observe,  that  it  can- 
tains  nothing  but  what  perfectly  coincides  with  the  circum- 
stances both  of  Cicero's  affairs  and  those  o(  the  reoublic  in 
the  present  year.  Ai  to  the  person  to  whoj]a  this  letter  is  writ- 
tjpn  ;  it  is  irop6ssible  to  determine  any  ihin^  concerning,  hiin  : 
for  the  MSS.and  printed  copies  are  by  no  means  agreed  as  to 
bis  name;  some  calling bim  Titius.  others  S/^e'tf*.  and  others 

^  Probably,  when  be  returned  from  exile :  in  the  year  69^. 

3 


r 

I 


2^50 


The  letters 


Book  IIL 


Book  III. 


OF  CICERO. 


251 


i 


than  I  should  have  advised  ;  yet,  I  omitted  no 
Opportunity  of  rendering  you  my  utmost  ser-- 
vices.    And,  upon  this  occasion,  when  the  cla- 
mour that  was  raised  against  you,  on  account  of 
the  corn',  by  those  that  were  the  enemies,  not- 
only  of  yourself,  but  of  all  who  endeavoured  to 
assist  you  :  when  the  general  corruption  of  the 
judges,  and,  in  short,  when  many  other  publicl ; 
iniquities  had  prevailed  to  your  condemnation.] 
against  all  truth  and  justice,  I  was  not  wanting 
in  my  best  good  offices  of  every  kind  towards 
your  son.  Having,  therefore,  thus  faithfully  per- 
formed every  other  sacred  duty  of  friendship,  I 
w  ould  not  omit  this  likewise  of  entreating  and 
exhortiugyouto  bear  your  afflictions  as  becomes 
a  man  of  your  distinguished  spirit  and  fortitude. 
In  other  words,  let  me  conjure  you  to  support 
with  resolution,  those  common  vicissitudes  of 
Fortune,  which  no  prudence  can  prevent,  and 
for  which  no  mortal  is  answerable ;  remember- 
ing, that,  in  all  popular  governments,  as  well 
as  in  our  own,  it  has  been  the  fate  of  many  of 
tlif  best  and  greatest  men  to  full  a  sacrifice  to 
the  injustice  of  tlieir  country.    I  will  add,  (and 

I  wish 

*"  It  was  ttn*  business  of  ("he  ^Y.dilcs,  amongst  other  parts 
of  ,tj>qr,<i^tyi  to  sAjperiiUend  iho  markets  aw|  |Hiblrc  iraga- 
aiiies  of  corn.  \t  seems  proba>ble,  therefore,  frcm  this  pas- 
saacs  that  Soxtius  was  banished  for  some  leal,  or  pretended 
lui^cooducc  ill  the  administration  of  tkat  oiTice. 


I  wish  I  could,  with  truth,  be  contradicted) 
that  the  injurious  sentence  you  lament,  had- 
only  banished  you  from  a  commonwealth  irl 
which  no  rational  mind  can  receive  the  least 
satisfaction. 

If  I  were  to  say  nothing  of  your  son,  it  would 
look  as  if  I  were  inattentive  to  that  general  ap- 
plause which  his  virtues  so  justly  receive :  oa 
the  other  hand,  were  I  to  tell  you  all  that  I 
hear  and  think  of  him,  I  am  afraid  I  should 
only  renew  your  grief  for  being  thus  separated 
from  his  cotnpany.  However,  you  should  wise- 
ly consider  his  uncommou  virtues  as  a  posses- 
sion which  inseparably  attends  you,  in  whatever 
part  of  the  world  you  may  be  placed.  For  sure- 
ly the  objects  of  the  mind  are  not  less  inti- 
mately present  with  us,  than  those  of  the  eye. 
The  reflection,  therefore,  on  his  singular  merit 
and  filial  piety,  the  fidelity  of  myself  and  tTie 
rest  of  those  friends  whom  you  have  found,  and 
will  ever  find,  to  be  the  f6llo\\^rs,  not  of  your 
fortune,  but  of  your  virtue;  and,  above  all,  the 
consciousness  of  not  having  deserved  your  suf- 
ferings, are  circumstances  which  ought  to  ad- 
minister the  highest  consolation  to  you.  And 
they  will  more  effectually  do  so,  if  you  consider, 
that  it  is  guik,  and  not  misfortune;  one's  own 
crimes,  and  not  the  injustice  of  others,  which 

ought 


£5S 


TftE  LETTERS         Boo«  III. 


ought  ta  disturb  the  serenity  of  a  well-regu- 
lated mind.  In  tlie  meam  tiwe,  be  assureti^ 
that,  in  comphanGe  with  the  dictates  of  that 
friendship  I  have  long  entertained  for  you,  and 
of  that  esteem  which  I  bear  for  your  son,  I  shall 
neglect  no  opportunity,  both  of  alleviating  your 
afflictions>  and  of  contributing  all!  can  tosup^ 
port  you  under  them.  In  a  word,  if,  upon  any 
occasion,  you  should  think  it  necessarj"  to  write 
to  me,  you  shall  find  that  your  application  was 
not  made  in  vain,     FareweL 


jf  ,*  -  %0-  ^  i 


X.  *-  -' 


LETTER  XVIL 

[A,U.  TOO.] 
To  CURIO. 

1  DISPATCH  Sextus  V'illius,  a  domestic  of  my 
Triend  Milo,  to  meet  you  with  this  letter,  not- 
withstanding we  have  received  no  account  of 
your  being  yet  advanced  near  Italy.  However, 
WC  are  assured  that  you  are  set  forward  from 
Asia'^ :  and  as  it  is  generally  behcved,  it  will 
not  be  long  ere  you  arrive  hi  Rom^,  I  persuade 
myself  that  the  importance  of  the  affeir  which 
Wcasions  you  this  application,  will  justify  ijiy 

1  desire  of  making  it  as  early  as  p.o^^iWe. 

•^    '  -    '  If 


*  Sec  p.  218.  rem.  1.  tow^ds  th^  end. 


Boon  UL 


OF  CICERO. 


£S9 


If  I  estimated  my  sen  ipes  towards  yw  jby 
the  sa«je  enlarged  standard  tlut  you  gratefully 
measure  ttoa  yourself,  I  sihould  Jb^  extremely 
reserved  in  requesting  any  considerable  farour 
0$  yKjur  haiids.  Jt  is  painful,  indeed,  to  ^  man 
of  a  modest  and  generous  mind,  to  &Qlieit  great 
obligaticms  from  those  whom  he  has  greatly  ob- 
liged ;  lest  he  should  seem  to  claim  tlie  price  pf 
his  good  ofEces,  and  ask  a  matter  of  rigbt  rather 
tha^  of  grace.  But  I  can  liave  jqo  scruples  of 
this  sort  w  ith  respect  to  you ;  as  the  services 
you  have  conferred  upon  me,  and  particularly 
in  my  late  troubles,  ane  not  only  of  the  high- 
est, but  niost  conspicuous  naturc.  An  ingenu- 
ous disposition,  whei-e  it  already  owes  much,  is 
w^illing  to  owe  more :  and  it  is  upon  this  prin- 
ciple, that  I  make  no  difficulty  of  requesting 
your  a^si^tance  in  an  article  of  the  last  import- 
ance  to  me,  I  have  no  reason,  indeed,  to  fear, 
that  I  should  sink  under  the  weight  of  your 
favours,  even  if  they  wxre  to  rise  beyond ^11 
number :  as  I  trust  there  is  none  so  considera- 
ble that  I  should  not  only  receive  with  grati- 
tude, but  return  with  advantage. 

I  am  ^ertiug  the  utmost  efforts  ofniy  e;are, 
my  industry^  and  my  talents,  in  order  to  secure 
the  elec}a<9u^Qf/j\Iilo  to  the  consulate;  ^nd  I 
think  myself  bound,  upon  this  occasion,  to  give 

a  proof 


S54 


The  letters 


Booiw  HL 


BKokIIL 


qoT  CICERO; 


^S 


a  proof  to  the  world,  of  the  more  than  common 
affection  with  which  I  enter  into  his  interest.  I 
am  persuaded,  no  man  ever  was  so  anxious  for 
the  preservation  of  his  own  person  and  fortunes, 
as  I  am,  that  Milo  may  obtain  this  honour: 
an  event  upon  which  the  security  of  my  o^vn 
dignities,  I  am  sensible,  depends.  Now,  the  as* 
sistance  which  it  is  in  your  power  to  give  my 
friend,  is  so  very  considerable,  that  it  is  all  we 
i^'ant  to  be  assured  of  victory :  for  thus  our  forces 
stand.  In  the  first  place,  Milo's  conduct  to^ 
wards  me  in  his  tribunate^  has  gained  him  (as  I 
hope  you  perfectly  well  know)  the  affections  of 
all  our  patriots  :  as  the  liberality  of  his  temper 
and  the  ma?fnificence  of  his  shews  have  se- 
cured  to  him  the  favour  of  the  populace'^ 
In  the  next  place,  all  the  young  part  of  the 
republic,  together  with  those  who  have  the  most 
influence  in  elections,  are  wholly  in  his  interest, 
as  having  received,  or  expecting  to  receive, 
the  benefit  of  his  own  popularity  and  active 

ofHces 

*  Milo  was  tribune  in  the  year  of  Rome  6q6  :  at  which 
time  he  conferred  very  singular  obligations  on  Cicero»  by 
rao>t  z-alously  exerting  all  bis  power  and  credit  in  piomot- 
ing  his  recal  from  exile.     Orat.  pro  Milan. 

^  Milo  b^  dissipated  three  very  considerable  eslates  iri 
the  extravagant  bhews  which,  upon  ditleicut  occasions,  he 
had  exhibited  to  the  people  ;  as  he  was  likewise  at  this  time 
proposing  to  entertain  them  in  the  same  ma«>nificent  mannerf 
at  the  expense  of  250,0001.  Orat,  pro  Miloti.  25.  Ad  Q. 
Z.  ill.  9. 

1 


offices  upon  occasions  of  a  like  nature.  I  will 
add,  likewise,  that  he  has  ray  suffrage ;  which, 
though  it  may  not  draw  after  it  any  consider- 
able effects,  is,  however,  v4iiversally  approved 
as  a  tribute, which  is  justly  his  due:  and  so 
far,  perhaps,  it  may  be  considered^s^g^  ^otoc 
M^eight  with  the  public.  All,  therefore,  that  we 
farther  require,  is  a  person  to  appear  as  the 
leader  of  these  our  rude  forces,  and  to  uuite 
-them  together  under  one  head  :  and  liad  we  the 
choice  of  the  whole  world,  we  could  not  fix 
upon  a  man  so  well  qualified  for  this  purpose  as 
yourself.  If  you  believe  then,  that  I  have  any 
worth  or  gratitude,  or  can  even  infer  it  from 
these  my  earnest  endeavours  to  serve  Milo ;  in 
a  word,  if  you  esteem  me  deserving  of  your 
favours,  I  entreat  you  to  co-operate  with  me  in 
this  affair,  upon  which  my  character  (or  to  come 
still  nearer  to  the  truth)  upon  which  almost  my 
very  preservation  depends*.     With  reg-ard  to 

Milo 

•'Cicero  was  particularly  concerned  to  secure  Milo's 
election,  not  only  from  a  principlcM>f  gratitude,  but  of  self- 
preservatjon.  For  Ciodius,  our  auihcr's  implacabK*'  rne- 
my,  was  now  soliciting  the  office  of  prietor  :  and  if  Milo 
were  rejected  from  tlie  cons^ulship,  it.  would  fall  into  thts 
hands  of  Plautus  Hypjceusand  Metcdlus  Scipio,  who  wc-re 
both  undf  r  the  influence  of  Ciodius.  By  these  weans,  'the 
latter  would  once  agflin  have  been  armed  with  the  principal 
■authority  of  the  commonwealth  ;  and  Cicero  kiicw,  M-  sad 
and  recent  p.xperience,  that  he  had  everv  thins  to  fear  fr^iti 

sucfr^ 


256 


The  letters  Btoox  IIL 


Milo  himself,  I  will  only  assure  you,  that  ywt 
never  can  oblige  a  man  of  a  more  solid  turn 
of  mind,    of  a  more  resolute  spirit,   or  one 
who,   if  you  should  embrace  his  interest,  will 
receive  your  good  offices  with  a  more  affec- 
tionate gratitude.     You  will  at  the  same  time 
also  confer  so  singular  an  honour  upon  myself, 
as  to  convince  me,  that  you  have  no  less  regard 
for  the  support  of  my  credit,  tlianyou  formerly 
shewed  for  the  safety  of  my  person.  I  should  en- 
larg*e  much  farther  upon  this  subject,  if  I  wer€ 
not  persuaded  that  you  are  perfectly  sensibk  of 
the  infinite  obligations  I  have  received  from 
Wilo;  and  that  it  is  incumbent  upon  me  to 
promote  his  ekction  with  my  utmost  zeal,  and 
even  at  the  hazard  of  my  life'.     I  will  only 
then,  in  one  word,  recommend  this  affair,  and 

thereitt 

sucli  an  enerav  when  he  could  add  power  to  malice.  His 
inierest,  therefore,  conspired  wiih  his  friendship  in  supporting 
the  pretensions  of  Milo,  who  had,  upon  all  occasions,  op- 
posed the  designs  of  Clodius  with  great  warmth  and  spirit : 
ond  who,  in  the  present  instance,  would  have  proved  a  counr 
ter -balance,  if  Clodius  should  havt;  attempted  a  second  time 
to  fall  with  his  whole  weight  upon  Cicero.     I'id,  Orat,  pro 

Milon.  passim. 

9  In  this  declining  state  of  the  republic,  the  elections  were 
carried  on,  not  only  by  the  most  shameful  and  avowed  bri- 
bery, but  by  the  several  mobs  of  the  respective  candidate*. 
These,  it  may  well  be  imagined,  were  both  disposed  and  pre- 
pared to  commit  every  outrage,  that  the  cause  of  their  lead- 
ers should  require.  Accordingly,  the  party  of  Milo,  and 
that  of  his  competitors,  had  such  frequent  and  bloody  engage- 
ments with  each  other,  as  to  raise  a  general  apprehension  of 
a  civil  war.     P/«^  in  vit.  Cat  on. 


Book  IIL  ©f  CICERO.  ^S? 

therein  the  most  important  of  my  concerns,  to 
your  favour  and  protection :  an<l  be  assured,  I 
shall  esteem  your  compliance  with  my  request 
as  an  obligation  superior,  I  had  almost  said, 
even  to  that  for  which  I  am  so  greatly  indebted 
to  Milo.     The  truth  of  it  is,  it  would  give  me 
more  pleasure  to  make  him  an  effectual  return 
for  the  very  considerable  part  he  bore  in  my  re- 
storation, than  I  received  even  from  the  benefit 
of  his  good  offices  themselves.   And  this,  I  am 
confident,  your  single  concurrence  will  fully 
enable  me  to  perform'.     Farewel. 

LETTER 

•  Soon  after  this  letter  was  written,  an  unfortunate  aH 

frend,  and  obl.ged  l>,m,  instead  of  soliciting  any  loneer  for 
Milo  as  a  candidate,  to  defend  him  as  a  criminal      It  Ln 

C;  h'eX'^'°  "":!  ^''"""^  ''-»=  -''  -Teywere  at: 
«r  was  killed.  i\l,lo  was  arraigned  for  this  murder  •  and 
being  convicted,  was  sentenced  To  banishment.  Ocer'o  "J 
h.s  defence,  laboured  to  prove,  by  a  varielv  of  circumsmnces 

lhatth,,mee,,„gcould  nothave  beenpremeditatedonthenar; 
of  h.s  client:  and,  indeed,  it  seems  probable  tn.t  u  «a!  no 
u  however  casual  that  panicolar  incident  might  have  beer 
M.lo.  u  IS  certain,  had  long  before  de.ermined^oaslsslna,e 
C  od.us :  and  it  appears  too,  that  Cicero  himself  was  ^pp  Ued 
of  .be  design.  This  ,s  evident  from  a  letter  to  At.icus,  wr  en 
*bout  four  yeat-s  antecedent  to  the  tact  of  wh.ch  I  .m  speak- 
^"S-  iie,m  Puilum,  savs  Cicero,  rmsianteoccisus  e^.jlt 
nM.knePuto.     Hi  seinter  viam  obtukrit,  occisum  iriabiZ 

p.  143,  146.     Orat.  pro  Milon.  ad  Att.  iv.  3.  ' 

Vol.  I.  s 


It 
I 


558  ThK  LETTERS         Book  III. 

LETTER  XVIIL 

[A.U.700.] 

To  Titus  Fadius*. 
1  KNOW  not  any  event  which  has  lately  hap- 
pened,  that  more  sensibly  affects  me  than  your 
disgrace.     Far,  therefore,  from  being  capable 
of  giving  you  the  consolation  I  wish,  I  greatly 
stand  in  need  of  the  same  good  office  myself. 
Nevertheless,  I  cannot  forbear,  not  only  to  ex- 
hort, but  to  conjure  you  likewise  by  our  friend- 
ship,  to  collect  your  whole  strength  of  reason, 
in  order  to  support  your  afflictions  with  a  firm 
and  manly  fortitude.     Remember,  my  friend, 
that  calamities  are  incident  to  all  mankmd,  but 
particularly  to  us  who  live  in  these  miserable 
and  distracted  times.     Let  it  be  your  consola- 
tion,  however,  to  reflect,  that  you  have  lost  far 
less  by  fortune,  than  you  have  acquired  by  me- 
rit :  as  there  are  few  under  the  circumstances 
of  your  birth,  who  ever  raised  themselves  to  the 
same  dignities ;  though  there  are  "^^^ers^of 

»  It  is  altogether  uncertain  to  whom  this  |ette^^.»*  *^^: 
dressed  artheTe  is  great  variety  in  the  several  readings  of 
?ts  rscnp'  on  If  the^title  adopted  in  the  translation  be  the 
ru  Tner^  it  is  that  which  has  the  g-^test  num^^^^^^^^^^ 
commentators  on  its  side,)  the  person  to  ^^^''''^^^^^ 
was  qusstor  to  Cicero  in  his  consula  e ;  ^^^^^^^^^^^/^^^^^ 
of  those  tribunes  who.  in  the  year  of  Rome  696,  pr^Jt^^ 
the  law  by  which  he  was  restored  to  hit  country     ytU.  ^a 


Book  ill.        of  CICERO. 


S5? 


the  highest  quality  who  have  sunk  into  the 

«aine  disgrace.     To  say  truth ;  so  wretched  is 

the  fate  which  threatens  our  laws,  our  liberties, 

and  our  constitution  in  general  that  well  may 

he  esteem  himself  happily  dealt  with,  who  i§ 

dismissed  from  such  a  distempered  government 

upon  the  least  injurious  terms.  As  to  your  own 

case,  in  particular,  when  you  reflect  that  you 

are  still  undeprived  of  your  estate :  that  you 

are  happy  in  the  aflfections  of  your  children, 

your  family,  and*  your  friends ;  and  that,  in  all 

probability,  you  are  only  separated  from  them 

for  a  short  interval:  when  you  reflect,   that 

emong   the   great  number   of  iinpeachn;ie^ts 

which  have  lately  been  carried  on^,  yours  is 

the  only  one  that  was  considered  as  entirely 

groundless ;  that  you  were  condemned   by  a 

majority  only  of  one  single  vote;  and  that, 

too,   universally  supposed  to  have  been  given 

in  compliance  witli  some  powerful  influence.- — 

These,  undoubtedly,  are  considerations  which 

ought 

^  The  circumstance  here  mentioned  renders  it  probable 
that  the  letier  before  us  was  written  in  the  present  yean  Fvv 
Pompey  being  at  this  time  appointed  sole  consul,  made  se- 
veral salutary  regulations  with  respect  to  the  method  pf  trials, 
and  encouraged  prosecutions  against  tho^c  who  had  been 
guilty  of  illegal  practices  in  order  to  securetheir  elections. 
Accordingly,  many  persons  of  the  fira^  rank  in  R')me  wiere 
arraigned  and  convicted  :  and  Fadius  seems  to  have  beea 
one  of  that  number.     I'lul,  in  lit.  Pomp.  ei£atQ}u 

%2 


.260  TfiE  LETTERS  Book  III. 

ou-ht  greatly  to  alleviate  the  weight  of  your 
xiiirfortune.  1  will  only  add,  that  you  may 
always  depend  upon  finding  in  me  that  dis- 
position  both  towards  yourself  and  your  fa- 
niily  as  is  agreeable  to  your  wishes,  as  well 
as  to  what  you  have  a  right  to  expect. 
Farewel. 


LETTER  XIX. 

[A.  U.  700.] 

To  Titus  Titius. 

It  is  by  no  means  as  suspecting  that  my  for- 
mer recommendation  was  not  sufficient,  that 
I   crive  you  this  second  trouble,  but  merely 
in  ""compliance  with  the  request  of  my  friend 
Avianus  Flaccus :  to  whom  I  neither  can,  nor 
indeed  ought  to  refuse  any  thing.   '  The  truth 
is  notwithstanding  your  very  obliging  answer 
when  I  mentioned  his  affair  to  you  in  person, 
and  that  I  have  already  written  to  you  in  strong 
terms  upon  the  same  subject ;  yet  he  imagmes 
I  cannot  too  often  apply  to  you  in  his  behalf. 
I  hope,  therefore,  you  will  excuse  me,  if  m  thus 
vieldincr  to  his  inclinations,  I  should  seem  to 
^  ^  forget 

♦The  person  to  whom  this  letter  is  inscribed,  is  wholly 
unknown  :':nd  the  occasion  upon  which  U  was  wntten  is  not 
Timportance  enough  to  d^erve  any  animadversion.. 


Book  IIL 


OF  CICERO. 


361 


forget  that  you  are  incapable  of  receding  from 
your  word;  and  again  entreat  you  to  allow 
him  a  convenient  port  and  sufficient  time  for 
the  exportation  of  his  corn.  Both  these  fa- 
vours I  obtained  for  him  when  Pompey  had 
^  the  commission  in  which  you  are  now  em- 
ployed:  and  the  term  he  granted  him  was 
three  years.  To  say  all  in  one  word,  you  will 
very  sensibly  oblige  me  by  convincing  Avianus, 
that  I  enjoy  the  same  share  in  your  affection, 
which  he  justly  imagines  he  possesses  of  mine. 
Farewel. 

LETTER  XX. 

[A.  U.  700.] 

To  Trebatius. 

I  ACQUAINTED  you  with  the  affair  of  Silius. 
He  has  since  been  with  me :  when  I  informed 
him  that  it  was  your  opinion  we  might  safely 
enter  into  the  usual  recognizance.  But  he  has 
consulted,  he  tells  me,  Avith  Servius,  who  as-, 
sures  him,  that  where  a  testator  has  no  power 
to  make  a  will,  it  must  be  considered,  to  all 
intents  and  purposes,  as  if  it  had  never  sub- 
sisted:  and  OffiHus,  it  seems,  agrees  in  this 
opinion.  He  told  me,  at  the  same  time,  that 
he  had  not  applied  to  you  upon  this  subject : 
but  desired  I  would  recommend  both  himself 

S  3  and 


262 


The  letters 


Book  HI. 


and  his  cause  to  your  protection.  I  do  not 
know  a  worthier  man  than  Silius,  nor  any  one^ 
excepting  yourself,  who  is  more  my  friend. 
You  will  extremdy  oblige  me,  therefore,  my 
dear  Trebatius,  by  calling  upon  him  in  order 
to  give  him  the  promise  of  your  assistantrc :  and 
I  earnestly  entreat  you,  if  you  have  any  regard 
for  me,  to  pay  this  visit  as  soon  as  possible. 
FareweL 


If 

h 


LETTER  XXL 

[A.  U.  700.] 

To  Marcus  Marius. 

I  SHALL   punctually  execute  your  commis- 
sion :  But  is  it  not  a  most  wonderful  specimen 
of  your  sagacity,  thus  to  employ  a  man  in 
making  a  purchase  for  you,  whose  interest  it 
is  to  advance  the  price  as  high  as  possible  ? 
Above  all,  I  most  admire  the  wisdom  of  your 
restriction,  in  confining  me  to  a  particular  sum. 
For  had  you  trusted  me  with  an  unlimited  or- 
der, I  should  have  thought  myself  obliged,  in 
point  of  friendship,  to  have  settled  this  affair 
with  my  coheirs  upon  the  most  advantageous 
terms  in  your  behalf:  whereas,  now  I  know 
your  price,  you  may  depend  upon  it,   I  shall 
rather  set  up  a  fictitious  bidder,  than  suffer 

the 


Book  IIL 


OF  CICERO. 


26a 


estate  to  be  sold  for  less  than  the  money  you 
mention.  But  jesting  apart ;  be  assured  I  shall 
discharge  the  commission  you  have  assigned 
me,  with  all  the  care  I  ought 

I  know  you  are  well  pleased  with  my  victory 
over  Bursa^ :  but  why  then  did  you  not  n^ore 
warmly  congratulate  me  upon  the  occasion? 
You  were  mistaken  in  imagining  the  chj^racter 
of  the  man  to  be  much  too  despicable  to  ren- 
der this  event  a  matter  of  any  great  exulta- 
tion. On  the  contrary,  the  defeat  of  Bursa 
has  afforded  me  a  more  pleasing  triumph,  even 
than  the  fall  of  Clodius.  Much  rather,  in- 
deed, would  I  see  my  adversaries  vanquished 

by 

'  Minutius  Plancus  Bursa  was  tribune  the  year  before 
this  letter  was  written,  and  had  distinguished  himself  by 
inflaming  those  disturbance^  in  Rome,  which  were  occasioned 
by  the  assassination  of  Clodius.  The  body  of  Clodius  being 
produced  before  the  people  in  the  Forum,  Bursa,  together 
with  pne  of  his  colleagues,  infused  such  a  spirit  of  not  into 
the  populace,  that,  snatching  up  the  corpse,  they  instantly 
conveyed  it  to  the  curia  hostilia  ;  (a  place  in  which  the  se- 
nate sometimes  assembled,)  where  ihey  paid  it  the  funeral 
honours.  This  they  executed  in  the  most  insolent  and  tu- 
multuous manner,  by  erecting  a  funeral  pile  with  the  benches, 
and  setting  tire  to  the  senate-nouse  itself.  Bursa,  not  satis- 
tied  with  thes«  licentious  outrages,  endeavoured  likewise  to 
instigate  the  mob  to  fall  upon  Cicero,  the  avowed  friend  and 
advocate  of  Milo,  by  whom  Clodius  had  been  killed.  Ci- 
cero, therefore,  as  soon  as  Bursa  was  out  of  his  office  (for 
no  magistrate  could  be  impeached  during  his  ministry)  ex- 
hibited an  information  against  him,  for  this  violation  of  the 
public  peace  :  and  Bursa  being  found  guilty,  was  sentenced 
to  suffer  banishment.  Dio,x\.  p.  143,  146.  Ascon.  argument^ 
%  Orat.  pro  Miion, 

S  4 


k 


III 


254 


The  letters 


Book  IIL 


Book  III. 


OF  CICERO. 


265 


by  the  hand  of  justice,  than  of  violence:  as  I 
would  choose  it  should  be  in  a  way  that  does 
honour  to  the  friends  of  my  cause,  without  ex- 
posing them,  at  the  same  time,  to  any  uneasy 
consequences.  But  the  principal  satisfaction  I 
derive  from  this  affair,  is  in  that  honest  and 
undaunted  zeal  with  which  I  was  supported 
against  all  the  incredible  efforts  of  a  very  great 
man^,  who  most  warmly  exerted  his  power  in 
favour  of  my  antagonist.  I  will  mention  an- 
other circumstance,  likewise,  that  recommends 
this  victory  to  me,  and  which,  though  perhaps 
you  will  scarcely  think  it  a  probable  one,  is, 
nevertheless,  most  assuredly  the  case  :  I  have 
conceived  a  much  stronger  aversion  to  this  man, 
than  I  ever  entertained  even  against  Clodius 
himself.  To  speak  truth,  I  had  openly  de- 
clared war  against  the  latter :  whereas  I  have 
been  the  advocate  and  protector  of  the  former. 
Besides,  there  was  something  enlarged,  at  least, 
in  the  views  of  Clodius,  as  he  aimed,  by  my 
destruction,  at  overturning  the  whole  common- 
wealth :  and  even  in  this  he  acted  less  from  the 
motions  of  his  own  breast,  than  by  the  instiga- 
tions of  a  party,  who  were  sensible  they  could 
never  be  secure,  whilst  I  had  any  remaining 
credit.     But  the  contemptible  Bursa,  on  the 

contrary, 

*  Pompry,  Vid,  Dio,  p.  146. 


contrary,  singled  me  out  for  the  object  of  his 
malice,  in  mere  gaiety  of  heart :  and  without 
the  least  provocation,  offered  himself  to  some 
of  my  enemies  as  one  who  was  entirely  at  their 
service  upon  any  occasion  wherein  they  could 
employ  him  to  my  prejudice.    Upon  these  con- 
siderations, my  friend,  I  expect  that  you  warmly 
congratulate  my  success,  as,  indeed,  I  esteem 
it  an  event  of  very  considerable  importance. 
Never,  in  truth,  did  Rome  produce  a  set  of 
more  inflexible  patriots,  than  the  judges  who 
presided  at  this  trial :  for  they  had  the  honest 
courage  to  pass  sentence  against  him,  in  op- 
position to  all  the  power  and  influence  of  the 
very  person  by  whom  they  were  appointed^  to 
this  honourable   office.      And,   undoubtedly, 
they  would  not  have  acted  with  such  uncom- 
mon spirit,  had  they  not  considered  the  insults 
I  suffered  from  this  man,  as  so  many  indigni: 
ties  offered  to  themselves. 

I  have,  at  present,  a  great  deal  of  trouble- 
some business  upon  my  hands  :  as  several  con- 
siderable impeachments  are  going  forward,  ancj 
many  new  laws  are  in  agitation.    It  is  my  daily 

wish, 

^  Pompey,  in  his  late  consulship,  made  some  alterations 
with  respect  to  the  method  of  chusing  the  judges,  and  elected 
a  certain  number  out  of  the  three  orders  of  the  state,  for  the 
cognizance  of  civil  and  criminal  causes.  MamU  de  leg.  p.  12i?* 
Vel.  Pat  ere,  u,76. 


U 


N 


m 


The  letters         Book  III, 


Book  III. 


OF  CICERO. 


267 


wish,  therefore,  that  no  intercalation'  may  pro- 
tract these  affairs  beyond  the  usual  period,  and 
prevent  the  pleasure  I  propose  to  mysdf,  of 
paying  you^  a  visit  very  soon.     Farewel. 

LETTER  XXIL 

f 

[A.  U.  700] 

To  Trebatiu6. 

You  laughed  at  me  yesterday,  when  I  asj- 
serted,  over  our  wine,  that  it  was  a  question 
among  the  lawyers,  whether  an  action  of  theft 
could  be  brought  by  an  heir,  for  goods  stolen 
before  he  came  into  possession.  Though  it 
was  late  when  I  returned  home,  and  I  had  drunk 
pretty  freely,  I  turned  to  the  place  where  this 
question  is  discussed,  and  have  sent  you  an  ex- 
tract 

•  The  Roman  months  being  lunar,  a  proper  number  of 
supplemental  days  were  added   every  iwo  years  in  order  to 
a<)just  their  reckoning  to  ibe  cours«  of  the  sun.     This  was. 
culled  an  intercalation  ;  and  was  performed  by  the  pontificiat 
college  at  their  own  discretion.     Accordingly  they  often  ex- 
ercited  this  important  trust  as  intervst  or  ambition  dictated  : 
and  by  their  arbitrary  intercalations,  either  advanced  or  re-^ 
tarded  the  slatpd   times  for  transacting  civil  or  religious  af- 
ikirs,  as   bc6t  suited   the  private  purposes  of  themselves  or 
their  friends.     By  these  means,  these  unworthy  observers  of 
the  heavenly  motions,  had  introduced  so  great  a  confusion 
hito  their  calendar,  that,  when  Caesar  undertook  its  refov- 
Biation,  all  the  seasons  were  misplaced  ;  and  the  appointed. 
fes^tivaU  for  harve^it  aud  vintage,  were  no  longer  found  in  the 
Mwumer  and  autumn  quarters.     8vet.  in  Jul.  40.  JUtfcrai^. 


tract  of  the  passage :  in  order  to  convince  you, 
that  a  point  which  you  imagined  had  never  been 
maintained  by  any  man,  was  actually  holden 
by  Sextus  iEHus,  Marcus  Manlius,  and  Marcus 
Brutus*.  But,  notwithstanding  these  great 
names,  I  agree  in  opinion  with  Scasvola  and 
Trebatius^     FareweL 

LETTER 

•  These  were  all  of  them  lawyers  of  great  note  in  their 
respective  generations,  and  whose  writings  in  the  science 
tiiey  professed  were  in  much  esteem.  The  two  former  flou- 
rished about  the  year  of  Rome  545,  and  600 :  the  latter 
about  the  year  630.     Pompon,  de  orig.  Juris. 

^  ScKvola  was  one  of  the  names  of  Trebatius,  as  appear* 
by  a  letter  to  Atticus  wherein  he  is  so  called.  There  wa» 
likewise  a  Quintus  Mucins  Scavola,  a  lawyer  of  very  consi- 
derable eminence,  who  lived  about  fifty  years  before  the  pre- 
sent date,  and  who  compiled  a  body  of  laws  in  eighteen  vo- 
lumes.  Manutius  imagines,  therefore,  that  in  allusion  to  this 
person,  Cicero  jocularly  separates  the  names  SoBVola  and 
Trebatius  by  an  intervening  copulative,  as  if  he  were  speaking 
of  two  different  men,  though  he  only  means  his  frieDd  to., 
whom  he  is  writing. 


'•i» 


368  The  LETTERS 


Book  III. 


Book  III. 


OF  CICERO; 


2b9 


LETTER  XXIIL 

[A.  U.  700.] 

ToAppius  Pulcher. 

I  FiN-^D  myself  obliged,  contrary,  indeed,  to 
my  expectation,  as  well  as  my  wishes,  to  accept 
the  government  of  your  province'.  Amidst 
the  numberless  uneasy  thoughts  and  occupa- 
tions which  this  circumstance  occasions  me,  it 
is  my  single  consolation,  that  I  could  not  have 
succeeded  any  man  in  this  employment  who 
would  be  more  disposed  than  yourself,  to  deli- 
ver 

5  The  arcat  coimnotions  that  had   been  raised  the  last 
year  in   Rome,  on   account   of  the  elections,  have   already 
iecn  mentioned  in  ihe  notes  above.     In  order,  therefore,  to 
leniedy  these  evils  for  the   future,  by  abating  the  intempe- 
rate  ardour  with  ;vhich  the   magistracies  were  pursued  j  it 
was  thought  expedient  to  deprive  the  praHorship  and  con- 
sulate  of  one  of  the.r  principal   and   most  tempting  advan- 
tae-s.     This  consisted  in   the  government  of  provinces  :  ta 
which  those  magistrates  of  course  succeeded  at  the  expiration 
of  their  respective   administrations.     For  these  governments 
not  only  secured  them  from  any  impeachments  during  th<^ 
lime  they  continued  in  them,  but  were  likewise  inexhausti- 
ble sources  of  wealth  to  those  who  were  not  scrupulous  m 
the  means  of  obtaining  it.     Accordingly  a  law  passed,  by 
which  It  was  enacted,  that  no  future  pr^tor  o^  consul  shouUl 
be  capable  of  a  provincial  charge,  uU  five  years  after  the  ex- 
ptratl  of  h,s  omce  :  and,   in  the  mean  t.me   that  the  pro- 
Lees  should  be  supplied  from  among  those  of  P^^  ^^  ^^^^^^^ 
consular  rank,  who  had  laid  down  the.r  offices  -ithout  sue- 
ceedinc^  to  anv  government.     Cicero  was  of  this   number., 
and  ins  probable,  there  were  so  few  of  them    that  he  w 
Bot  at  liberty  to  refuse,  what  it  is  ve^ry  certain  he  had  no  m^- 
clination  to  accept.     Pio,  xl.  p.  H^* 


Jiver  it  up  to  me  as  little  embarrassed  as  possi- 
ble. I  hope  you  entertain  the  same  opinion  of 
my  disposition  Avith  regard  to  you  :  and  be  as- 
sured I  shall  never  disappoint  you  in  this  ex- 
pectation. I  most  earnestly  then  entreat  you, 
by  all  the  ties  of  our  friendship  in  particular,  as 
well  as  by  that  uncommon  generosity  which  dis- 
tinguishes your  actions  in  general,  to  render  me, 
upon  this  occasion,  every  good  office  in  your 
power  :  as  undoubtedly  there  are  many. 

You  will  observe,  from  the  decree  of  the 
^senate,  that  I  was  under  a  necessity  of  accept- 
ing the  government  of  some  province :  and  I 
must  repeat  it  once  more,  the  ease  with  which  I 
shall  pass  through  the  functions  of  my  minis- 
try, depends  upon  your  smoothing,  as  far  as  in 
you  lies,  the  difficulties  at  my  first  entrance. 
You  are  the  best  judge  in  what  particular  in- 
stances you  can  contribute  to  this  end :  I  will 
only,  in  general,  beseech  you  to  do  so  in  every 
article  wherein  you  imagine  your  services  may 
avail  me.  I  might  enlarge  on  this  subject,  if 
either  your  own  generous  temper,  or  our  mu- 
tual  friendship,  A\^ould  suffi?r  me  to  dwell  upon 
it  any  longer :  and  I  may  add  too^  if  the  nature 
of  my  request  did  not  sufficiently  speak  for  it- 
self. I  will  only,  therefore,  assure  you,  that  if 
I  should  not  make  this  application  in  vain,,  you 

may 


i4 

r,  I'l 


The  letters 


Book  III. 


I 


may  depend  upon  receiving  a  strong  and  last-* 
ins  satisfaction  from  the  faithful  returns  of  my 
gratitude.     Farewel. 

LETTER  XXIV. 

[A.  u.  roo.] 

To  the  same. 

I  ARRIVED  on  the  22d  of  May  at  Brutidisi- 
um,  where  I  found  your  lieutenant'  Quintus 
Fabius:  who,  agreeably  to  your  orders,  in- 
formed me,  that  it  is  highly  expedient  Cilicia 
should  be  strengthened  with  an  additional  num- 
ber of  forces.  This  was  conformable,  not  only 
to  my  own  sentiments,  who  am  more  immedi- 
ately concerned  in  the  security  of  that  province, 
but  to  the  opinion  likewise  of  the  senate  :  who 
thought  it  reasonable,  that  both  Bibulus*  and 
myself  should  reinforce  our  respective  legions 
with  recruits  from  Italy.     But  it  was  strongly 

opposed 

•  Every  proconsul,  or  governor  of  a  -province,  was  ac- 
companied with  a  certain  number  of  lieutenants,  in  propor- 
tion to  his  rank  and  quality.  These  officers  served  him  as  a 
kind  of  first  ministers  in  civil  affairs  :  and  they  commanded 
in  chief  under  him  when  he  took  the  field. 

*  Some  account  has  already  been  given  of  Bibulus  in  the 
notes  on  the  preceding  book.  See  rem.  10.  p.  l63.  He 
was  appointed  governor  of  Syria,  a  province  bordering  on 
that  of  Cilicia ;  to  which  Cicero  was  on  his  way  when  he 
wrote  the  present  Utter,  and  all  the  subsequent  ones  in  this 
book.  ^ 


Book  III. 


OF  crcERo. 


271 


opposed  by  Sulpicius^  the  consul:  though  not 
\rithout  very  warm  remonstrances  on  our  parts. 
However,  as  it  seemed  to  be  the  general  incli- 
nation of  the  senate  that  we  should  hasten  our 
departure,  we  were  obliged  to  submit:  and  we 
«et  forward  accordingly. 

Let  me  now  repeat  the  request  I  made  in  mv 
last  from  Rome,  and  again  entreat  you  to  favour 
me  in  all  those  instances  wherein  one  friend  can 
oblige  another  who  succeeds  to  his  government. 
In  short,  let  it  be  your  care  to  convince  the 
world  that  I  could  not  have  followed  a  more 
affectionate  predecessor :  as  it  shall  be  mine  to 
give  conspicuous  proofs,  that  you  could  not 
have  resigned  your  province  to  one  more  sin- 
cerely devoted  to  your  interest. 

I  understood  by  the  copy  which  you  commu- 
nicated to  me  of  those  dispatches  you  sent  to 
tl>c  senate,  that  you  had  actually  disbanded  a 
considerable  part  of  your  army.  But  Fabius 
assures  me,  this  was  a  point  which  you  only  had 
in  your  intention ;  and  that  when  he  left  you, 
the  whole  number  of  your  legions  was  com- 
plete. If  this  be  the  case,  you  will  greatly 
oblige  me  by  keeping  the  few  forces  under  your 

command 

'  Servius  Sulpicius  Rufus  was  consul  this  year,  together 
with  Marcus  Claudius  Marcellus.  For  a  more  particular  ac- 
count of  the  former,  see  rem.  1.  p.  ll|).  vol.  li.  and  of  ih« 
latter,  rem.  3.  let.  35.  of  this  book. 

1 


£7S 


The   letters        Book  IIL 


Book  III.  of  CICERO. 


,jt 


command  entire :  as  I  suppose  the  decree  of 
the  senate  which  passed  iu  relation  to  this  ar- 
ticle, has  already  been  transmitted  to  you.  To 
comprise  all  in  one  word,  I  pay  so  great  a  de- 
ference to  your  judgment,  that  whatever  mea- 
sures you  may  tliink  proper  to  pursue,  I  shall, 
undoubtedly,  believe  them  reasonable :  though 
I  am  persuaded,  at  the  same  time,  you  will 
pursue  such  only  as  shall  appear  to  be  for  my 

benelit.  • 

I  am  waiting  at  Brundisium  for  my  lieute-  I 
nant  Caius  Pontiuius,  whom  I  expect  here  on  j 
the  .first  of  J  unc :  and  I  shall  take  the  earliest 
opportunity,  after  his  arrival,  of  proceeding  on 
my  voyage.     Farewel. 

LETTER  XXV. 

[A.  U.  70?.] 
C(EL1US*  to  CiCERO. 

Agreeably  to  my  promise  when  we  parted, 
I  have  sent  you  a  full  account  of  every 
event  that  has  happened  since  you  left  Rome. 
For  this  purpose,  I  employed  a  person  to 
collect  the  news  of  the  town:  and  am  only 

afraid 

♦  Manutius  has,  with  great  induslry,  drawn  together  the 
several  scattered  passages  in  the  ancient  historians,  relating 
to  Coflius :  and  it  is  but  a  piece  of  justice  due  to  that  learn- 
ed critic  to  acknowledge,  that  the  following  account  is  ex- 
tracted from  those  materials,  which  bis  labours  spared  me 
the  trouble  of  collecting. 


2>'3' 


afraid  you  will  think  he  has  executed  his  office 
much  too  punctually.     I  am  sensible,  at  the 
same  time,  that  you  are  a  man  of  infinite  curio- 
sity ;  and  that  travellers  take  pleasure  in  being 
informed  of  every  little  circumstance  transacted 
at  home.     But  I  hope  you  will  not  impute  it 
to  any  want  of  respect,  that  I  assigned  over 
this  employment  to  another  hand.     On  the 
contrary,  as  much  engaged  as  I  really  am,  and 
as  little  fond  of  writing  as  you  know  me  to  be, 
I  should  with  great  pleasure  execute  my  com- 
mission, which  gave  me  occasion  to  think  of 

you. 

Marcus  Coelius  was  tribune  of  the  people,  the  year  before 
this  letter  was  wruien.  He  distinguished  himself  in  that 
office  by  zealously  and  boldly  supporting  the  claims  of  the 

Z^^„  ,  •''Vr'"''  °^  '^^  "i»'»cra.ical  party,  against 
•he  attacks  of  the  opposite  fac.iun.  When  the  civ.l  war 
broke  out  between  Pompey  and  Ciesar,  he  affected  at  first 
to  stand  neuter:  he  afterward,,  however,  thought  proper  to 
^o.n  w,th  the  latter.  But  Ca=sar  not  gratifying  his  ambition 
m  the  manner  he  expected,  he  changed  sidls,  and  ra  ed 
great  disturbances  in  Rome  in  favour  of  Pompey 

f„,  .J^l""  "P*'"*''  himself  early  to  the  art  of  oratory  :  and, 
for  that  purpose,  was  introduced  by  his  father  to  the  ac 
quaintance  of  Cicero,  under  whose  direction  he  formed  his 
eloquence.  His  parts  and  genius  soon  distinguished  him 
with  nlr  I'l"""  '■  ■        '  '^"Sh    his  speeches  were  conceived 

Ztr  \V^u"  '"''  '''r'y'  •"'  '''"g"«g«  «"'  'bought 
forced,  ami  ,he  harmony  of  his  periods  too  much  neglected. 

His  m.-rals  were  suitable  to  the  degenerate  age  in  which 

if.  I'm'  '"r "°"^. .'""'  di^olu.e:  .as  his  temper  was  re- 
markably  inflammable,  and  apt  to  kindle  into  the  most  im- 
p  acab  e  resenlments.     Cic  orat.  pro  C<tlio.     Ccts.  Bel.  Civ. 

S  vol.  I         "'■  "™'       P-  '*^-  *"''  '*■"•  ^2.  p.  147. 

Vol.  I.  T 


274 


The  letters  Cook  lit. 


you.    I  trust,  however,  when  you  cast  your  eye 
upon  this  volume  of  news,  you  will  very  readily 
admit  my  excuse ;  as  I  know  not,  indeed,  who 
else,  except  the  compiler,  could  find  leisure, 
I  will  not  say  to  transcribe,  but  even  to  peruse 
such  a  strange  medley.    It  contains  a  collection 
of  decrees  of  the  senate  and  rumours  of  the  peo- 
ple ;  of  private  tales  and  public  edicts.    Should 
it  happen,  nevertheless,  to  afford  you  no  sort  of 
entertainment,  give  me  due  n6tice,  that  I  may 
not  put  myself  to  this  prodigious  expence  only 
to  be  impertinent.     If  any  events  of  more  im- 
portance should  arise,  and  which  are  above  the 
force  of  these  hackney  news-writers,  I  will  take 
the  relation  upon  myself,  and  give  you  a  full 
account  of  the  sentiments  and  speculations  of 
the  world  concerning  it :  but,  at  present,  there 

• 

is  little  of  this  kind  stirring. 

As  to  the  report  which  was  so  current  when 
we  were  at  Cumae^  of  enfranchising  the  colo- 
nies on  the  other  side  the  Po^;  it  does  not  seem 

to 

5  A  city  in  Campania,  situated  upon  the  sea  coast :  near 
which  Cicero  bad  a  villa. 

^  Cisalpine  Gaul  was  divided  into  two  parts  by  the  river 
Po  ;  and,  a^  corduigly,  as  the  inbabitar.ls  were  situated  with 
rcvpectto  Italy,  eilber  on  one  side  or  tbe  other  of  that  river, 
ibey  w.re  Cdiicd  Cupadaniy  or  Transpadani.  C?esar  had  a 
scheme  of  putting  the  latter  on  the  same  fcot  with  the  muni- 
cipal towi)S  of  liaiy;  the  chief  magistrates  whereof  had  a 
right  of  suffrage  in  the  asserahiies  of  the  Homan  people,  and 
w«re  capable  of  b«ing  elected  to  the  ofiices  of  the  republic* 

This 


Book  III.  oy  CICERO.  27^ 

to  have  travelled  beyond  that  city :  at  least,  I 
have  heard  no  mention  of  this  affair  since  my 
return  to  Rome.  Marcellus  not  having  yet 
moved  that  Caesar  may  be  recalled  from  hS  go- 
vernment in  Gaul,  and  intending  to  defer°it, 
a?  he  told  me  himself,  to  the  first  of  June,  it 
Im  occasioned  the  revival  of  those  suspicions  to 
his  disadvantage,  vhich  so  strongly  prevailed 
when  you  >vere  here'. 

If  you  had  an  interview' with  Pompey  (as  I 
rci^iember  it  was  your  intention)  let  me  know 
the  conversation  that  passed  between  you,  and 
what  you  could  discover  of  his  designs':  for 
though  he  seldom  speaks  his  real  sentiments,  he 
has  not  artifice  enough  to  conceal  them*.     Af 

to 

This  seems  to  be  the  circumstance  to  which  Coslius  here  al- 
udps:  as  Ccero  obscurely  hints  at  it  likewise  ,n  pne  of  h, 
letter,  to  Att.cus.  See  ^dAtt.  v.  2.  and  the  remark  ofM„n! 
gaiflt  upon  that  passage.  »^  ">  "f-^a 

'  Warcellus,  the  present  consul,  distinguished  himself 
hroughout  h>s  who  e  administration  by  a  warm^  oppoS 

l?rTc  V"  K  ''""7^'''  »<='"'»lly  made  the  motion,  of 
which  Coehus  here  spe«ks.  He  was  not,  however,  so  fortu- 
nate as  to  succeed  in  it ;  being  opposed  by  his  colleague  Sul- 
picius  in  conjunction  with  some  of  the  tribunes.  Dio.  xli  n 
148.  See  his  character  in  remark  3.  on  tbe  35th  letter  of 
this  book,  p.  320. 

,  '  ,''"">P«y  *«  at  this  time  atTarentuM,  a  maritime  city 
of  Ca.abna :  where  Ccero  spent  a  few  days  with  him  in  his 
way  to  Cihca  while  he  waited  the  arrival  of  his  lieateoaat 
f  ontinius.     ^d  Att.  v.  6. 

■  »  Cicero  in  his  letters  to  Afticus  often  mention,  the  dif- 
ficulty of  penetrating  into  Pompey's  real  designs :  but  if 
Coehus  may  be  credited,  he  was,  it  seems,  one  of  those  over- 

*■  ^  refined 


t.  I 


i 


' 


276  The  LETTERS         Book  II^ 

to  Csesar,  we  have  frequent,  and  no  very  fa- 
vourable reports   concerning  him:    however, 
they  are  at  present,  nothing  more  than  ru- 
mours.    Some  say  he  has  lost  all  his  cavalry ; 
and  I  believe  this  is  the  truth  of  the  case : 
others,  that  the  seventh  legion  has  feeen'^tifire- 
ly  defeated,  and  that  he  himself  is  surrounded 
by  the  Bellovaci',  that  he  cannot  possibly  re- 
ceive any  succours  from  the  main  body  of  his 
army.     But  this  news  is  not  publicly  kno\vn  : 
on  the  contrary,   it  is  only  the  whisper  of  a 
party  which  I  need  not  name,  and  who  men- 
tion it  with  great  caution  ;  particularly  Domi* 
tins*,  who  tells  it  in  your  ear  with  a  most  im- 
portant air  of  secresy. 

A  strong  report  prevailed  here,  that  you  were 
assassinated  upon  the  road  on  the  24th  of  May, 
by  Quintus  Pom.peius'.  I  heartily  cursed  the 
idle  authors  of  this  alarm  :  however,  it  did  not 
give  me  any  great  disturbance,  as  I  knew  Pom- 

peius 

refined  dissemblers,  who,  as  our  British  Horace  observes^ 


are. 


■So  very  close  they  re  hid  from  none.     Pope, 


'  A  most  martial  and  powertul  people  in  Belgic  Gau^ 
against  whom  Caesar  was  at  this  time  making  war. 

*  Lucius  Domitius  if^nobarbus,  one  of  Caesar's  avowed 
enemies.  A  particular  account  will  be  given  of  him  in  the 
remarks  on  the  letter  addressed  to  him  in  this  collection. 

3  Quintus  Pompeius  Rufus  was  tribune  the  last  year,  and 

a  principal  author  of  those  disturbances  which  ensued  upon 

the  death  of  Clodius.     See  remark  5.  p.  263.  of  this  vol. 

At 


.Book  III. 


OF  CICERO. 


^77 


peius  to.  be  then  at  Baulis^  where  the  poor  man 
is  reduced  to  exercise  the  miserable  office  of  a 
pilot,  to  keep  himself  from  starving.  May  you 
ever  be  as  secure  from  all  other  dangers,  as  you 
were  from  this  ! 

Your  friend^  Plancus  is  at  Ravenna;  and, 
notwithstanding  the  very  considerable  bene- 
faction  he  has  lately  received  from  C.cesar^  the 
man  is  still  in  distress. 

r¥o "^'  political  treatise^  is  universally  read  and 
much  admired.     Farewell. 

LETTER 

^t  the  expiration  of  his  office,  therefore,  being  convicted  of 
thes^  misdemeanors.,  he  was  banished  from  Rome.     Dio  xl 
l>.  146\  •      • 

*  A  city  in  Campania. 

5  Munatius  Plancus  Bursa:  of  whom  an  account  has 
been  given  in  remark  5.  p.  <i6$.  of  this  vol.  Ccelius  speaks 
iro:  ically,  when  he  calh  him  Cicero's  friend. 

•  See  remark^  p.  l66,  of  this  vol. 

^^  ^  **  It  was  drawn  up  in  the  form  of  a  dialogue,  in  which 
"  the  greatest  persons  of  the  republic  were  introduced.  From 
**  the  fragments  of  thi8  work  wiiich  still  remain,  it  appears 
**  to  have  been  a  noble  performance,  and  one  of  his  capital 
•'  pieces;  where  all  the  important  questions  in  politics  and 
**  morality  were  discussed  with  the  greaiest  elegance  and  ac- 
**  curacy.*'     Mid,  Life  ofCic,  vol.  ii.  p.  94.  8vo.  edit. 

T  3 


ji 


b 


srs 


THi  LETTERS        Book  III. 


LETTER  XXVL 

[A.  U.  703.] 

To  Appius  Pulcher. 

I  kECiEtvEiD  your  letter  at  this  place'  on  the 
4tli  of  Jiine,  by  which   I  am  informed  that 
you  have  charged  Lucius  Clodius  with  a  mes- 
sage to  me.    I  am  therefore  waiting  for  his  ar- 
rival,  that  I  may  hear,    as  early  as  possible, 
whatever  he  has  to  say  on  your  part.     In  the 
mean  time,  notwithstanding  I  have  already,  by 
many   instances   convinced   you,    I   hope,  of 
my  friendship  :  yet,  let  me  assure  you,  that  I 
shall  particularly  endeavour  to  shew  it  upon 
every  occasion,  by  the  most  tender  regard  for 
your  character.     I  have  the  satisfaction  in  re- 
turn to  be  infortned,  not  only  by  Fabius  and 
Flaccus,  but  particularly  by  Octavius,  of  the 
share  you  allow  me  in  your  esteem.     I  had 
before,  indeed,   many  reasons  for  believing  I, 
enjoyed  that  privilege;  but,  chiefly  by  that  very 
agreeable  present  of  your  treatise  upon  augury, 

which 

'  Brundisium.  This  letter  was  written  but  a  few  days 
after  ll.e  last  addressed  to  Appius,  which  is  likewise  dated 
from  this  place:  where  Cicero  continued  about  a  fortnight 
He  was  prevented  from  embarking  sooner,  not  only  as  he 
waited  the  arrival  of  his  lieutenant  Poniinius,  but  also  by  a 
slight  indisposition.     Ad  Att,  v.  8. 


Book  III. 


OF  CICERO. 


m 


which  you  have  so  affectionately  addressed  to 
me'.     No  testimony  shall  be  wanting  on  my 
part,  likewise,  of  the  singular  friendship  I  bear 
you.     The  truth  is,  you  have  continually  risen 
in  my  affection  ever  since  you  first  distinguished 
me  with  yours :  but  you  are  now  still  more 
endeared  to  me  from  that  regard  I  entertain 
for  those  illustrious  persons  with  whom  you 
have  formed  a  family  alliance*.     For  Pompey 
and  Brutus,  though  so  distant  from  each  otiier 
in  point  of  age,  have  both  of  them  the  same 
high  rank  in  my  esteem.    I  must  add,  that  the 
connexion  between  us  as  fellow-members  of  the 
same  sacred  college',  especially  after  the  ho-- 
nourable  applause  I  have  lately  received  from 

you, 

'  This  treatise  was  drawn  up  in  vindication  of  the  au^a-. 
ral  science,  or  the  art  of  foretelling  events,  from  certein 
signs  which  providence  was  supposed  to  have  intended  as  in- 
timations of  futurity.  This  science  was  generally  exploded 
by  the  wiser  part  of  their  philosophers,  as  having  no  founda- 
tion in  reason  or  experience  :  but  Appius  was  so  weakly  cre- 
dulous, it  seems,  as  seriously  to  believe  and  maintain  the  con- 
trary.    See  Life  ofCic.  v.  iii.  p.  348.  8vo.  Edit, 

*  See  the  latter  end  of  remark  3.  on  letter  3.  of  this 
book,  p.  225. 

^  The  college  of  Augurs,  of  which  Cicero  and  Appius 
were  members,  consisted  at  this  time  of  fifteen  Fellows,  (if 
that  terra  may  be  allowed)  who  were  all  of  them  persons  of 
the  first  distinctions  in  Rome.  Their  office  was  to  determine 
whether  the  omens,  which  were  always  consulted  previously 
to  the  transacting  of  any  public  business,  were  favourable  for 
that  purpose,  or  observed  in  a  proper  manner.  TTiis  gave 
them  a  very  considerable  authority  in  the  commonwealth  ; 

T4  as 


280 


The  letters  Book  III 


you*,  is  a  very  powerful  cement  of  our  mutual 
friendship. 

If  I  should  have  an  interview  with  Clodius, 
\vhom  I  shall  endeavour  to  see  as  soon  as  pos- 
sible, I  shall  have  occasion  to  write  to  you  more 
fully.  I  will  at  this  time,  therefore,  only  farther 
assure  you,  that  I  read  with  great  pleasure,  that 
part  of  your  letter  where  you  tell  me,  your  single 
reason  for  continuing  in  the  province,  is  in  or- 
der to  give  me  a  meeting.     Farewel. 

LETTER 

as  it  was  in  tbeir  power  to  obstruct  the  most  important  aP- 
fairs  of  the  state,  by  declaring  ihat  they  were  unwarranted 
by  the  auspices.  Cicero,  about  two  years  before  the  date  of 
the  present  letter,  was  elected  into  this  college,  in  the  place 
of  young  Crassus  :  who  perished  (as  has  already  been  ob- 
served) in  the  unfortunate  expedition  which  is  father  under- 
took against  the  Parthians. 

^  This  alludes  to  the  treatise  mentioned  above,  which 
Appi us  inscribed  to  Cicero. 


i  i! 


■>! 


Book  III. 


OF  CiCERO. 


-281 


LETTER  XXVIL 

[A.V.70S.]  >      '       , 

To  Caius  Memmius', 

I  AM  doubtful  whether  I  liave  more  reason  to 
regret  or  rejoice,  that  I  did  not  find  you,  as  I 

'  '■  expected, 

'  The  family  of  Caius  Mommius  was  esteemed  one  of  the 
most  ancient  .n  ail  Rome ;  Le.ng  descende,),  it  «as  said,  r  m 

Italy,     Memmms,  having  pa«ed  through  .he  office,  of  tri! 
bune  and  pr»tor.  offered  himself  as  a  Candida.,  tor  .he  con 
sulshii,,  m  the  year  of  Rome  t,99  :  and  the  iniquitous  ~ 
went  into  which  be  en.ered,  m  order  to  secure  hi,  elec^!on 
afford,  a  very  remarkable  specimen,  not  only  of  his  own  cba' 
racter,  but  of  the  unparalleled  degeneracy  of  (he  aee  in 
«h,ch  be  lived      The  consul,  of  tlfat  yeaf  were  Donffiii" 
^nobarbu,,  and  Aj.pius  Pulcher,   ,he  person  ,o  wbom  the 
preceding   letter,   and  several  others  in  this  bocfc    arrad 
dresse.1.    It  was  s.ipula.ed  be.ween  these  worthy  magiWa.e; 
and  the  .wo  associates  who  were  j.int-candida.i,  to   Jccled 
them,  that  they  should  mutually  assist  each  o.her  in  ,h.i- 
rcspecuve  views      On  the  part  o?  .he  consuls      was  a.rtT 
that  ihey  should  promote  the  elerrinn  r.f  Vi  agreed, 

friend  Calvinus,  w'lth  all  £  tra"n'^ptr'"S  "' 
return,  eniered  into  a  bond  in  .he  nenaJK  ,,f"  I  '  '" 
.ban  30001.  by  which  .hey Vbt'dT^l  ^ ^ '' -- 
three  Augurs,  who  should  at.est,  that  .hey  were  pre.";?/* 
he  Comma  when  a  law  passed  .o  invest  these  consuls  wib 
the  military  command  in  their  orovinr^,  «  consuls  with 
farther  added,  tbat  they  would  ilso  produc  ethre^'ro^TI 
consular  rank,  who  should   likewise  depose    ihr.  ^h  ^ 

not  only  present  in  the  senate,  but  acSv  in  tbe  '^^k*"! 
those  who  signed  a  decree  bv  which  .hi ^  .  ""''"  "^ 
appointmentf  were  granL^d  toVppit  '^:/Ml':Z7t,l 

.ri-atirereM- x^:;  '^^^rnr '- -  '--^ 

«uher  to  the  people  o?  t'he  sSalL    2     ""'  '""  '"''^'^'' 

R<»»"no»  rcrum  diminos,  geutmque  togatam  ! 

l^lraordinary 


I. 
1/ 


•S82 


The  letters  Book  III 


I 


i 


•      expected  in  Athens^    On  the  one  hand,  if  that 
meeting  would  have  renewed  my  concern  for 

the 

Extraordinary  as  this  infamous   association  was,   it.  is  still 
more  surprising  that  Menimius  bhould  have  had  the   front 
publicly  to  avow  ii,  by  becoming  himself  the  informer  of  the 
whole  transaction.     \  ct  so  the  fact  is:  and,  in  compliance 
with  the  persuasions  <jf  Pompey,  he  laid  open  the  whole  of 
ibis  shameful  a;;reement  to  ihe  senate.    It  is  difficult  to  ima- 
gine the  motive  that  Could  induce  Memmius  to  make  a  dis- 
covery,  which  must  shew   him  to  the  world,  in  every  view, 
so  completely  abandoned.     But  Pompey,   it   is  highly  pro- 
bable, instigated  him   to  this  resolution,  with  the  hope  that 
the   rendering  public  so  unexampled  a  violation  of  all  that 
ought  to  be  held  most  sacred  in  society,  would  add  strength 
to  those  flames  which  now  raged  in  the  commonwealth.    For 
most  of  the  historians  agree,  that  Pompey  secretly  fomented 
Ibe  present  tumult^   in  order  to  reduce  the  republic  to  the 
necessity  of  ii.votm^  him  with  the  supreme  authority.  What 
resolutions  were  taken  in  the  seaate,  upon  this  occasion,  do 
not  cl'jarly  appear :  f  >r  those  passngcs  in  the  letters  to  Atti- 
cus  wherein  their  pr^cftvlings  in  relation  to  this  aftair  seem 
lo  be  hinted  at,  are  extremely  dark  ;  and  rendered  still  more 
obsture   by  the   n'^iilijiencc  of  the  transciibers,   in   blending 
cpi>tlc5  together  of  tiifl'erent  and  distant  dale?.     It  is  certain, 
however,   that  Memmius   lost  his  election  :  some  time  after 
which,  being  impeached,  and  sentenced  to  banishment,  he  re- 
tired to  Athens;  where  he  seems  to  have  spent  the  remainder 
of  hi:j  days.    He  was  a  man  of  greater  pajis  than  application, 
and  uould  have  proved  an  excellent  orator,  if  he  had  trusted 
lebs  to  the  strength  of  his  nalui^l  genius  :  or  rather,  indeed, 
if  he  had  r.ol  been   too  indolent  to  improve  his   faculties  of 
this   kind,  bv  an   habitual   exercise.     He  was  nrt  too  Itzy, 
however,   to  employ  them  with  the  ^aHies :  iu  which  he  was 
extremely  successful :  particularly  with  the  wife  of  Marcus 
Lucullus,  brother  to  the  celebrated  LAicius  Lucullus,  so  well 
known  to  every  reader  of  the  Roman  story.     He  seems,  in 
tr*tth,  to  have  been  one  of  that  sort  of  men,  who,  in  the  lan- 
guage of  Shakespcar,  informed  to  make  wunian  false  ;  at  least 
jf  a  poet  may  be  supposed  no  flatterer  in  the  picture  he  draws 
«>f  his  patron.     For  Lucretius,  who  inscribed  his  poem  to 
Memmius,  represenib  Vcqus,  in  his  invocation  to  that  god- 
dess, 


Book  IIL 


OF  CICERO^ 


283 


tht  injustice^  which  has  been  done  you;  I 
should  have  had  the  satisfaction,  on  the  other, 
of  being  a  Avitness  of  your  supporting  it  with 
the  most  philosophical  magnanimity.  Upon 
the  whole,  however,  I  cannot  but  lament  that 

I  did 

dess,  as  having  bestowed  upon  this  her  favourite,  everv  charm 

Te  sociam  studeo  scribundis  verdbus  esse 
Quos  ego  de  Rerum  Natura  pangere  cmof 
Memmiadte  nostro :  quam  tu,  Dea,  tempore  in  omne 
Ummbus  ornatum  voluisti  excellere  rebus. 

Thy  aid,  celestial  Queen  of  beauty,  brin<y, 
While  nature's  laws  in  venturous  verse  I  sing  • 
To  Memmius  sing :  the  man  by  Thee  desian'd. 
With  evVy  grace  and  ev'ry  art  refin'd,       "^ 
To  shine  the  first  and  fairest  of  his  kind. 

G,Janii  prolegom.  in  Lucrel.  de  gent.  Memmia.   Ad  Ait.  ,>. 
Ad  Ait.  I.  IS.  Lucret.  i.  ^5.  '•«./i». 

that  he  withdrew  on  purpose  lo  avoid  our  author,  with  whom 
he  jmagines,  Memmius  was  disgusted  for  not  having  aiven 
bim  his  assistance  alhis  trial.  But  this  is  merely  conjecture- 
hW    V.l"  T^^.'\^'f  foundation,  as  there  is  not  the  least 
fiint  of  this  kind  in  the  fetter  to  Atticus,  wherein  Cicero  ac 

quaints  him  with  the  circumstance  of  his  not  meeting  with 
Jlemmius.     Ad.  Ait.  v.  10. 

'_It  is  by  no  means  certain  open  what  occasion  Memmius 
was  banished.  The  principal  commentators,  indeed.  ar^"f 
opinion,.that  it  was  in  consequence  of  a  prosecution  that  was 
comtnenced  against  him  for  those  corrupt  practices  men- 
tioned  in  the  iirst  remark  on  this  letter.  But  it  seems  to  ap- 
pear  from  Cicero  s  epistles  to  his  brother,  either  that  Meji- 
mms  and  his  associates  were  all  acquitted  of  that  impeach- 
dO   F  ••  '^^"*^  prosecutions  were  dropped.    Fid. 

***•  Mfc*  **•  HI.  4.  o»  o» 


ill 

I., 


/■ 


284 


The  letters 


Book  III. 


! 


I  did  not  see  you :  for  the  uneasiness  I  feel  at 
your  unmerited  sufferings  is  too  great  to  have 
admitted  of  much  increase  by  that  interview} 
and,  in  all  other  respects,  it  would  have  added 
very  considerably  to  my  pleasure.  It  is  a  plea- 
sure, therefore,  in  which  I  shall,  without  scruple^ 
indulge  myself,  the  first  convenient  opportu- 
nity. In  the  mean  time,  so  much  of  the  purpose 
of  my  intended  visit  as  may  be  explained,  and, 
I  should  hope,  settled  too,  in  a  letter  I  wiH  nayf^ 
lay  before  you.  The  favour  I  am  going  to  re- 
quest, though  of  little  consequence  to  you,  is 
of  much  importance  to  me  :  however,  ere  I  en-^ 
ter  upon  the  subject,  let  me  previously  assure, 
you,  that  I  do  not  desire  you  to  comply  witlv 
my  inclinations  any  farther  than  it  shall  be 
agreeable  to  your  own.  I  must  inform  xm 
then,  in  the  first  place,  that  I  am  most  inti- 
mately united  withPatro,  the  Epicurean  ;,^ijj 
every  article,  I  mean,  except  his  philosophy : 
for  there,  indeed,  we  are  at  a  great  distance.  I 
received  the  first  marks  of  his  esteem,  so  long 
ago  as  when  he  distinguished  himself  at  Rome 
by  his  singular  attachment  to  you  and  your  fa- 
mily :  and  in  the  cause  which  he  lately  gained 
in  our  courts,  I  was  a  principal  advocate  both 
for  him  and  his  associates.  I  must  add,  that 
he  was  recommended  to  me  by  my  very  worthy 
3  friend 


14 


Book  IIL 


OF  CIGERO. 


285 


friend^  Pha^drus :  a  man  whom,  long  before  I 
became  acquainted  with  Philo',  and,  indeed, 
from  my  childhood,   I  always   highly  valued 
The  first  quality  that  recommended  lum  to  my 
esteem,  was  his  philosophical  abilities :   as  T 
afterwards   had  reason  to  admire  him  for  his 
moral  and  social  virtues.     Before  I  left  Rome, 
f  iftceived  a  letter  from  Patro  requesting  me, 
in  the  first  place,   to  intercede  with  you  to  be 
rt^bnciled  to  him  ;  and  in  the  next,  that  you 
would  make  him  a  grant  of  an  old  niirious 
edifice  which  belongs,  it  seems,  to  the  college 
of  Epicurus*.     I  forbore  writing  to  you,  how- 
ever,   upon  this  subject,  as    being  unwilling 
to  interrupt  you  in  the  design,  which  [  then 
thought  you  entertained,    of  building   upon 
that  spot.    But  I  now  comply  with  his  solicita- 
tion, as  he  has  assured  me,  since  my  arrival  in 
Athens,  that  it  is  the  general  opinion  of  your 
friends,  that  you  have  totally  laid  aside  this 

scheme. 

»  Phaedrus,  it  is  supposed,  was  the  predecessor  of  Patro  m 
the  Epicurean  college.  r 

'Cicero,  in  another  part  of  his  wrliinas,  mentions  an 
Academic  philosopher  of  ihis  name,  whose  lectures  he  at- 
tended. If  the  same  person  be  meant  in  b^nh  places,  as  in- 
deed is  hiohly  probable.  Mr.  R.)ss  is  undoubtedly  ri^ht  in 
charging  the  learned  Mdnuiius  with  a  misrak<?,  in  imaoiriing 
Philo  to  have  been  an  Epicurean,  and  predecessor  to'^Pbaj" 
drus. 

*  Memmius  had  obfaihed  a  gfant<)fthi4  edifice  from  the  - 
Ath«nian«,  in  order  to  build  a  house  for  his  own  uSe. 


k\ 


9 


S86 


The  letters 


Book  III. 


Si 


i 


scheme.   Should  this  prove  to  be  the  real  case, 
^ncl  your  particular  interest  should  no  longer 
interfere,  let  me  prevail  with  you  to  grant  his 
petition.     And  if  you  should  have  taken  any 
little  prejudice  against  my  friend,  by  the  ill 
offices  of  his  countrymen,   (whose  capricious 
tempers  I  am  well  acquainted  with)  I  entreat 
you  to  renounce  your  resentment,  not  only  for 
my  sake,  but  in  compliance  also  with  the  sug- 
gestions of  your  own  generous  nature.     Shall 
I  freely  own  to  you  my  real  sentiments  ?    To 
confess  the  truth  then,  there  does  not  appear 
any  just  reason  either  for  his  being  so  earnest 
in  pressing  this  affair  of  the  edifice,  or  for  your 
persisting  in  your  refusal.     This,  at  least,  is 
most  evident,  that  it  is  much  more  suitable  to 
a  man  of  his  character,  than  of  yours,  to  be 
obstinate  in  trifles.     You  are  well  apprised,  I 
know,   of  the  plea  which  Patro  alledges,  to 
justify  his  warmth  upon  this  occasion.    I  need 
not  mention,  therefore,  that  he  urges  the  ho- 
nour and  reverence  which  is  due  to  the  last 
injunctions  of  Epicurus' ;  the  particular  regard 

he 

'  "  Diogenes  Laertius  hath  preserved,  in  his  life  of  Epi- 
•*  curus,  the  will  of  that  great  philosopher.  In  the  first 
**  article,  the  schools  and  gardens,  and  every  thing  belonging 
**  to  them,  are  entailed  upon  his  successors  in  that  t?ect 
"  of  philosophy,  which  should  be  called  after  his  name." 
Mr.  Ross. 


SoOK  III. 


OP  CICERO. 


.287 


he  owes  to  the  earnest  request  of  Ph^drus;  to- 
gether with  that  veneration  which  ought  to  b^ 
paid  to  a  mansion  impressed  with  the  foot-steps 
of  so  many  celebrated  philosophers.    One  can- 
not, indeed,  condemn  his  zeal  in  this  instance, 
without  deriding,  at  the  same  time,  the  whole 
system  of  his  philosophy.     But  neither  you 
nor  I  are  such  enemies  to  those  pf  his  sect,  as 
not  to  be  inqliued  to  pardon  an  enthusiasm  of 
this  sort ;.  especially  as  it  is  a  prejudice  (if  it 
be  a  prejudice)  that  arises  from  the  weakness, 
not  the  wickedness,  of  his  heart.     But  I  must 
not  forget  to  mention  another  inducement, 
which  engaged  me  to  apply  to  you  in  liis  fa' 
Vour.  I  will  inti'oduce  it  by  assuring  you,  that 
I  look  upon  Atticus  as  my  brother :  and,  in- 
deed, there  is  no  man  who  has  a  more  consider- 
able share  of  my  heart,  or  from  whose  friend- 
ship  I  derive  greater  satisfaction^     Jt  is  ia 
pursuance  of  his  most  earnest  entreaty,  as  well 
as  of  Patro's,  that  I  make  the  present  applica- 
tion.    And,  though  Atticus  is  by  no  means  of 
a  temper  to  be  importunate,  nor  has  any  am- 
bitious 

♦  The  friendship  which  subsisted  betiveen  Cicero  and  At- 

Jlf  ?•  J'  '""iTu  *  .''"^''"'  *^'^"  ^^  ^^«  ™^s^  co^^'non  reader, 
that  It  would  be  impertinent  to  make  it  the  subject  of  a  note- 
fts  ,t  would  be  foreign  to  the  purpose  of  these  remarks,  to  enl 
ter  into  the  character  of  that  celebrated  Roman,  who  is  onJ  v 
mentioned  incidentany  in  this  place,  and  bears  no  part  in  the 
correspondence  contained  in  the  present  collection. 


288 


The  letters^ 


Book  IIL 


«. 


I 


bitious  purposes  of  his  own  to  gratify ;  yet  he 
has  desired  me,  with  ail  the  ardour  imaginable, 
to  exert  my  utmost  interest  with  you  in  this  ^ 
affair.     Not  that  he  is  influenced  by  his  parti- 
cular attachment  to  this  sect ;  for  he  has  too  * 
much  learning  as  well  as  judgment,  to  be  a 
bigot  to  their  unphilosophical  tenets :  but  he 
is  swayed  entirely  by  his  friendship  for  Patro, 
and  the  esteem  he  entertained  for  his  predeces-  ' 
sor  in  this  college,  the  worthy  Ph^edrus.     Hery 
is  persuaded   that  my  influence  with  you  is  sOr, 
great,   that  the  slightest  intimation  from  me 
would  prevail  with  you  to  relinquish  your  right 
to  this  edifice,  even  though  you  had  intended  to^^^ 
make  use  of  it  for  your  own  purposes.     If  he^ 
should  hear,   therefore,  that  notwithstanding^^^ 
you  have  no  such  design,  I  have,  neverthelfp, 
proved  unsuccessful  in  my  application  ;  he  will,,^^ 
have  a  worse  opinion  of  my  friendship  than  of 
yours,  and  imagine  I  did  not  sufficiently  en- 
force  his  request.    I  entreat  you  then  to  signify 
to  your  agents  at  Athens,  your  consent  to  the 
repeal  of  the  decree  of  the  Areopagites',  which 
has  been  made  in  relation  to  this  structure. 
Nevertheless,  I  will  end  as  I  began,  and  again 

assure 

«  Tbc  Areopagiles  were  magistrates  who  presided  in  the 
supreme  council  and  court  of  judicature  at  Athcn,  called  the 
Areopagus. 


Book  Iff      of  CICERO     •  gg^ 

asssre  you,  that  although  nothing  will  be  more 

acceptable  to  me,  than  your  compliance  in  the 

present  instance;  yet  I  press  it  no  farther  than 

a»  it  may  co-incide  with  your  owii  inclinations. 
Farewel. 

LETTER  XXVIIL 

[A.U.r02.] 

To  Marcus  CcEiius*. 

Cou  L D  you  seriously  then  imagine,  my  friend, 
that  I  commissioned  you  to  send  me  the  idle 
news  of  the  town ;  matches  of  gladiators,  ad- 
journments of  causes,  robberies,  and  the  rest 
of  those  uninteresting  occurrences  which  no 
one  ventures  to  mention  to  me,  even  when  I 
am  in  the  midst  of  them  at  Rome  ?     Far  other 
are  the  accounts  which  I  expect  from  your 
hand,  as  I  know  not  any  man  whose  judgment 
m '  politics  I  have  more  reason  to  value.     I 
should  esteem  it  a  misemployment  of  your  ta- 
lenYs,  even  were  you  to  transmit  to  me  those 
more  important  transactions  that  daily  arise  in 
the  republic,  unless  they  should  happen  to  re- 
late immediately  to  myself.     There  are  other 
less  penetrating  politicians,  who  will  send  me 

intelligence 

from  Alie-If  ***'•" '^'"  'he  preceding  one,  was  written 
from  Athens,  and  is  an  answer  to  the  25th  of  this  book,  p. 

Voi.  I.  u 


:J 


r 


i, 


t 


29©  The  LETTERS  Book  III. 

intelligence  of  this   sort,  and  I  shall  be  abun- 
dantly supplied  with  it  likewise  by  common 
fame.     In  short,  it  is  not  an  account  either  of 
what  has  lately  been  transacted,  or  is  in  present 
agitation,   that  I  require  in  your  letters :  1  ex- 
pect, as  from  one  whose  discernment  is  capa- 
ble of  looking  far  into  futurity,  your  opinion 
of  what  is  likely  to  happen.     Thus,  by  seeing 
a  plan,  as  it  were,  of  the  republic,  I  shall  be 
enabled  to  judge  what  kind  of  structure  wil^ 
probably  arise.     Hitherto,  however,  I  have  uo 
reason  to  charge  you  with  having  been  negli- 
gent in  communicating  to  me  your  prophetic 
conjectures.     For  the  events  which  have  lately 
happened   in  the  commonwealth,   were  much 
beyond  any  man's  penetration  ;    I  am  sure,  at 
least,  they  were  beyond  mine. 

I  passed  several  days  with  Pompey'  in  con- 
versation upon  public  affairs ;  but  it  is  neithev 
prudent,  nor  possible,  to  give  you  the  parti- 
culars in  a  letter.  In  general,  "however,  I  will 
assure  you,  that  he  is  animated  with  the  most 
patriot  sentiraentsV  and  is  prudently  jircpared, 

as 


'' See  rem.  8.  p.  275-.  of  this  vdl.  i      *    v- 

*  Cicero  so  often  changed  his  opini6n.  or,  at  least,  ms 
langauge,  m  regard  to  Pompey,  that  it  is  difficult  to  determine 
i^bat  hh  true  sentiments  ot  Inro  were.  It  i*  probable,  ^w^^ 
ever,  that  he  here  speaks  the  dictates  of  his  real  thoughts,, 
not  only  as  he  gives  the  same  account  to  Aiticus,  but  be-- 
cause  Pompey  received  him  with  particular  civility,  a  cir- 
'^  ^  cuw^t«nc« 


Book  III.  of  CICERO.  291 

as  well  as  resolutely  determined,  to  act  as  the 
interest  of  the  republic  shall  require.  I  would 
adv.se  you,  therefore,  wholly  to  attach  your- 
self to  h>m;  and,  believe  me,  he  will  rejoice  to 
embrace  you  as  his  friend.     He  now,    ndeed 

Cf":f  t  "'"^^^™^" '^^'^  ^^^^'^  >- -'' 

™>self,  of  the  good  and  ill  intentions  of  the 
different  parties  in  the  republic. 

I  have  spent  these  last  ten  days  atAthens- 

fromwhencelamthismoment'setting";' 
l^unng  my  continuance  in  this  city,  I  have 
frequency  enjoyed  the  company  of  ot  friend 
Callus  Caninius9. 

Trov'nce  '     ""f"^  ''''''  "^  ^^^'^--  -  *« 
p.  ov  mce  may  not  be  prolonged'.  I  will  not  pre- 

scriDf* 

cumsfance  which  seem*  at  oii  ♦•        .    , 

s.derable  influence ^^"'nC.cror^,;  ^''''  ^""^ ''  ''^y  ^°"- 

characcers  and  design's  of  meT  ^^K,  Tg^'"^  ''" 

ing  of  his  celebr^ed  fhea  re',  r,!"'"''"'"'"""'*  *'  "■«  "P^"- 

this  is  the  same  pers^nl^       ^""""'  '="''i««"res.  that 
peachment,  was  now    he',,!^'  '"  ^""'^qu^nce  of  that  im- 
'  The  ^n..  '        '"PPOses,  an  exile  at  Athens 

ine  succession  to  ihp  «ovi>..»r        .*■•"- -linens. 

*nnual.  As  Cicero  entered  "'*'*' P'°"""'  *'"  "*°a"y 
against  his  inclinltton,  helvaTcxtreLr"""'"'''".  ""«=*« 
«ny  accidental  circums  ancelof  ^^^"'""^'y  ""<^asy.  I«t,  by 

seiiate. 


I 


ill 

I:  I 


292 


The  letters        Book  IIL 


scribe  the  methods  you  should  employ  for  that 
purpose,  as  you  are  the  most  competent  judge 
by  what  means,  and  by  whose  intervention  it 
may  be  best  effected.     Farewel. 

July  the  6th. 

LETTER  XXIX. 

[A.  u.  ro2.] 
Marcus  C(ELIvs*  to  Cicxro. 

Yes,  my  friend,  Wessalla'  is  most  certainly 
acquitted,  and  acquitted  too,  not  only  by  a 
majority  in  the  several  orders*,  which  compose 

the 

senate,  where  be  iraagine<l  he  could  shine  with  a  much  more 
advantageous  lustre.  His  conduct,  however,  was  in  no  part 
of  his  life  so  unquestionably  laudable,  as  in  his  adrainibtra- 
tion  of  Cilicia,  2^  will  ap))ear,  perhaps,  from  the  remarks  oa 
the  following  book.     Ad  Att,  v.  10.  15. 

*  It  seems  probable,  from  one  of  the  epistles  to  Atticus, 
that  Cicero  received  this  letter  at  Gyarus,  a  little  island  m 
the  .^gcean  sea,  at  which  he  touched  in  his  voyage  to  Cihcia. 

Ad  Att,  V.  12.  *  ■ 

3  Marcus  Valerius  Messalla  was  consul  in  the  year  of 
Rome  700.  The  corrupt  measures  which  he,  as  well  as  the 
rest  of  those  who  were  joint-candidates  with  him,  pursued, 
in  order  to  secure  their  election,  were  so  extravagantly  pro- 
fuse, as  to  occa^sion  the  interest  of  money  to  advance  tu  dou- 
ble the  usual  rate.  It  was  for  those  illegal  practices,  that 
he  was  this  year  brought  upon  his  trial.     Ad  Att.\\.\5. 

♦The  bench  of  judges  by  a  late  regulation  of  P^n>pcy, 
was  composed  of  senators,  knights,  and  certain  officers  al- 
.rays  chosen  from  among  the  Plebeians,  called  Tribttni  arrarii, 
.vho,  in  modern  languai;e,  might,  perhaps,  be  styled  auili- 
tors  of  the  treasury.  These  judges  (sonvewhat  m  the  na- 
ture of  our  juries)  were  divided  into  three  classes,  agreji- 


BooKlIL  OF  CICERO,  2go 

the  l>ench  of  judges,  but  by  every  individual 
member  of  each  respective  class.     I  give  you 
this  as  a  fact  within  my  own  knowledge,  for  I 
was  present  when  their  verdict  was  deliVered. 
You  must   not  imagine,    however,    that   the 
world  is  convinced  of  his  innocence;  on  the 
contrary,  never  was  there  an  event  more  un- 
expected, or  which  raised  so  universal  an  in- 
dignation.     For  my  own  part,  even  with  all 
tny  prejudices  in  his  favour,  I  was  under  the  ut- 
most  astonishment  when  I  heard  him  pronounc- 
€d  not  guilty ;   and,   indeed,   it  was  a  circum- 
stance  I  so  httle  expected,  that  I  was  actually 
preparing  to  condole  with  him  on  the  reverse. 
What  must  have  been  the  surprise  then  of 
others,  less  biassed  in  his  behalf!     The  whole 
assembly,   in  truth,  warmly  exclaimed  against 
tlie  judges,  and  very  strongly  intimated,  that 
they  looked  upon  them  as  guilty  of  the  most 
insufferable  corruption.     My   friend,    in  the 
mean  time,  is  in  much  greater  danger  than  he 
was  before,  as  he  will  now  most  assuredly  be 
indicted  on  the  Licinian  law^     I  must  not 

fory^et 

ably  to  their  respective  orders,  and  gave  tbeir  verdict  by  bal- 

'  The  author  of  this  law  was  M.  Licinius  Crassus  when 
he  was  consul  with  Pompey,  an.  urb.  698.  It  was  caHrd2 
Sodal,Uu-  by  which  seems  to  have  been  understood  an  un! 
lawful  making  of  parties  at  elections.    Sec  Ken    IX^, 

V3  -•      ' 


|l 


M 


li 


i94 


The  letters 


Book  IIL 


forget  to  add,  that  the  day  after  his  trial,  his 
advocate  Hortensius*  appeared  in  Curios  thea- 
tre\  with  a  view,  as  I  suppose,  of  receiving 
the  general  congratulations.  But  he  no  sooner 
entered,  than  lo ! 

The  hiss  contemptuous,  and  indignant  roar, 
With  thunder  harsh  the  rending  concave  tore. 

This  circumstance  is  so  much  the  more  ohser- 
vable,  as  Hortensius  has  passed  on  to  a  good  old 
age,  without  ever  having  before  been  thus  in- 
sulted. But  it  broke  out  upon  him  with  so 
much  violence  in  the  present  instance,  that  it 
midit  well  suffice  for  a  whole  life  ;  as  I  am  per- 
suadcd,  indeed,  it  occasioned  him  heartily  to 
repent  of  the  victory  he  had  obtained. 

I  have  no  political  news  to  send  you.  Mar- 
cellus  has  dropped  the  design^  upon  which  he 
was  lately  so  intent;  but  not  so  much  from  in- 
dolence, I  believe,  as  prudence.     It  is  wholly 

uncertain 

*  Hortensius  was  uncle  to  Messalla,  and  the  only  orator 
of  this  age  whose  eloquence  stood  in  any  degree  of  competi- 
tion with  Cicero's.     See  vol.  ii.  p.  45.  rem.  5. 

7  This  theatre  was  erected  by  Curio  on  occasion  of  those 
jjaraes  which  he  exhibited  in  honour  of  hi^  father's  memory. 
See  rem.  6.  p.  236.  of  this  vol. 

•Coelius  in  this  instance  was  not  so  happy  in  his  conjec- 
tures, as  Cicero  represents  him  in  the  foregoing  letter.  For 
Marcellus  had  not  dropped  the  design  to  which  Ca-lius  here 
alludes ;  as  appears,  not  only  from  the  authority  cited  in 
rem.  7.  p.  '275.  of  this  vol.  but  alio  from  one  ot  his  own 
subsequent  fpisllrs.  See  the  7th  letter  of  the  following  book. 
p.  ^^9* 


Book  III.         op  CICERO. 


^95 


uncertain  who  will  be  our  succeeding  consuls. 
As  to  my  own  pursuits,  there  are  two  competi- 
tors with  me  for  the  ^Edileship ;  the  one  really 
is,  and  the  other  would  fain  be  thought  a  man 
of  quality.  In  short,  Marcus  Octavius^,  and 
Caius  Hirrus'  are  candidates  with  me  for  that 
office*.  I  mention  this,  as  I  know  your  con- 
tempt 

^  No  particular  account  can  be  given  of  the  person  here 
nrentioned.  It  is  certain,  however,  he  was  not  the  same 
Octavius  who  was  father  of  Augustus  Ca;sar.  l^>r  it  appears 
by  the  epistles  to  Atlicus  that  the  latter  was  governor  of  Ma- 
cedonia long  before  the  time  when  this  letter  was  wriiten  ; 
and  consequently  could  not  now  be  a  candidate  for  the  office 
of  iE  lile. 

'  liirrus  was  a  warm  partizan  of  Pompey ;  but  if  Cicero, 
wno  was  his  declared  enemy,  may  be  credited,  he  was  efa 
character  more  likeiy  to  prejudice  than  advance  any  cause 
he  should  espouse ,  for  he  represents  him  as  an  empty  con- 
ceited coxcomb,  who  had  the  mortification  to  stand  unrivall- 
ed in  the  good   opinion  he  entertained  of  his  own   merit  and 
importance.    O  Dii  !  (says  he,  speaking  of  Hirrus  in  a  letter 
to   his    brother)    O  Dii  f  quam  incptus ;  quam  se  ipse  amans 
sine  rivali  !  Yet  a  time  came  when  Cicero  did  not  scruple  to 
court  the  friendship  of  this  man,  whom  he  so  much  affected 
to  despise,  and  when  he  was  making  interest  to  obtain  the 
honour  of  a  triumph  fur  his  exploits  in  Cilicia,  we  find  him 
applying  to  Atticus  for  his  good  offices,  in  order  to  close  the 
breach  between  Hirrusand  himself.     Cicero  seems,  indeed, 
upon   many  occasions,  to  have  recollected  too  late,  that  in 
popular  governments,  a  man  who  is  not  superior  to  the  am- 
bition and  interests  of  the  w^rld,  can  scarcely  make  a  con- 
temptible enemy.     Ad  Q.  F.  iii.  8.     Ad  Att.  vii.  1. 

*  The  i^diles  were  of  two  kinds,  plebeian  and  curule ; 
and  it  was  the  latter  office  that  Coelius  was  at  this  time  soli- 
ciiing.  They  bad  the  care  of  the  temples,  theatres,  and 
other  public  structures  ;  they  were  the  judges,  likewise,  in 
all  causes  relative  to  the  sellmg  or  exchanging  estates.  Rosin, 
Antiq, 

U4 


I 


« 


m 


s' 


596 


The  LETTER5         Book  tlL 


tempt  for  the  latter  will  raise  your  impatience 
to  be  informed  of  the  event  of  this  election.  I 
entreat  you,  as  soon  as  you  shall  hear  that  I  am 
chosen,  to  give  proper  directions  about  the 
Panthers';  and,  in  the  mean  time,  that  you 
would  endeavour  to  procure  the  sum  of  money 
which  is  due  to  me  on  the  bond  of  Sittius. 

I  sent  my  first  collection  of  domestic  news 
by  Lucius  Castrinius  Partus,  and  I  have  given 
the  subsequent  part  to  the  bearer  of  this  letter. 

Farewel. 

LETTER 

3  It  was  customary  for  the  iildiles  to  entertain  the  people 
with  public  shews  twice,  during  their  office.  The  principal 
part  of  these  entertainments  consisted  in  combats  of  wild 
^asts  of  the  moH  uncommou  kind*     Manut, 


'"\i  ■ 


f}  1  •  ■ 


Book  lit.         op  CICERO. 


i97 


j.)i 


f  •  ■  ,» 


LETTER  XXX. 

[A,  u.  ros.j 

From  the  same. 

Own  the  truth,  my  friend  :  have  I  not  vcvU 
fied  what  I  could  not  persuade  you  to  believe, 
when  you  left  Rome,  and  written  to  yon  as 
frequently  as  I  promised  ?  I  am  sure,  at  least, 
if  all  my  letters  have  reached  your  hands,  you 
must  acknowledge  that  I  have  been  a  more 
punctual  correspondent  than  yourself.  I  am 
the  more  regular  in  my  commerce  of  this  kind, 
as  it  is  the  only  method  I  have  of  amusing 
those  few  vacant  hours  I  can  steal  from  business, 
and  which  I  used  to  take  so  much  pleasure  in 
passing  with  you*  I  greatly,  indeed,  lament 
your  absence,  and  look  upon  it,  not  only  as 
having  reduced  me,  but  all  Rome  in  general, 
to  a  state  of  total  solitude.  When  you  were 
within  my  reach,  I  was  careless  enough  to  let 
whole  days  slip  by  me  without  seeing  you : 
but  now  you  arc  absent,  I  am  every  moment 
regretting  the  loss  of  your  company.  Thanks 
to  my  noble  competitor,  Hirrus,  for  giving  me 
an  additional  reason  thus  frequently  to  wish  for 
you.  It  would  afford  you  high  diversion,  in 
truth,  to  observe  with  what  a  ridiculous  awk- 
wardness 


C98 


The  letters  Book  IIL 


wardness  this  formidable  rival  of  yours*  en- 
deavours to  conceal  his  mortification,  in  find- 
ing that  my  interest  in  the  approaching  elec- 
tion' is  much  stronger  than  his  own.  Believe 
me,  however,  it  is  more  for  your  gratification 
than  mine,  that  I  am  desirous  you  may  sooii 
receive  such  an  account  of  his  success  in  this 
pursuit,  as  1  know  you  wish.  For,  as  to  my- 
self,  his  disappointment  may  possibly  prove  a 
means  of  my  being  chosen  in  conjunction  with 
a  colleague,  whose  superior  finances  will  draw 
me,  I  fear,  into  much  inconvenient  expencc. 
But,  however  that  may  be,  I  shall  rejoice  if 
Hirrus  should  be  thrown  out,  as  it  will  supply 
us  with  an  inexhaustible  fund  of  mirtli.  And 
this  appears  likely  enough  to  prove  the  case  ; 
for  the  disgust  which  the  people  have  con- 
ceived against  the  other  candidate,  Marcus 
Octavius,  does  not  seem  to  have  any  great 
effect  in  lessening  their  many  objections  to 

Hirrus. 

As  to  what  concerns  the  behaviour  of  Philo- 
timus,  in  relation  to  Milo's  estate*,  I  have  en- 
deavoured 

♦  Hirrus  stood  in  competition  with  Cicero  for  the  office 
of  Au^ur,  when  the  latter  was  chosen. 

'  See  the  preceding  letter. 

*  Milo  having  been  senicnced  to  banishment,  (See  rem. 
1.  p.  257.  of  this  vol.)  his  estate  xvas  sold  for  the  benefit  of 
his  creditors.  Philolirous,  a  frecdman  of  Cicero,  bought 
this  estate,  in  partnership  with  some  others,  at  an  unJer- 
value.     It  was  thought  strange  that  Cicero  should  suffer 

'  Philotimus, 


Book  III.  of  CICERO,  r  gg^ 

deavoiired  that  he  shall  act  in  such  a  manner  as 
to  give  full  satisfaction  to  Milo  and  his  friends, 
and  at  the  same  time  clear  your  character  fron'i 
all  imputation. 

And  now  I  have  a  favour  to  beg  in  my  turn ; 
let  me  entreat  you,  when  your  leisure  slul!  per- 
mit (as  I  liope  it  soon  will)  to  give  me  an  in- 
stance of  your  regard,   by  inscribing  to  me 
some  of  your  literary  performances.     You  will 
wonder,  perhaps,   at  the  oddness  of  this  re- 
quest ;  but  I  am  very  desirous,  I  confess,  that 
posterity  should  see,  among  the  many  ingeni- 
ous monuments  you  have  erected  to  friend- 
ship, some  memorial,  likewise,   of  the  amity 
which  subsisted  between  us.    You  who  possess 
the  whole  circle  of  science  will  best  judge  what 
would  be  the  most  proper  subject  for  this  pur- 
pose ;  but  I  sliould  be  glad  it  might  be  of  a 

kind 

Philotimus,  who  acted  as  a  sort  of  steward  in  bis  family  to 
engage  ,n  a  purchase  of  th.s  kind,  which  was  always  iSed 

fTcicL"o  r^  ''^•^"i  y-^rucuUrly  so  in  th*  presJntt  e 
foi  C.cero  had  received  great  obligations  from  Jlilo      Ac 
cordtngly  the  latter  complained  o' it,  in  the  letters  he  Jol 

flL  n  ,t.  f"  '""7P<""'«"t».  <o  accmmcdate  this  al- 

fa  r  ,n  the  way  that  woul.i  be  most  to  his  honour.     I,  was 

ser^/aM  frvt  ,"  P''"""'  "'  hi^  Just.ficat.on  an  intent  of 
t!^a.,:o  •  ^  '■"  "PP"""  ''''y  e^*de"tlv.  from  his  letters 
t*AtVciis  upon  th.s  subject,  that  he  shared  with  PhiloUmu 


I 


»l( 


300 


The  letters  Book  III. 


kind  that  will  take  in  the  greatest  number  of 
readers,  and  at  the  same  time  bear  a  proper 
relation  to  my  own  studies  and  character.— 
Farcwel. 

LETTER  XXXL 

[A.  U.  TO*.] 

*  * 

To  Appivs  Pulcher. 

1  ARRIVED  at  Tvalles^  on  the  27tli  of  July, 
where  I  found  LuciUus  waiting  for  me  with 
your  letter,  which  he  delivered,  together  with 
your  message.     You  could  not  have  employed 
upon  this  occasion  a  more  friendly  hand,  or  one 
who  is  better  quaUficd  to  give  me  light  into 
those  aft'airs  concerning  which  I  M^as  so  de- 
sirous of  being  informed.     Accordingly  I  lis- 
tened to  his  account  with  great  attention,  as  I 
read  your  letter  with  much  pleasure.     I  will 
not  remind  you  of  the  numerous  good  DlBces 
which  have  passed  between  us ;  since  that  part 
of  my  last,  you  tell  me,  tho'  extremely  agree- 
able to  you,  was  by  no  means  necessary.     I 
entirely  agree  with  you,  indeed,  that  a  well- 
coaifirmed   friendship   needs  not   to   be   ani- 
mated with  any  memorials  of  this  nature* — 
You  must  allow  me,  however,  to  return  those 
acknowledgments  I  so  justly  owe  you,  for  the 


^  A  city  in  Alia  Minor. 


obligin 


cy 


Book  IIL 


OF  CICERO, 


SOI 


obliging  precautions  which  I  find,  by  your 
letter,  you  have  taken,  in  order  to  ease  me  in 

the  future   functions  of  my   government. 

Highly  acceptable  to  me  as  these  your  gene- 
rous services  are,  can  I  fail  of  being  desirous  to 
convince  both  you  and  the  world  that  I  am 
most  warmly  your  fiiend  ?     If  there  be  any 
who  pretend  to  doubt  of  this  truth,  it  is  rather 
because  they  wish  it  otherwise,  than  because  it 
is  not  sufficiently  evident.     If  they  do  not  yet 
perceive  it,  however,   they  certainly  shall :  as 
we  are  neither  of  us  so  obscure,  that  our  ac- 
tions can  pass  unregarded :  and  the  proofs  I 
purpose  to  give,  will  be  too  conspicuous  not 
to  force  themselves  upon  their  observation.— 
But  I  will  not  indulge  myself  any  farther  on 
this'  subject,  choosing  to  refer  you  to  my  ac- 
tions, rather  than  my  professions.  ^^ 
As  I  find  the  route  I  proposed  to  take  has 
raised  some  doubt  in  you,  whether  you  shall 
be  able  to  give  me  a  meeting,  I  think  it  neces- 
sary to  explain  that  matter.     In  the  conversa- 
tion which  I  had  with  your  freedman,  Phanias, 
at  Brundisium,  I  told  him  I  would  land  in  any 
part  of  the  province  that  should  be  most  con- 
venient to  you.     Accordingly  he  mentioned 
Sida,  as  being  the  port,  he  said,  where  you 
intended  to  embark.     It  was  my  resolution, 

therefore. 


k, 


502 


The   letters 


Book  HE 


therefore,  to  have  sailed  thither;  but  meeting 
aftdrwarcis  with  our  friend  Clodius  at  Cor- 
cyra',  he  dissuaded  me  from  that  design ;  as- 
surin«*  mc  tliat  vou  would  be  at  Laodicea  oa 
my  arrival.  1  should  have  preferred  the  for- 
mer^  as  being  much  the  nearest  port,  and,  in- 
deed, the  most  agreeable  to  me,  especially  as  I 
imagined  it  would  be  so  to  you.  But  you  have 
since,  it  seems,  altered  your  plan ;  and,  there- 
foye,  you  now  can  best  settle  the  measures  for 
our  interview.  As  for  myself,  I  propose  to  be 
at  laodicea'  about  the  first  of  August,  where 
I  shall  continue  a  few  days,  in  order  to  get  my 
bills  exchanged.  From  thence  I  intend  to  go 
to  the  army  ;  so  that  I  hope  to  reach  Iconium' 
towards  the  13th  of  the  same  month.  But  if 
any  accident  should  prevent  or  retard  these, 
designs,  (as,  indeed,  I  am  at  present  far  distant 
both  from  the  places  and  the  purposes  of  my 
destination)  I  will  take  care  to  give  you  as 
frequent  and  as  expeditious  notice  as  possible 
of  the  several  times  and  stages  of  my  journey, 
I  neither  ought,  nor,  in  truth,  desire  to  lay  you 
under  any  difficulties  :  howcvci',  if  it  might  be'' 

effected 

'  An  island  in  the  loniuii  sea,  at  wliicb  Cicero  touched 
in  his  voyage  to  Cilicia.  It  is  now  called  CotjoUy  and  belongs 
to  the  republic  of  Venice. 

^  A  city  in  Phryoia,  situated  on  the  river  Lycu«. 

*  A  principal  city  in  the  province  ofCilicia.  It  still  sub- 
shts  under  the  name  of  Cogui^  and  belongs  to  the  Turkihb 
dominions. 


Book  III.        oe  GICERO.  .        ^qj 

eflfected  without  inconvenience  to  yourself,  it 
seems  greatly  for  our  mutual  interest  that  we 
should  have  a  conference  before  you  leave  the 
province.  Nevertheless,  if  any  disappoint- 
ment should  obstruct  our  interview,  you  may 
still  rely  upon  my  best  services,  and  with  the 
same  security  as  if  we  had  met.  In  the  mean 
while,  I  shall  forbear  to  enter  upon  the  subject 
of  our  affairs  by  letter,  till  I  despair  of  talking 
th^m  over  with  you  in  person. 

I  spent  the  three  days  I  continued  at  Ephe- 
sus\  with  Sc^volaj.     But  though  we  entered 
very  freely  into  conversation,  he  did  not  men^ 
tign  the  least  word  of  your  having  desired  him 
to  take  upon  himself  the  government  of  the 
province,    during  the  interval  between  your 
leaving  it  and  my  arrival.     I  wish,  hpwever,  it 
had  been  in  his  power  (for  I  cannot  persuade 
mjjsqlf  it  was  not  in  his  inclination)  to  have 
complied  with  your  request.     FareweL 

LETTER 

Sm*r^a  ^^^^  ^^^^'^'•a^ed  city  ia  Ionia,  situated  not  far  fioB| 
•iul^^  ^^*  probably  either  quaestor,  or  lieutenant,  to  Ap- 


I 


A  ^ 


304 


TuE  LETTERS 


Book  III. 


Book  III. 


ot  CICERO. 


SOS 


LETTER  XXXIL 

[A,  U,  702.] 
WaHCUS  CcELIUS  to  ClC£RG. 

You  arc  certainly  to  be  envied,  who  have 
every  day  some  new  wonder  to  enjoy  ;  as  your 
admiration  receives  constant  supplies  in  the 
accounts  of  those  strange  events  that  liappcn 
amongst  us.  Thus,  with  what  astonishment  will 
you  hear  that  IMessalla*,  after  having  been  ac- 
quitted ofhis  first  impeachment^  was  condemned 
on  a  secoml ;  that  Alarcellus'  is  chosen  consul; 
that  CaUdius',  after  having  lost  his  election, 

was 

*  He  was  couiin  to  the  present  consyl,  Marctt»  Marcel- 
las.  The  reader  will  find  an  account  of  him  in  the  farther 
progress  of  the^  remarks. 

5  In  the  text  be  is  called  Marcus  Claudius :  tut  Manu- 
tius  and  Corradus  both  agree  in  the  reading  here  adopted, 
i»hicb  is  likewise  toi>ftrn»ed  by  Pighius.  Ha  was  competitor 
ibr  the  consulate  wiih  Marcellus,  mentioned  in  the  prcced-. 
ing  note.  The  wonder,  therefore,  in  these  two  instances,  was, 
(at  Mr.  Ross  observes)  that  Marcellus  should  be  chosen  con- 
sul, who  was  an  avowed  enemy  to  Caesar ;  while  Calidius, 
though  supported  by  the  Caisarian  party,  lost  his  eleaion. 

•  Calidius  was  one  of  the  moat  agreeable  orators  of  hfs 
mgty  as  Cicero,  who  has  drawn  his  character  at  large, 
informs  us.  His  sentiments  were  conceived  with  uncom- 
jnon  delicacy,  as  they  were  delivered  in  the  most  correct, 
perspicuous,  and  elegant  expression.  His  words  were  so 
happily  combined  together,  and  accorded  wit*i  each  other 
in   such   a  well-adjusted  arrangement,   that  Cicero,  by  a 

tcry 


was  immediately  impeached  by  the  two  Galli; 
and  that  Dolabella^  is  appointed  one  of  the 
Quindecimvirs* !  In  one  article,  however,  you 
are  a  loser  by  your  absence ;  as  it  deprived  you 
of  a  most  diverting  spectacle  in  the  rueful  coun- 
tenance which  Lentulus'  exhibited,  when  he* 
found  himself  disappointed  of  his  election.  It 
was  an  event  for  which  he  was  lo  little  prepared,  ' 
tliat  he  entered  the  field  in  all  thegay  confidence 
of  victory  :  whilst  his  competitor  Dolabella,  on 
the  contrary,  was  so  diffident  of  success,  that  if  ' 


our 


very  strong  image,  compares  his  styje  to  a  piece  of  beauti- 
Tul  in-laid  work.     His  metaphors  were  so  justly  imagined 
and  so  properly  introduced,  that  they  rather  seemed  to  arise 
spontaneously  out  of  his  subject,  than  to  have  beeti  trans- 
planted from  a  foreign  soil.     His  periods,  at  the  same  time, 
were  exquisitely  musical.     They  did  not,  however,  lull  the 
ear  with  one  uniform  cadence ;  but  were  artfully  diversified 
with  all  the  various  modulations  of  the  most  skilful  hafmony. 
In  short,  if  to  instruct  and  to  please  had  been  the  single  ex- 
cellencies of  an  orator ;  Calidius  would  have  merited  the  first 
rank  in  the  Roman  Forum.     But  he  forgot  that  the  princi- 
pal busiaess  of  his  profession  was  to  animate  and  to  inflame. 
Cic  de  clar,  orat.  274. 

^  A  particular  account  will  be  given  of  him  in  the  notes 
on  the  following  book. 

'  They  were  the  presiding  magistrates  at  the  Appollinari- 
an  and  secular  games,  and  entrusted  likewise  with  the  care  of 
the  Sibylline  oracles.     See  Mr.  Ross  on  this  epistle. 

'  There  is  some  variation  amongst  the  MSS.  in  the  read- 
ing  of  this  name.  The  best  commentators,  however,  suppose, 
that  this  person  is  the  same  who  was  advanced  to  the  con- 
sulship two  years  after  the  date  of  this  letter  :  that  is,  in  the 
year  of  Rome  704.  It  appears  he  was  a  competitor  with 
Dolabella  for  the  office  of  Quindecimvir. 

Vol.  I.  X 


r: 


i  i 


/ 


$06 


The  letters         Book  III. 


Book  III. 


OP  CICERO. 


bur  friends  of  tlie  Equestrian  order  had  not  been 
too  wise  to  have  suffered  him,  he  would  have 
tamely  retreated  without  the  least  contest.  But 
as  much  disposed  as  you  may  be  to  wonder  at 
our  transactions,  you  will  not  be  surprised,  I 
dare  say,  when  I  inform  you  that  Servius,  the 
Tribune  elect,  has  been  tried  and  convicted ; 
and  that  Curio"°  is  a  candidate  to  succeed  him. 
This  last  circumstance  greatly  alarms  those  who 
are  unacquainted  with  the  real  good  quahties  of 
Curio's  heart.     I  hope,  and  indeed  believe,  he 
will  act  agreeably  to  his  professions,  and  join 
with  the  senate  in  supporting  the  friends  of  the 
republic.    1  am  sure,  at  least,  he  is  full  of  these 
designs  at  present :  in  which  Caesars,  conduct 
has  been  the  principal  occasion  of  engaging  him. 
For  Csesar,  though  he  spares  no  pains  or  expencc 
to  gain  over  even  the  lowest  of  the  people  to  his 
interest",  has  thought  fit  to  treat  Curio  with 
singular  contempt.  The  latter  has  behaved  with 
80  much  temper  upon  this  occasion,  that  he, 

who 


»<>  Sec  rem.  1.  p.  217.  of  this  vol. 

«'  The  account  which  Dion  Cassius  gives  of  Caesar,  ex- 
actly corresponds  with  what  Calms  here  asserts.  For  it 
appears,  from  this  historian,  that  C»sar,  when  he  could  not 
by  direct  means  secure  the  master  in  his  interest,  insinuated 
himself  by  proper  applications  into  the  good  graces  of  the 
favourite  slave :  and,  by  condescensions  of  this  political  kmd, 
he  gained  over  many  persons  of  principal  rank  in  Home. 
D/o,  xi.  p.  149. 


307 


who  never  acted  with  artifice  in  all  his  life",  is 
suspected  to  have  dissembled  his  resentment,  in 
order,  the  more  effectually,  todefeatthe  schemes 
of  those  who  oppose  his  election  :  I  mean  the 
LjElii  and  the  Antonii,  together  with  the  rest  of 
that  wonderful  party. 

I  have  been  so  much  engaged  by  the  difficul- 
ties which  have  retarded  the  several  elections, 
that  I  could  not  find  leisure  to  write  to  you 
sooner:  and,  indeed,  as  I  every  day  expected 
they  would  be  determined,  I  waited  their  con- 
clusion, that  I  might  give  you,  at  once,  an  ac- 
count  of  the  whole.  But  it  is  now  the  first  of 
August,  and  they  are  not  yet  over ;  the  elections 
of  praetors  having  met  with  some  unexpected 
delays.  As  to  that  in  which  I  am  candidate,  I 
cdti  give  yoii  no  account  which  way  it  is  likely 
to  be  decided :  only  it  is  generally  thought  that 
Hirrus  will  not  be  chosen.  This  is  collected 
from  the  fate  that  has  attended  Vinicianus,  who 


'>■■#/ 


was 


"  If  Curio  did  not  act  with  artifice  in  (he  present  in- 
stance :  (of  which,  however,  there  is  great  reason  to  doubt) 
it  is^enain,  at  least,  that  he  was  far  from  being  so  incapable 
of  assuming  that  character,  as  Coelius  here  represents  him. 
.  On  the  contrary,  it  appears  by  the  concurrent  testimony  of 
V  the  ancient  historians,  that  he  secretly  favoured  the  cause  of 
Caesar,  bug  before  he  avowed  bis  party.  And  Dion  Cassius, 
10  particular,  assures  us,  that  Curio,  at  the  same  time  that 
be  pretended  to  act  in  concert  with  the  enemies  of  C^sar, 
was  only  gaining  their  confidence,  in  order  to  betray  them. 
VdPaterc.  ii.  48,  Dio,  xl.  p.  Up, 

X2 


A\ 


308 


TtiE  LETTERS         Book  III. 


Book  III. 


OF  CICERO. 


309 


was  a  candidate  for  the  office  of  Plebian  ]Ec\\le'\ 
That  foohsh  project  of  his  for  the  nomination 
of  a  dictator'^  (which  we  formerly,  you  may 
remember,  exposed  to  so  much  ridicule)  sud- 
denly turned  the  election  against  him  :  and  the 
people  expressed  the  loudest  acclamations  of 
joy  at  his  repulse.     At  the  same  time,   Hirrus 
was  universally  called  upon  by  the  populace  to 
give  up  his  pretensions  at  the  ensuing  election. 
I  hope,  therefore,  you  will  very  soon  hear  that 
this  affair  is  determined  in  the  manner  you  wish 
with  respect  to  me,  and  which  you  scarce  dare 
promise   yourself'^    I    know    with  regard  to 
Hirrus. 

As  to  the  state  of  the  commonwealth ;  we 
begin  to  give  up  all  expectation  that  the  faoe  of 

public 

'^  The  Plebeian  iEdiles  were  chosen  out  of  the  com- 
mons :  and  were,  in  some  respects  a  sort  of  coadjutors  to 
the  Tribunes. 

*♦  The  dictator  was  a  magistrate  invested  with  supreme 
and  absolute  power  :  but  was  iever  created  unless  on  emer- 
gencies of  great  and  sudden  danger,  which  required  the  exer- 
tion of  an  extraordinary  authority.  Accordingly,  it  was  on 
occasion  of  the  disturbances  that  happened  at  Rome  in  tli« 
year  700,  (See  rem.  9-  p.  256.  and  rem.  5.  p.  263,  of  this 
vol.)  that  some  of  the  friends  and  flatterers  of  Pompey  pro- 
posed him  for  this  office.  Vinicianus  and  Hirrus  were  th« 
principal  promoters  of  this  scheme  :  but  it  was  so  unaccept- 
able to  the  people  in  general,  that  this  single  circumstance,  it 
appears,  turned  the  election  afjainst  the  former  j  and,  probably, 
was  the  chief  reason  that  the  latter  was  likewise  disappointed 
s.  f  the  .Edileship.  Sec  let.  29-  of  this  book,  p.  295.  Ad,  Q. 
F,  iii.  8. 

*'  Bi.»cause  Hirrus  was  supported  by  Pompey. 


public  affairs  will  be  changed.    However,  at  a 
meeting  of  the  senate,  holden  on  the  2^d  of  the 
last  month  in  the  temple  of  Apollo,  upon  a  de- 
bate relating  to  the  payment  of  the  forces  com- 
manded  by  Pompey'^,  mention  was  made  of 
that  legion,  which,  as  appeared  by  his  accounts, 
had  been  lent  to  Csesar  ;  and  he  was  asked,  of 
what  number  of  men  it  consisted,  and  for  what 
purposes  it  was  borrowed.     In  short,  Pompey 
was  pushed  so  strongly  upon  this  article,  that  he 
found  himself  under  a  necessity  of  promising  to 
recal  this  legion  out  of  Gaul :  but  he  added,  at 
the  same  time,  that  the  clamours  of  his  enemies 
should  not  force  him  to  take  this  step  too  pre- 
cipitately.    It  was  afterwards  moved,  that  the 
question  might  be  put  concerning  the  election 
of  a  successor  to  Caesar.  Accordingly  the  senate 
came  to  a  resolution  that  Pompey  (who  was 
just  going  to  the  army  at  Ariminum'^  and  is 
now  actually  set  out  for  that  purpose)  should  be 

m  ordered 

**  Pompey,  though  he  remained  in  Rome,  was  at  this 
time  governor  of  Spain :  which  had  been  continued  to  him 
for  four  years  at  the  end  of  his  late  consulship.  It  was  the 
payment  of  bis  troops  in  that  province,  which  was  under  the 
consideration  of  the  senate.     Flut.  in  vit.  Pomp. 

*^  Now  called  Rin)ini,  situated  upon  the  Rubicon :  a 
river  which  divided  Italy  from  that  part  of  the  Roman  pro- 
vince called  Cisalpine  Gaul.  The  army  here  mentioned,  is 
supposed  to  be  part  of  those  four  legions  which  were  decreed 
to  Pompey  for  the  support  ©f  bis  government  in  Spain.  Vid* 
Plut,  ibid, 

X3 


316 


The  letters  Book  lit 


Book  IIL 


OF  CICERO. 


311 


ordered  to  l^tum  to  Rome  with  all  expedition, 
that  the  affair  relating  to  a  general  election  of 
new  governors  for  all  the  provinces,  might  be 
debated  in  his  pi-esence.  This  point,  I  imagine, 
Mill  be  brought  before  th(^  senate  on  the  15^h 
of  tliis  month  :  \vhen,  if  no  infamous  obstacles 
should  be  thrown  in  the  way  by  the  tribunes"*, 
the  house  will  certainly  come  to  some  resolu- 
tion. ForPompcy,  in  the  course  of  the  debate, 
let  fall  an  intimHtiort,  that  he  "  thought  every 
"  man  owed  obedience  to  the  authority  of  that 
"  assembly.'^  However,  I  am  impatient  to 
hear  what  PAitlus,  the  senior  consul  elect,  will 
say  wh^n   he  delivers  his  opinion  upon  this 

question. 

I  repeat  my  former  request  in  relation  to  the 
TTr(!mey  due  to  me  on  the  bond  of  Sittius  :  and 
I  do  s6,  that  you  may  see  it  is  an  article  in 
Whie^h  I  am  greatly  interesteil.  I  must  again, 
liketrise,  entreat  you  to  employ  the  Cybiratife'^, 


m 


■'  iSome  of  the  tribunes,  together  with  Sulpicius,  ^ne  of 
Aie  J)re^ent  consuls,  were  uholly  irt  Cre^aY's  interest. — 
They  thought,  or  pretended  to  think,  that  \X  was  highly 
unjust  to  divest  Cae?ar  of  his  government,  before  the  time 
was  Completed  for  which  it  had  been  decreed  :  and  of  which 
there  now  remained  about  nvo  y^ars  unexpired.     Dio,  xl. 

p.  148. 

■9  **  Cibyra  was  a  city  of  Phrj^ia  major,  situated  upon 
^  tlie  banks  of  the  river  Meander,  and  ga\'e  name  to  one  of 
**  the  three  Asiatic  dioceses,  wh.ch  were  under  the  jurisdiction 
"  of  the  governor  of  Cilicia."     Mr.  Ross, 


in  order  to  procure  me  some  Panthers,  I  have 
only  to  add,  that  we  have  received  certain  ac- 
counts of  the  death  of  Ptolemy ".  Let  me  know, 
therefore,  what  measures  you  would  advise  me 
to  take  upon  this  occasion ;  in  what  condition 
he  has  left  his  kingdom ;  and  in  whose  hands 
the  administration  is  placed.     Farewel. 


August  the  first. 


LETTER  XXXIII. 

[A.  U.  702.] 

From  the  same. 

How  far  you  may  be  alarmed  at  the  inva- 
sion' which  threatens  your  province  and  the 
neighbouring  countries,  I  know  not ;  but  for 

myself, 


ao 


Ptolemj  Auletes  :  of  whom  an  account  has  been  given 
in  the  notes  on  the  tirst  book.  By  the  following  inquiries  , 
which  Ccjjiius  makes,  it  is  probable,  he  was  one  of  those  who 
had  lent  money  to  that  king  when  he  was  at  Rome,  solicit- 
ing the  senate  to  assist  him  with  troops  for  the  recovery  of 
his  dominions.     See  rem.  2.  p.  51.  of  this  vol. 

'  The  Parthians,  having  lately  obtained  a  most  signal 
victory  over  Crassus,  (an  account  of  whose  unfortunate  ex- 
pedition has  already  been  given  in  the  course  of  these  notes) 
were  preparing  to  make  an  incursion  in  the  Roman  pro- 
vinces that  lay  contiguous  to  their  dominions. — Accordingly 
they  soon  afterwards  executed  this  design  by  invading  Syria 
and  Cilicia :  as  will  be  related  at  large  in  the  letters  of  the 
following  book. 

The  kingdom  of  Parthia  is  now  included  in  the  empire 
of  Persia;  of  which  it  makes  a  very  considerable  pro-^ 
vince. 

X4 


S12 


The  letters 


Book  HE 


rayself,  I  confess,  I  am  extremely  anxious  for 
the  consequence.  Could  we  contrive,  indeed, 
that  the  enemy's  forces  should  be  only  in  pro- 
portion to  the  number  of  yours,  and  just  suffi- 
cient to  entitle  you  to  the  honour  of  a  triumph*; 
there  could  not  be  a  more  desirable  circum- 
stance. But  the  misfortune  is,  if  the  Parthians 
should  make  any  attempt,  I  well  know  it  will 
be  a  very  powerful  one :  and  I  am  sensible,  at 
the  same  time,  that  you  are  so  Uttle  in  a  con- 
dition to  oppose  their  march,  that  you  have 
scarce  troops  to  defend  a  single  defile.  Rut 
the  world,  in  general,  will  not  be  so  reasonable 
as  to  make  the  proper  allowances  for  this  cir- 
cumstance. On  the  contrary,  it  is  expected 
from  a  man  in  your  station,  that  he  should 
be  prepared  for  every  occurrence  that  may 
arise,  without  once  considering  whether  he  is 
furnished  with  the  necessary  supplies  for  that 
purpose.  I  am  still  the  more  uneasy  upon  your 
account,  as  I  foresee  the  contests  concerning 
affairs  in  Gaul  will  retard  the  nomination  of 
your  successor :  and  though  I  dare  say  you  have 
already  had  this  contingency  in  your  view,  yet  I 
thought  proper  to  apprise  you  of  its  probabi- 

*  No  general  could  legally  claim  this  honour,  unless  he 
bad  destroyed  5000  of  the  enemy  in  one  engagement.  Val» 
Max,  ii.  8. 


Book  III. 


OF  CICERO. 


313 


lity,  that  you  might  be  so  much  the  more  early 

in  adjusting  your  measures  accordingly.  I  need 

^ot  tell  you  that  the  usual  artifices  will  un- 

doubtedly  be  played  off.     A  day  will  be  ap- 

pointed  for  considering  of  a  successor  to  Cse- 

sar :  Upon  which  some  tribune^  will  interpose 

his  negative;  and  then  a  second  will  probably 

declare,  that  unless  the  senate  shall  be  at  liberty 

to  put  the  question  freely,  concerning  all  the 

provinces  in  general,  he  will  not  suffer  it  to  be 

debated  with  regard  to  any  in  particular.    And 

thus  we  shall  be  trifled  with  for  a  considerable 

time:  possibly,  indeed,  two  or  three  years  may 

be  spun  out  by  these  contemptible  artifices. 

If  any  thing  new  had  occurred  in  public  af- 
fairs, I  should,  as  usual,  have  sent  you  the  ac- 
count, together  with  my  sentiments  thereupon: 
but,  at  present,  the  wheels  of  our  political  ma^ 
chine  seem  to  be  altogether  motionless.  Mar- 
cellus  is  still  pursuing  his  former  designs  con- 
cerning the  provinces:  but  he  has  not  yet  been 
able  to  assemble  a  competent  number  of  sena- 
tors.    Had*  this  motion  been  brought  on  the 

preceding 

'  See  rem.  18.  on  the  foregoing  letter, 
mpnt  Jt^^'l ''  ''"  oWurity  in  the  original,  which  the  com- 
None  oMK      '  ^«!^«-voured  to  dissipate  by  vanous  readings. 
None  of  their  conjectures,  however,  appear  so  much  to  the 

ve'rlTs  Th^'  1  ^ir^'t^  f '^^^™'' '  '^  whose  animad! 
rem  •  D  107  nf  ^l''^"*^!  acknowledged  myself  indebted.  See. 
rem.  p.  197  of  this  vol.     My  judicious  friend  supposes  that 


some 


314 


The  letters         Book  III. 


preceding  year,  anH  had  Curio  at  the  same  time 
been  tribune  :  it  would,  probably,  have  suc- 
ceeded:  but  as  affairs  are  now  circumstanced, 
you  are  sensible  liow  easy  it  will  be  for  C«gar, 
regardless  as  he  is  of  the  public  interest,  when 
it  stands  in  competition  with  his  own,  to  ob- 
struct all  our  proceedings.     Farewel. 


LETTER  XXXIV. 

[A.  U.  702.] 

From  the  same. 

Will  you  not  be  surprised  when  I  tell  you 
of  the  victory  I  have  gained  over  Hirrus^?  But 
if  you  knew  how  easy  a  conquest  he  proved,  you 
would  blush  to  think,  that  so  powerless  a  com- 
petitor once  ventured  to  stand  forth  as  your 
rival*.  His  behaviour,  since  this  repulse,  af- 
fords us  much  diversion :  as  he  now  affects, 
upon  all  occasions,  to  act  the  patriot,  and  vote 
against  Caesar.  Accordingly,  he  insists  upon 
Csesar's  being  immediately  recalled  :  and  most 
unmercifully  inveighs  against  the  conduct  of 

Curio. 

some  words  of  the  wrae  import  with  those  which  are  distin- 
pi\%\i^d  by  Italics  in  the  translation,  have  been  omitted  by  the 
carelessness  of  transcribers;  a  supposition  extremely  proba- 
ble, and  which  solves  the  principal  difficulty  of  the  text. 
5  At  the  election  for  curule  iEdiles.     See  let.  29-  of  this 

book. 

•  As  a  candidate  with  Cicero  for  the  office  of  Augur. 


Book  III. 


OF  CICERO. 


315 


Curio.  In  a  word,  as  little  conversant  as  he  is 
in  the  business  of  the  Forum,  he  is  now  become 
an  advocate  professed ;  and  most  magnanimous- 
ly pleads  the  cause  of  liberty'.  You  are  to  ob- 
serve,  however,  that  it  is  only  in  a  morning  he 
is  seized  with  these  violent  fits  of  patriotism :  for 
he  is  generally  much  too  elevated  in  an  after- 
noon to  descend  into  so  grave  a  character. 

I  mentioned,  in  one  of  my  former,  that  the 
affair  of  the  provinces  would  come  before  the 
senate  on  the  13th  of  the  last  month  :  neverthe- 
less,  by  the  intervention  of  Marcelius,  the  con- 
«ul  elect,  it  was  put  off  to  the  flFst  of  this  in- 
stant. But  when  the  day  arrived,  they  could  not 
procure  a  sufficient  number  of  senators  to  be 
present.     It  is  now  the  second  of  September, 
and  nothing  has  yet  been  done  in  this  business: 
and  I  am  persuaded  it  will  be  adjourned  to  the 
following  year.    As  far  as  I  can  foresee,  there- 
fore,  you  must  be  contented  to  leave  the  admi- 
nistration  of  your  province  in  the  hands  of  some 
person,  whom  you  shall  think  proper  to  appoint 
for  that  purpose:  as  I  am  well  convinced  you 
wdll  not  soon  be  relieved  by  a  successor.     For 
as  Gaul  must  take  the  same  fate  with  the  rest  of 
the  provinces ;  any  attempt  that  shall  be  made 
for  settling  the  general  succession,  will  certainly 

be 

•  Instead  of  agjt  cavsas  liberalis,  as  in  the  common  edi- 
tions, I  read  witii  Gronovius,  a^it  cauaam  iibertatis. 


i 


316 


The  letters 


Book  IIL 


.:! 


be  obstructed  by  Caesar's  party.  Of  this  I  have 
not  the  least  doubt,  and  therefore  I  thousrht  it 
necessary  to  give  you  notice,  that  you  may  be 
prepared  to  act  accordingly. 

I  believe  I  have  reminded  you  of  the  Pan- 
thers, in  almost  every  one  of  my  letters  :  and 
surely  you  will  not  suffer  Patiscus  to  be  more 
liberal  in  this  article  than  yourself.  He  has 
made  Curio  a  present  of  no  less  than  half  a 
score:  great,  therefore,  will  be  your  disgrace,, 
if  you  should  not  send  me  a  much  larger  num- 
ber. In  the  mean  time.  Curio  has^  given  mc 
those  he  received  from  Patiscus,  together  with 
as  many  more  from  Africa :  for  you  are  to  know, 
it  is  not  only  in  granting  away  the  lands  of  the^ 
public,  that  the  generous  Curio  displays  his  li- 
berality. As  to  yourself,  if  you  can  but  charge 
your  memory  with  my  request,  you  may  easily 
procure  me  as  m^-ny  of  tliese  animals  as  you 
please :  it  is  only  sending  for  some  of  the  Cy- 
biratae  to  hunt  them,  and  issuing  forth  your  or- 
ders, likewise,  into  Pamphylia ;  where,  I  am 
told,  they  arc  taken  in  great  abundance.  I  aui 
the  more  solicitous  upon  this  article,  as  I  be- 
lieve my  colleague  and  I  shall  exhibit  our  games 
separately  ;  so  that  the  whole  preparation  for 

them 

^  This  seems  to  allude  to  some  attrmpfs  which  Curio  had 
lately  made  to  revive  the  Agrarian  law.  See  rem.  13.  p.  l65. 
of  this  vol. 


H 


Book  III. 


OF  CICERO. 


317 


them  must  lie  singly  upon  myself.  I  know  you 
love  ease  as  well  as  I  do:  but  I  should  be  glad 
if  you  could  by  any  means  prevail  with  your- 
self to  part  with  a  little  of  it  upon  the  present 
occasion.  In  good  earnest,  you  will  have  no 
other  trouble,  than  merely  to  give  your  com- 
mands :  as  my  people,  Avhom  I  have  sent  into 
your  province,  in  order  to  recover  the  money 
tlue  to  me  from  Sittius,  will  be  ready  to  receive 
the  Panthers,  and  convey  them  into  Italy,  It 
is  probable,  likewise,  if  you  should  give  me  any 
hopes  of  succeeding  in  my  request,  that  I  may 
send  a  reinforcement  to  assist  them. 

I  recommend  Marcus  Feridius,   a  Roman 
knight,  to  your  protection  and  friendship,  who 
comes  into  Cilicia  to  transact  some  business 
relating  to  his  private  affairs.     He  is  a  young 
man  of  great  worth  and  spirit ;  and  his  father 
is  my  very  particular   friend.     He   holds  an 
estate  under  certain  cities  in  your  government 
of  which  he  is  desirous  to  procure  the  enfran- 
chisement: and  I  am  persuaded  he  may  easily 
obtain  his  point,   by  the  intervention  of  your 
good  offices.    Your  employing  them  upon  this 
occasion,  will,  indeed,  be  doing  an  honour  to 
yourself:  as  it  will  oblige  two  men  of  great 
merit,   who,   I  will  venture  to  assure  you,  are 
not  capable  of  proving  ungrateful. 

•\r   - 
lOU 


518 


The  letters 


Book  III. 


Book  III. 


OF  CICERO. 


319 


You  were  mistaken  when  you  imagined  that 
Favonius'  was  opposed  by  the  more  contemp- 
tible part  of  the  people :  on  the  contrary,  it 
was  all  the  better  sort  that  voted  against  him. 
Your  friend  Pompey  openly  declares  that  C«^ 
ear  oirght  not  to  be  admitted  as  a  candidate  for 
the  consulship,   while  he  retains  his  command 
in  the  province'.     He  voted,  however,  against 
passing  a  decree  for  this  purpose  at  present— 
Scipio'  moved,   that  the  first  of  March  next, 
might  be  appointed  for  taking  into  considera- 
tion the  nominating  a  successor  in  the  Gallic 
provinces;    and   that   this  matter   should   be 
proposed  to  the  house  separately,  and  without 
blending  it  with  any  other  question.     Balbus 

Cornelius 

»  He  was  a  ojcat  admirer  and  imitator  of  the  virtues  and 
manners  ot  Cat*. :  as  he  was  also  in  the  number  of  those  who 
assassinated  Caesar.  Manutius  conjectures  that  he  was  at  thii 
time  chosen  praetor.  Plut  in,  xU.  Pomp.  Dio,  xiyii.  p.  366. 

*  Pompey,  who  coi.tiibuted  more  than  any  man  to  the 
advancement  of  Caesar's  power,  had  lately  procured  a  law,  by 
which  ibf  personal  appearance  of  the  latter  was  dispen^d 
with  in  sohcHJ!  g  the  consular  office.  But  Pompey  now  be- 
gan to  repert  ot  a  concessi  n  so  entirely  unconstitutional : 
not  that  his  own  designs  were  more  favc^urable  to  the  liber- 
ties of  Rome,  than  those  ol  Caesar :  but  as  discovering  at  last 
that  they  could  not  both  subsist  together.  His  present  op- 
position, however,  was  as  impotent  as  bis  former  compliances 
were  impolitic ;  and  only  tended  to  bring  on  so  much  the 
sooner  his  own  destruction,  together  with  that  of  the  repablic. 
Vid.  ad  Att.  viii.  3. 

*  Metellus  Scipio  :  he  was  chosen  consul  by  Pompey  the 
latter  end  of  the  last  year,  agreeably  to  a  power  with  which 
k«   was  invested    by   the  senate,    for  nominating  his  col- 
league. 


Cornelius*  was  much  discomposed  at  this  mo- 
tion: and  I  am  well  assured,  he  has  complained 
of  it  to  Scipio  in  very  strong  terms. 

Canidius  defended  himself,  upon  his  trial, 
with  much  eloquence:  but  in  the  impeachment 
which  he  afterwards  exhibited,  he  supported 
his  charge  with  little  force  or  spirit.     Farewd. 

LETTER 

league.     Pompey  likewise  married  his  daughter,  the  ami- 
ftble  Cornelia  :  who  added    to   the  charms   of  her  person 
€vcry  moral  and  intillectual  qualification  that  could  render 
her  the  most  estimable  and  accomplished  of  her  sex.  And  yet 
with  all  these  extraordinary  endowments,  she  was  still  more 
distinguished    by  that   singular   modesty  and   humihty  with 
which   they  were  accompanied.     It  is  Plutarch  who  gives 
her  this  character:  upon  which  Monsieur  Dacier  remarks - 
Je  dots  etre  plm  persuade  qiCun  autre,  que  Veloge  que  Plul 
tarque  donne  a  Cornelk,  peat  iC kre  point  JlattL    JW  un  ex* 
emple  domestzque,  quiprouve  que  beaucoup  d' esprit  ct  de  savoir 
et  de  grands  talens  peuvent  se  trouver  dans  unefemmr,  et  Stre 
accompagnes  d'une  modestie  aussigrandeet  plus  estimable  en. 
core  que  ses  talens.     May  I  add  my  suffrage  to  that  of  this 
celebrated  critic,  by  declaring  from  the  same  domestic  expe- 
rience, that  uncommon  knowledge  and  a  superior  understand- 
ing, are  perfectly  consistent  with  those  more  valuable  quali- 
ties of  the  heart,  which  constitute  the  principal  grace  and  or- 
nament  of  the  female  character.  Plut,  in  vit.  Pomp,  Le^  vies 
dt  Plut.  par  Dae,  vol.  v.  p.  498.  ren'i.  89. 

*  He  was  inviolably  attached  to  Caesar,  and  seems  to  have 
been  the  principal  manaaer  of  his  affairs  at  Rome. 


-fi 


320  The  LETTERS  Book  III. 

LETTER  XXXV- 

[A.  U.  702.] 

To  Marcus  Marcellus',  Consul. 

I  VERY  warmly  congratulate  you  on  your  re- 
lation Caius  Marcellus  being  elected  to  succeed 
you  :  as  I  sincerely  rejoice  in  your  having  re- 
ceived this  happy  fruit  of  your  pious  affection 
to  your  family,  of  your  patriot  zeal  to  your 
country,  and  of  your  illustrious  deportment  in 

the 

3  He  was  distinguished  by  a  long  line  of  ancestors,  who 
had  borne  the  most  honourable  offices  in  the  republic  :  as  he 
himself  was  advanced  to  the  consular  dignity  this  year,  in  con- , , 
iunction  with  Servius  Sulpicious  Rufus.     It  is  mentioned  tQ  ^ 
the  credit  of  both  these  illustrious  magistrates,  that  they  were 
chosen  without   having  employed   those  corrupt  and  violent 
measures,  which  were  at  this  period  so  generally  practised  : 
and  Marcellus,  in  particular,  had  recommended  himself  to 
the  oeople  by  the  superior  grace  and  energy  of  his  eloquence. 
It  has  already  been  observed  in  these  remarks,  that  he  was 
^.xtremely  zealous  in  promoting  the  decree  by  which  Caesar 
was  recalled  from  his  province,  and  which  forwarded  the 
flames  of  that  unhappy  civil  war,  which  soon  afterwards 
broke  out  to  the  destruction  of  the  commonwealth.     Upon 
that  occasion  Marcellus  took  the  part  of  Pompey.    But  after 
the  battle  of  Pharsalia,  he  threw  down  his  arms,  and  with- 
drew to  Mitylenae,  the  capital  of  Lesbos,  where  he  purposed 
to  devote  the  remainder  of  his  days  to  a  philosophical  rttire- 
ment      But  being  persuaded  by  his  friends,  and  particularly 
bv  Cicero,  to  accept  the  clemency  of  the  victor ;  he,  at 
length.  Yielded  to  their  solicitation  :  and  was  preparing  to 
return  home,  when  he  was  cruelly  assassinated  by  a  mari 
who  had  been  in  the  number  of  his  clients.     The  reader  will 
find  a  particular  account  of  this  murder,  together  with  some 
other  circumstances  concerning  Marcellus,    m  tbe  farther 
progress  of  these  letters  and  remarks.     Suet,  tn  vit.  I  iber.  U 
Vio,  xl.  p.  148.     Cic.dc  clar.  orat.  250.  ep.  Fam.  iv.  12. 


Book  lit.  of  CICERO. 


32  J 


the  consular  office.     I  can  easily  imagine  the 
sentiments  which  your  address,  upon  this  occa- 
sion, has  created  in  Rome :  and,  as  to  myself, 
whom  you  have  sent  to  these  far  distant  parts 
of  the  globe,  believe  me,  I  speak  of  it  with  the 
highest  and  most  unfeigned  applause.     I  can, 
with  strict  truth,  assure  you,  that  I  have  ever 
had  a  particular  attachment  to  you  from  your 
earliest  youth  :  and  I  am  sensible,  you  have 
always  shewn,  by  your  generous  offices  in  pro- 
moting  my   dignities,   that  you   deemed  me 
worthy  of  the   most  distinguished   honours. 
But  this  late  instance  of  youf  judicious  ma- 
nagement in    procuring   the  consulship    for 
Marcellus,  together  with  the  proof  it  affords  of 
the  favour  in  which  you  stand  with  the  repub- 
lic, has  raised  you  still  higher  in  my  esteem. 
It  is  with  great  complacency,  therefore,  that  I 
hear  it  observed  by  men  of  the  first  distinction 
for  sense  and  merit,  that,  in  all  our  words  and 
actions,  our  tastes  and  studies,  our  principles 
and  pursuits,  we  bear  a  strong  resemblance  to 
each  otlier.     The  only  circumstance  that  can 
render  your  glorious  consulate  still  more  agree- 
able to  me,  will  be  your  procuring  a  successor 
to  be  nominated  to  this  province,  as  soon  as 
possible.     But  if  this  cannot  be  obtained,  let 
me  entreat  you,  at  least,  not  to  suffer  my  con- 
tinuance here  to  be  prolonged  beyond  the  time 
Vol.  I.  Y  limited 


i 


322 


The  letters  Book  IIL 


limited  by  your  decree  and  the  law  which  passed 
for  that  purpose.  In  a  word,  I  hope,  upon  all 
occasions,  to  experience,  in  my  absence,  the  be- 
nefit of  your  friendship  and  protection.    Fare- 

wel. 

P.  S.  I  have  received  some  intelligence  con- 
cerning the  Parthians  :  but  as  it  is  not  at  present 
sufficiently  confirmed,  I  forbear  to  communicate 
the  particulars  to  you.  For,  as  I  am  writing  to 
a  consul,  my  letter,  perhaps,  might  be  consi- 
dered as  an  information  to  the  senate. 

LETTER  XXXVL 

■ 

[A.  U.  702.] 

To  Caius  Marcellus*,  Consul  elect. 
I  iiECEivED  great  pleasure  in  hearing  of  your 
advancement  to  the  consulate.  May  the  gods 
o-ive  you  success  in  the  enjoyment  of  this  ho- 
nour ;  and  may  you  discharge  its  important 
duties  in  a  manner  worthy  of  your  own  illustri- 
ous character  and  that  of  your  excellent  father ! 
You  have  my  best  wishes  indeed  upon  this  oc- 
casion, not  only  from  affection,  but  gratitude, 
and  in  return  to  those  warmest  instances  of  your 

friendship 

♦  He  was  cousin  gcrman  to  Marcus  Marcellus,  to  whom 
the  preceding  letter  is  addreMsed  :  and  by  whose  interest,  in 
conjunction  with  that  of  Pompey,  he  was  elected  to  succeed 
him  in  the  consular  office.  He  pursued  the  pohticsof  his  il- 
lustrious relation  and  predecessor,  by  firmly  opposing  the 
vi«\YS  of  C»bar.     D/o,  xl. 


Book  III.         ©f  CICERO.  335 

friendship,  which  I  have  ever  experienced  in  all 
the  various  incidents  of  my  life.    Many  and  im- 
portant  are  the  obligations,  likewise,  which  I 
have  received  from  your  father,  both  as  my 
protector  in  adversity,  and  as  having  contri- 
blited  to  adorn  my  prosperity.    I  must  add,  al- 
so,  to  this  family-list  of  my  benefactors,  your 
worthy  mother:  whose  zealous  services  in  behalf 
both  of  my  person  and  dignities  have  risen  much 
higher  than  could  have  been  expected  from  one 
of  the  tender  se^.     Being  then,  as  I  most  car- 
tainly  ought,  entirely  devoted  to  your  family^ 
let  me  earnestly  entreat  your  friendship  and 
protection  in. my  absence.     Farewel 


■$   9" 


"1         ,1*1, 


<  *     * 


LETTER  XXXVII. 

[A.u.ro2.] 

To  Caius  Marcellus*. 

The  advancement  of  your  son  to  the  con- 
sular  dignity,  and  your  enjoying  a  pleasure  you 
so  much  wished  to  obtain,  are  circumstances 
which  afford  me  a  very  uncommon  satisfaction. 
They  do  so  not  only  upon  his  account,  but 
yours,  whom  I  esteem  as  highly  deserving  of 
every  advantage  that  Fortune  can  besto\^.    Let 

me 

is  WfiS^""^*^'"'  Marcellus,  to  whom  the  foregoing  letter 


324 


The  letters        Book  III. 


me  acknowledge,  at  the  same  time,  that  I  have 
experienced  your  singular  good-will  towards 
me,  both  in  the  adverse  and  prosperous  seasons 
of  my  life :  and,  indeed,  my  welfare  and  ho- 
nours  have  been  the  zealous  concern  of  your 
whole  family.     I  shall  be  extremely  obliged  to 
you,  therefore,  for  making  my  sincere  and  par- 
ticular congratulations  upon  this  occasion,  to 
that  excellent  woman  your  wife.     To  which 
request,  I  will  only  add,   that  I  entreat  the 
continuance  of  your  friendship  and  protection 
in  my  absence.     Farewel. 

LETTER  XXXVIII. 

[A.  U.  702.] 

To  Lucius  Paulus',  Consul  elect. 

Though  I  never  once  doubted,  that,  in  con- 
sideration of  your  most  illustrious  family,  and 
of  those  important  services  you  have  yourself 
likewise  rendered  to  the  commonwealth,  you 
would  be  unanimously  elected  consul ;  yet,  the 
confirmation  of  this  desirable  news,  afforded  me 

an 

«  He  was  colleague  wi.lt  Caius  Marcellus,  mentioned  in 
the  Ian  noie.  He  set  out  in  h.s  adroin.strat.on.  u  «-as 
too  h  with  pri.ciples  agreeable  to  tbo.e  of  h.s  assocm.e 
But  CxUr  perfectly  well  knew  how  to  make  h.m  change  his 
fentiments  :  and,  bv  proper  applications  to  h.s  avar.ce  and 
profuMun.  he  added  h.m  to  the  number  of  h.s  supple  merce- 
naries.    Plvt.  in  vit.  Pomp. 


Book  IIL 


OF  CICERO. 


325 


an  inexpressible  satisfaction.  It  is  my  sincere 
wish,  that  the  gods  may  give  success  to  your 
administration,  and  that  you  may  acquit  your- 
self of  this  honourable  and  important  trust,  as 
becomes  your  own  character  and  that  of  your 
distinguished  family.  I  should  have  thought 
myself  extremely  happy  to  have  been  present  at 
your  election,  and  to  have  contributed  those  ser- 
vices which  your  extraordinary  favours  to  me 
require.  But,  as  the  unexpected  government 
of  this  province  has  deprived  me  of  that  plea- 
sure, I  hope  I  shall  have  the  satisfaction  of 
seeing  you,  at  least,  in  the  worthy  exercise  of 
your  consular  office.  For  this  purpose,  I  most 
earnestly  entreat  you  not  to  suffer  me  to  be  in- 
juriously continued  in  this  province  beyond 
the  expiration  of  my  year :  a  favour  which  I 
shall  esteem  as  a  very  considerable  addition  to 
those  instances  of  friendship  I  have  already  re- 
ceived at  your  hands.     Farewel. 


Y3 


LETTER 


f  J     I  /  J  i 


t*r 


mmm 


(     327     ) 


LE.TTERS 


OF 


MARCUS  TULLIUS  CICERO 


TO 


SEVERAL  OF  HIS  FRIENDS. 


BOOK  IV. 


LETTER  I. 

[A.  U.  702.] 

I 

To  the  Consuls,  the  Praetors,  the  Tribunes  of 
the  People,  and  the  Senate, 

The  many  obstructionsL^I  met  with  in  my 
way  to  this  province',  both  by  sea  and  land, 
prevented  me  from  reaching  it  sooner  than  the 
last  of  July,     I  thought  it  my  first  duty,  on 

my 

*  Cicero's  province  comprehended  not  only  Cilicis,  but 
Pamphylia,  Lycaonia,  part  of  Phrygia,and  the  island  of  Cy- 
prus, together  with  som«  other  less  considerable  appendages. 

Y  4  Cilicia 


328 


Ttiz  LETTERS 


Book  IV. 


my  arrival,  to  see  that  the  Militia  and  Garri- 
sons were  in  good  order ;  being  articles  in  which 
the  interest  of  the  republic  is  principally  con- 
cerned.    Accordingly,  I  have  taken  all  proper 
measures  to  that  end :  though  I  cannot  for- 
bear adding,  that  1   have  been   enabled  to  ef- 
fect this,  more  by  my  own  care  and  dihgence, 
than  from  any  supplies  I  was  furnished  with  for 
that  purpose.     Having  thus  adjusted  my  mili- 
tary preparations,  and   receiving  daily  intelli- 
gence that  the  Parthians  had  actually  invaded 
Syria,  I  thought  it  adviseable  to  move  with  my 
forces  through  Lycaonia,  Isaurica,  and  Cappa- 
docia.  It  seemed  highly  probable,  indeed,  if  the 
enemy  bad  any  design  of  attempting  an  irrup- 
tion into  my  province,  that  they  would  direct 
their  route  thro'  Cappadocia ;  as  being  a  coun- 
try that  could  give  them  the  least  opposition. 
I  marched,  therefore,  into  that  part  of  Cappa^- 
docia  which  lies  contiguous  to  Cilicia,  and  en- 
camped at  Cybistra:  a  town  at  the  foot  of 
Mount  Taurus.     I  had  a  double  view  iaJead- 
ing  my  troops  to  this  place.     The  first  was, 
that  in  whatever  disposition  Artuasdes,  king  of 
Armenia,  stood  towards  us,  he  might  be  se:a- 

sible 


r>,l 


C  llcia  was  first  ad()fd  to  the  Roman  provinces  by  Publius 
St^rv^iius  dunuimed  rauncu*,  in  the  sear  of  Rome  680.  Ad 
4it*  V.  2i.     AtiJ.  MarctUin,  xiv.  ».  ,. 


Book  IV. 


OF  crcimo; 


32^ 


sible  ^lat  a  Roman  arfny^  Was  riot  far  from  his 
frontiers ;  and  in  the  next  place,  that  I  might 
be  as  near  as  possible  to  Deiotams* :  a  prince, 
I  well  knew,  extremely  bur  friend,  and  whose 
counsel  and  assistance  might  prove  of  great  ad- 
vantage in  the  present  conjuncture.  As  soon 
ais  I  had  finished  my  encampment,  I  detached 
my  cavalry  before  me  into  Cilicia.  This  I  did 
in  order  to  confirm  the  several  cities  in  that  part 
of  my  province  in  their  allegiance,  by  giving 
them  notice  of  my  arrival :  and  likewise  that  I 
might  have  the  earliest  intelligence  of  what  was 
transacting  in  Syria.  During  the  three  days 
that  I  continued  in  this  camp,  I  was  engaged 
in  discharging  a  commission  equally  necessary 
and  important.  I  had  received  your  express 
commands  to  take   the   worthy  and   faithful 

Ariobarzanes 

^  He  was  prince  of  Galatia ;  a  country  bordering  on 
Phrygia.  He  disliuguished  his  zeal  tor  the  republic  in  all 
the  Asiatic  wars  in  which  the  Romans  were  engaged  during 
hi«  reign,  and  wau  particularly  serviceable  to  Pompey  in  his 
expedition  against  Miihndates:  for  which  he  wa«^  honoured 
by  the  senate  with  the  title  of  king.  Sorne  time  after  the 
battle  of  Pharsalia,  (in- which  he  joined  writh  Pompey ),jii;s 
own  grandson  came  to  Rome  with  an  impeachment  agi^inst 
hiin.  He  pretended  that  Deiotarus  fbrmfed  a  design,  when 
Caesar  was  his  guest,,  as  be  lately  passed  through  hti  domi* 
nions,  of  assassinating  that  general.  This  cause  seems  to 
have  been  pleaded  in  Caesar's  own  house  :  where  both  Cicero 
and  Brutus  appeared  as  advocates  for  Deiotarus.  The  speech 
which  the  former  made  upon  this  occasion  is^slili-extant  raiid 
if^n  orator  may  be  credited  in  the  character  he  gives  of  his 
client,  this  prince  W4S  eiidpwed  with  every:  royal  virtue^ 
Orat.  fro  Deiot. 


330 


The   letters         Book  IV. 


Ariobarzanes^  under  my  particular  protection ; 
and  to  defend  both  his  person  and  his  kingdom 
to  the  utmost  of  my  power.     In  your  decree, 
which  passed  for  this  purpose,  a  clause  was  in- 
serted, declaring  that  "  the  welfare  of  this  pro- 
**  vince  was  much  the  concern  of  the  people 
"  and  senate  of  Rome :"  an  honour  which  was 
never  before  paid  to  any  potentate.     For  this 
leason,  I  thought  it  became  me  to  signify  to 
him,  in  person,  the  distinction  which  you  had 
conferrf^d  upon  him.    I  acquainted  him,  there- 
fore, in  the  presence  of  my  council,  with  tlie 
instructions  you  had  given  me  in  his  behalf: 
and  called  upon  him  to  let  me  know  if  there 
was  any  instance  in  which  he  had  occasion 
for  my  service.      I  assured  hm  at  the  same 

time, 

t  The  kiDg(!om  of  Cappaaocia,  of  which  Ariobarzancs 
was  monarch,  was  of  a  very  large  extent ;  comprehending 
the  greater  part  of  those  countries,  at  present  under  the  Ot- 
toman dominion,  which  are  now  called  Araasia,  Genec,  and 
Tocat.  It  appears,  however,  by  the  letters  to  Atticus,  that 
this  kingdom  was  so  extremely  impoverished,  that  the  crown 
was  almost  wholly  destitute  of  any  revenues:  a  circumstance 
to  which  Horace  alludes  in  one  of  his  epistles. 

MancipUs  locuples  eget  am  Cappadocum  Rer. 

The  instance  that  Plutarch  gives  of  the  great  scarcity  of  money 
among  these  people  is  indeed  almost  incredible,  if  what  the 
ancient  geographers  assert  be  true,  that  their  country  abound- 
ed in  silver  mines:  for  that  historian  tells  us,  that  when  Lu- 
cullus  was  carrying  on  the  war  ajrainst  Mithridates,  in  this 
part  of  the  world,  an  ox  sold  in  Cappadocia  for  about  four- 
pence,  and  a  slave  for  six-pence.  Ad  AH,  vi.  I.  Hon  ep. 
i.  6.     l^itit,  in  vit,  Litculli, 


Book  IV. 


OF  CICERO. 


351 


time,  on  my  own  part,  that  I  offered  him  my 
protection  Avith  the  utmost  zeal  and  fidelity. 
He  began  his  speech  with  expressing  a  proper 
sense  of  the  high  honour  thus  conferred  upon 
him  by  the  people  and  senate  of  Rome.  He 
then  addressed  his  acknowledgments  to  me  in 
particular,  for  having  executed  my  commission 
in  such  a  manner  as  to  convince  him  both  of 
the  sincerity  with  which  I  proffered  him  my 
good  offices,  and  of  the  strong  injunctions 
I  had  received  from  the  repubhc  for  that  pur- 
pose. 

It  gave  me  great  satisfaction  to  hear  him 
say  in  this  our  first  interview,  that  he  neither 
"knew,  nor  indeed  suspected,  any  designs  to  be 
carrying  on  either  against  his  life,  or  his  crown. 
After  I  had  congratulated  him  upon  so  happy 
a  circumstance,  and  exhorted  him,  in  remem- 
brance of  his  father's  fate,  carefully  to  ob- 
serve the  admonitions  of  the  senate  in  being 
particularly  cautious  of  his  person,  he  took  his 
leave,  and  returned  to  Cybistra.  The  next 
day,  however,  he  paid  me  a  second  visit  in  my 
tent,  accompanied  by  his  brother  Ariarathes, 
together  with  several  venerable  old  ministers 
of  his  late  father:  who,  in  a  very  plaintive  and 
affecting  manner,  all  joined  with  him  in  im- 
ploring my  protection.     Upon  my  inquiring, 

with 


532  The  LETTERS  Book  IV.. 

with  much  surprise,  what  sudden  accident  had 
occasioned  this  unexpected  visit,  he   told  me: 
that  he  had  just  received  certain  information 
of  a  design  to  seize  his  crown :  that  those  who 
>vere  apprised  of  this  conspiracy,  had  not  the 
courage  to  disclose  it  till  my  arrival,  but  in 
confid'ence  of  my  protection,  had  now  ven- 
tured to  lay  open  to  him  the  whole  plot;  and 
that  the  disaffected  parly  had  actually  made 
treasonable    applications   to   his   brothei;,    of 
whose  singular  loyalty  and  affection  he  ex- 
pressed,  at  the  same  time,  the  strongest  assu^ 
ranee.     This  account  was  confirmed  to  me  by 
Ariarathcs  himself,    who   acknowledged   that 
he  had  been  solicited  to  accept  the  govern, 
ment :  which,  in  effect,  he  said,  was  avowing 
their  intention  of  destroying  Ariobarzanes,  as 
he  could  never  reign  during  his  brothers  life. 
He  added,    that  he  had  not  acquainted  the 
king  with  these  treasonable  ovei;t^res  l>efore, 
as  being  apprehensive  for  his  own  person,  if 
he  had  ventured  to  reveal  them  sooner.    When 
he  had  finislied,   I  exhorted  Aiiobarzanes  to 
take  all  proper  precautions  for  his  security : 
and  then  turning  to  the  approved  and  expe- 
ricncfed  ministers  of  his  latl^er's  and  grand* 
father-s  reign,  1  reminded  them  of  the  cruel 
fate  that  had  attended  their  late  sovereign^  an^ 

admonished 


Book  IV.         ot  CICERO. 


333 


atlmonished  them  to  be  so  much  the  more  par- 
ticularly vigilant  in  protecting  their  present. 

The  king  requested  me  to  supply  him  with 
some  troops  both  of  horse  and  foot ;  whicli, 
however,  I  refused,  notwithstanding  I  was 
empowered,  and  indeed  directed,  to  do  so  by 
your  decree.  -  The  truth  is,  the  daily  accounts. 
I  received  of  what  was  transacting  in  Syria, 
rendered  it  expedient,  for  the  interest  of  the 
republic,  that  I  should  inarch  my  whole  army, 
with  all  expedition,  to  the  borders  of  Cilicia. 
Besides,  as  the  conspiracy  against  Ariobar- 
zanes was  now  fully  detected,  he  appeared  to 
be  in  a  condition  of  defending  his  crown  with- 
out the  assistance  of  a  Roman  army.  I  con- 
tented myself,  therefore,  with  giving  him  my 
advice :  and  recommended  it  to  him,  as  the 
first  art  of  government,  to  found  his  security 
on  the  affections  of  his  people.  With  this 
view,  I  pervaded  liim  to  exert  his  royal  au- 
thority in  the  present  conjuncture,  no  fartiier 
than  necessity  should^  require,  and  against 
those  only  whom  he  perceived  to  be  most 
deeply  engaged  in  the  plot:  as  for  the  rest, 
that  he  should  grant  them  a  ir^^  and  general 
pardon.  To  which  I  added,  that  the  best  ^se 
he  could  make  of  my  army  was,  to  intiniiclat^ 
the  guilty  from  persevering  in  their  desigas^ 


--   '    j't  f    M    '■   t   I   I    , 


rather 


334 


Thi:  letters  Book  IV. 


rather  than  actually  to  turn  it  against  them : 
and  that,  when  the  decree  of  the  senate  in  his 
favour  should  be  generally  known,  the  disaf- 
fected party  would  be  well  convinced  that  I 
should  not  fail  of  assisting  him,  pursuant  to 
your  orders,  if  occasion  required. 

Having  thus  encouraged  him,  I  struck  my 
tents  :  and  am  now  proceeding  on  my  march 
to  Cilicia.  I  had  the  satisfaction,  in  leaving 
Cappadocia,  to  reflect,  that  my  arrival  had 
wonderfully,  and  indeed  almost  providentially, 
delivered  that  monarch  from  a  conspiracy 
which  was  upon  the  very  point  of  taking  ef- 
fect. This  reflection  was  so  much  the  more 
agreeable  to  me,  as  you  had  not  only  volunta- 
rily, and  without  any  ap])lication  for  that  pur- 
pose, honoured  Ariobarzanes  with  the  acknow- 
ledgment of  his  regal  title,  but  had  particularly 
recommended  him  to  my  protection,  and  ex- 
pressly declared  in  your  decree  th%t  his  security 
was  highly  your  concern.  I  judged  it  proper, 
therefore,  to  send  yon  this  minute  account  of 
wliat  has  passed  in  relation  to  Ariobarzanes, 
that  you  might  see  with  how  much  piiidence 
you  had  long  before  provided  against  a  con- 
tingency which  had  well  nigh  happened.  And 
this  I  the  rather  do,  as  that  prince  appears  to 
be  so  faithfully  attached  to  the  republic,  as  well 

as 


Book  IV, 


OF  CICERO. 


SSJ 


as  endowed  with  such  great  and  excellent  qua* 
lities,  as  to  justify  the  extraordinary  zeal  you 
have  shewn  for  his  interest 


LETTER  II. 

[A.  U.  702.] 

To  Therm  US,  Propraetoi'*. 
Liucius  Genucilius  Curvus,  has  been 
long  in  the  number  of  my  most  intimate  friends  : 
aad  indeed  no  man  possesses  a  worthier  or  more 
grateful  heart.  I  recommend  him,  therefore^ 
most  warmly  and  entirely  to  your  protection; 
beseeching  you  to  assist  him  upon  every  occa- 
sion that  shall  not  be  inconsistent  with  your  ho- 
nour and  dignity.  This  is  a  restriction,  however, 
which  I  might  well  have  spared;  as  I  am  sure  he 
will  never  make  you  a  request  unworthy  either 
of  your  character  or  his  own.  But  I  must  parti- 
cularly entreat  your  favour  in  relation  to  his  af- 
fairs in  Hellespontus.  In  the  first  place,  then, 
I  beg  you  would  confirm  the  grant  of  certain 
lands  which  was  made  to  him  by  the  city  of 
Parion^,  and  which  he  has  hitherto  enjoyed 

without 

♦  Quintus  Minucius  Tbermus,  was  prastor  in  the  vetr  of 
Kome  701.  At  the  expiration  of  his  office,  he  was  appointed 
proprffitor,  or  governor  of  that  part  of  the  Asiatic  continent, 
styled  Asia  proper :  which  included  Lydia,  Ionia,  Caria,  My- 
sia,  and  part  of  Phrygia.  Cicero  speaks  of  him  in  a  letter  to 
Atticus,  as  exercuing  kis  administration  with  great  integrity. 

*  A  city  in  Hellespont.  . 


4^ 


336 


The  letters  Book  IV. 


Book  IV.  of  CICERO- 


without  molestation :  in  the  next  place,  that  if 
any  inhabitant  of  Hellcspontus  should  contro- 
vert his  rights  of  this  kind,  you  would  direct 
the  cause  to  be  heard  in  that  district.  But,  after 
having  already  assigned  him  wholly  to  your  pa- 
tronage, it  is  unnecessary  to  point  out  particular 
articles  wherein  I  request  your  good  offices.  To 
say  all  then  in  one  word :  be  assured  I  shall 
consider  every  instance  wherein  you  shall  ad- 
vance  either  his  honour  or  his  interest,  as  so 
many  immediate  favours  conferred  upon  my- 
self.    Farewel. 

LETTER  IIL 

[A.  U.  702.] 

To  Appius  Pulcher. 

Though  I  am  by  no  means  disposed  to  be 

more  favourable  to  myself  than   to  you,   in 

judging   of    the   part  we    have    respectively 

acted  towards  each  other ;  yet,  when  1  reflect 

on  our  late   mutual   behaviour,    I   have    far 

greater  reason  to  be  satisfied  with  my  own 

conduct  than   with  yours.     As    I   knew   the 

high  rank  which  Phanias  justly  possesses  in 

yotr  confidence  and   esteem,   I  enquired   of 

him  when  Ave   met  at  Brundisiura,   in  what 

part  of  the  province  he  imagined  you  chose  I 

should 


SSf 


.) 


should  receive  the  resignation  of  your  govern- 
ment.    He  assured  me  it  would  be  extremely 
agreeable  to  you  if  I  landed  at  Sida*.     For 
this  reason,  notwithstanding  I  could  not  have 
made  so  splendid  an  entrance  from  that  city, 
and  it  was  inconvenient  to  me,  likewise,  upon 
many  other  accounts,  yet  I  told  him  I  would 
certainly  comply  with  your  inclinations.  Some- 
time afterwards,  I  had  a  conference  with  your 
friend  Clodius,  at  Corcyra,  and  I  always  con- 
sider myself  as  talking  to  you,  whenever  I  am 
conversing  with  him.  I  repeated,  therefore,  the 
same  promise  I  had  given  to  Phanias,  and  as- 
sured him  that  I  intended  to  pursue  the  route 
which  the  latter  had  marked  out  to  me.     Clo- 
dius made  many  acknowledgments  upon  this 
occasion  in  your  name,  but  entreated  me  to 
change  my  design,  and  proceed  directly  to  Lao- 
dicia.     For  it  was  your  purpose,  he  said,  to 
advance  towards  the  maritime  part  of  the  pro- 
vince, in  order  to  embark  as  soon  as  possible. 
He  added,  at  the  same  time,  that  it  was  from 

yourgreat  desire  to  see  me  that  you  had  deferred 
your  departures  for,  had  any  other  person  been 

your  successor,  you  would  not  have  waited  his 
arrival.  And  this,  indeed,  corresponded  with  the 

letters 

•  A  soi-port  town  of  considerable  note  in  Pamphylia. 

Vol.  I.  7 


338 


The  letters 


Book  IV. 


Book  IV. 


OF  CICERO. 


339 


letters  I  received  from  you  at  Rome,  by  which 
I  perceived  your  great  impatience  to  leave  the 
province.     I  informed  Clodius  that  I  would 
comply  with  his  request,  and  with  much  more 
willingness,  I  told  him,  than  if  I  had  been  to 
have  executed  my  first  engagement  with  Pha- 
nias.    I,  therefore,  changed  my  plan,  and  imme- 
diately gave  you  notice  of  it  with  my  own  hand : 
which,  I  find  by  your  letter,  you  received  in  due 
time.    When  I  reflect  upon  my  conduct  in  this 
instance,  I  have  the  satisfaction  to  be  assured 
that  it  is  perfectly  consonant  to  the  strictest 
friendship.     And  now  let  me  desire  you  to  con- 
sider your  behaviour  in  return.  You  were  so  far 
then  from  waiting  in  that  part  of  the  province 
which  would  have  given  us  the  earliest  oppor- 
tunity of  an  interview,    that  you  withdrew^ 
to  such  a  distance,  as  to  render  it  impossible 
for  me  to  reach  you  within  the  thirty  days 
limited   (if  I  mistake  not)   by  the  Cornelian 

law, 

7  It  was  usual  for  the  governors  of  provinces  when  they 
entered  upon  their  administration,  to  publish  what  they  styled 
an  edict ;  which  was  a  kind  of  code  or  formulary  of  laws,  by 
which  they  intended  to  proceed  in  the  dispensation  of  jus- 
tice. Cicero's  institutes  of  this  sort  were  founded  upon 
maxims  so  extremely  different  from  those  by  which  Appius 
bad  regulated  himself,  that  the  latter  looked  upon  them  as 
so  many  indirect  reflections  upon  his  own  unworthy  conduct. 
And  this  seems  to  have  been  the  occasion  of  his  treating 
Cicero  in  the  manner,  of  which  he  here,  and  in  other  subse- 
quent letters,  so  much  and  so  justly  complains.  Ad  jit t. 
^u  1. 


law',  for  your  departure.  This  proceeding  (to 
speak  of  it  in  the  softest  terms)  must  look  with 
no  friendly  aspect  in  the  eye  of  those  who  are 
unacquainted  with  our  real  sentiment  towards 
each  other ;  as  it  has  the  appearance  of  your 
industriously  avoiding  a  conference.  Whereas, 
mine,  on  the  contrary,  must  undoubtedly  be 
deemed  conformable  to  whatever  could  be  ex- 
pected from  the  strongest  and  most  intimate 
union. 

In  the  letter  I  received  from  you  before  my 
arrival  in  the  province,  though  you  mentioned 
your  design  of  going  to  Tarsus^,  you  still  flat- 
tered me  with  hopes  of  a  meeting.  In  t|ie  mean 
time,  there  are  some  who  have  the  malice  (for 
malice,  I  suppose,  is  their  motive,  as  that  vice, 
indeed,  is  w^idely  diffused  among  mankind)  to 
lay  hold  of  this  plausible  pretence  to  alienate 
me  from  you,  little  aware  that  I  am  not  easily 
shaken  in  my  friendships.  They  assure  me, 
that  when  you  had  reason  to  believe  I  was 
arrived  in  the  province,  you  held  a  court  of 

judicature 

'  This  law  was  so  called  from  its  author,  Cornelius  Sylla, 
the  dictator. 

'The  capital  city  of  Cilicia.  It  is  celebrated  by  Strabo, 
for  having  once  vied  with  Athens  and  Alexandria  in  polite 
and  philosophical  literature;  but  it  is  far  more  worthy  of 
notice  as  being  the  birth-place  of  that  great  apostle  of  the 
Gentiles,  St.  Paul 

Z2 


34a 


The  letters 


Book  IV, 


judicature  at  Tarsus,  and  exercised  such  other 
acts  of  authority,  as  even  those  who  have  yet 
some  httle  time  unexpired  in  their  ministry,  do 
not  usually  choose  to  discharge.     Their  insinu- 
ations, nevertheless,  are  far  from  making  any 
impression  upon  me.  On  the  contrary,  I  rather 
consider  you  as  having  kindly  eased  me  of  part 
of  my  approaching  trouble ;  and  I  rejoice  that 
you  have  thus  abridged  me  of  one  fatiguing 
month  out  of  the  twelve  I  must  pass  through 
in  my  government.    To  speak  freely,  however, 
theiC  isK  circumstance  that  gives  me  concern; 
and  I  cunnot  but  regret  to  find,  that  out  of  the 
small  number  of  forces  in  the  province,  there 
are  no  less  than  three  complete  cohorts  want- 
ing, and  I  know  not  in  what  part  they  arc 
dispersed.  But  my  principal  uneasiness  is,  that 
I  cannot  learn  where  I  shall  see  you ;  and  I 
should  have  sooner  told  you  so,  if  I  had  not 
concluded,  from  your  total  silence,  both  as  to 
"what  you  were  doing,  and  where  you  proposed 
to  give  me  an  interview,  that  I  might  daily 
expect  your  arrival.  I  have,  therefore,  dispatch- 
ed my  brave  and  worthy  friend  Antonius,  prae- 
fect  of  the  Evocati\  with  this  letter ;  and,  if 

you 

'  These  were  troops  composed  of  experienced  soldiers, 
wlio  had  served   out  their  legal  time,  or  had  received  their 
ilismission  as  a  reward  of  their  valour.    They  usually  guard- 
ed 


•<v 


Book  IV. 


OF  CICERO. 


34 1 


you  think  proper,  you  may  deliver  up  to  him 
the  command  of  the  troops,  that  I  may  be  able 
to  enter  upon  some  action  ere  the  season  is  too 
far  advanced.    I  had  reason  to  hope,  both  from 
our  friendship  and  your  letters,  to  have  had  the 
benefit  of  your  advice  upon  this  occasion;  and, 
indeed,  I  will  not  even  yet  despair  of  enjoying 
that  advantage.    However,  unless  you  give  me 
notice,   it  is  impossible  I  should  discover  either 
when  or  where  I  am  to  have  that  satisfaction. 
In  the  mean  while,  I  shall  endeavour  to  con- 
vince even  the  most  uncandid,  as  well  as  the 
equitable  part  of  the  world,  that  I  am  sincerely 
your  friend.     I  cannot  forbear  saying,  never- 
tlieless,  that  those  who  are  not  disposed  to  judge 
in  the  most  favourable  manner,  have  some  littie 
cause  to  imagine  that  you  do  not  bear  the  same 
amicable  disposition  towards  me,  and  I  shall  be 
much  obliged  to  you  for  endeavouring  to  re- 
move their  suspicions. 

That  you  may  not  be  at  a  loss  what  measures 
to  take  in  order  to  our  meeting  consistently* 

with 

ed  the  chief  standard,  and  were  excused  from  the  more  ser- 
vile employments  of  the  military  functions. 

*  It  appears,  by  what  follows,  that  this  time  was  already 
elapsed.  Mr.  Ross  was  aware  of  this  difficulty,  and  has 
solved  it  by  supposing  that  Cicero  "  must  mean  some  place 
*^  without  the  limits  of  the  province."  For  otherwise  Ci-  , 
cere's  request  cannot  be  reconciled,  that  cemmeiitator  ob- 
fierves,  to  the  terms  of  the  Cornelian  law. 

Z3 


342 


The  letters 


Book  IV. 


with  the  terms  of  the  Cornelian  law;  I  think  it 
necessary  to  inform  you,  that  I  arrived  in  the 
province  on  the  last  day  of  J  uly ;  that  I  marched 
from  Iconium'  on  the  31st  of  August,  and  am 
now  advancing  to  Cilicia  by  the  way  of  Cappa- 
docia.  After  having  thus  traced  out  my  route, 
you  will  let  me  know,  in  case  you  should  think 
proper  to  meet  me,  what  time  and  place  will  be 
most  convenient  to  you  for  that  purpose. 
Farewel. 


LETTER  IV. 

[A.  U.  702.] 

To  Marcus  Cato\ 

I  THOUGHT  it  agreeable  to  our  friendship  to 
communicate  to  you  the  intelligence  I  have 
lately  received.  I  am  to  inform  you,  then,  that 
envoys  from  Antioches,  king  of  Commagene^ 
arrived  in  my  camp  at  Iconium,  on  the  30th 
of  August.  They  brought  me  advice  that  the 
kino-  of  Parthia's  son,  who  is  married,  it  seems, 
to  a  sister  of  the  king  of  Armenia,  was  ad- 
vanced to  the  banks  of  the  Euphrates ;  that  he 
was  at  the  head  of  a  very  considerable  army, 

'  composed 

3  Some  account  will  be  given  of  this  great  and  celebrated 
patriot,  in  the  notes  on  the  first  letter  of  the  following  book. 

♦  Commagenc  was  a  part  of  Syria  not  subjected  to  the 
Koman  domiBion. 


Book  IV. 


o^  CICERO. 


343 


composed  of  his  own  nation,  together  with  a 
laro-e  body  of  foreign  auxiliaries :  that  he  had 
actually  begun  to  transport  his  troops  over  the 
river;  and  that  it  was  reported  the  king  of  Ar- 
menia had  a  design  to  invade  Cappadocia.  I 
have  forborne  to  acquaint  the  senate  with  this 
news,  for  two  reasons.  The  first  is,  because  the 
Commagenian  envoys  assured  me  that  Antio- 
chus  had  immediately  dispatched  an  express  to 
Rome  with  this  account;  and,  in  the  next 
place,  knowing  that  the  proconsul  Marcus  Bi- 
bulus^  had  sailed  from  Ephesus  with  a  favour- 
able wind  about  the  13th  of  August,  I  ima- 
gined he  had  by  this  time  reached  his  province, 
and  would  be  able  to  give  the  senate  a  more 
certain  and  particular  intelligence. 

As  to  my  own  situation  with  respect  to  this 
important  war,  it  is  my  utmost  endeavour  to 
find  that  security  from  the  clemency  of  my  ad- 
ministration, and  the  fidelity  of  our  allies, 
which  I  can  scarce  expect  from  the  strength 
and  number  of  my  troops.  I  have  only  to  add 
my  entreaties  that  you  would  continue,  as  usual, 
to  favour  me  with  your  friendly  offices  in  my 

absence.     Farewel. 

LETTER 

*  Proconsul  of  Syria. 

Z4 


/ 


844 


The  letters        Book  IV. 


LETTER  V. 


Book:  IV. 


OF  CICERO. 


345 


[A.  u.  roe.] 
To  Th  e  r  m  u  s,  Propraetor. 

Cluvius    Puteolaxus  distinguishes    m% 
upon  all  occasions,  with  the  highest  marks  of 
esteem ;  indeed,  we  are  un  ted  in  the  strictjcst 
bands  of  amity.     He  has  some  affairs  in  your 
province,  and,  unless  he  should  be  able  by  my 
means  to  settle  tliem  during  your  administra- 
tion, he  looks  upon  them  as  utterly  desperate. 
This  task,  my  very  obliging  friend  having  as- 
signed to  my  care,  I  take  the  liberty  (in  confi- 
dence of  that  most  amicable  disposition  you 
have  ever  discovered  towards  me)  of  transfeir 
ring  it  to  yours ;  with  this   restriction,  never- 
theless, that  it  do  not  eivgage  you  in  too  much 
trouble.     I  am  to  inform  you,  then,  that  the 
corporations   of  Mylata   and   Alabanda^    are 
respectively   indebted   to  Cluvius ;    and   that 
Euthvdcmus   assured   me,    when   I    saw   him 
at  Epliesus,    he  would  take  care   that  Syn- 
dics* should  be  sent  to  Rome  from  the  for- 
mer, in  order  to  adjust  the  matters  in  contro- 
versy between  them.     This,  however,  has  not 

been 

5  Two  ci  i  s  of  Caria,  in  Asia  ^'inor. 
•These  officers  were  a  kind  of  stlicitors  to  the  treasury 
of  their  respective  corporations. 


been  performed  :  on  the  contrary,  I  hear  they 
have  commissioned  deputies  to  negotiate  this 
affair  in  their  stead.  But  Syndics  are  the  pro|>er 
persons,  and  therefore  I  entreat  you  to  command 
these  cities  to  dispatch  those  officers  to  Rome, 
that  this  question  may  be  soon  and  finally  de- 
termined.    I  am  farther  to  acquaint  you,  that 
Philotes,  of  Alabanda,  has  assigned  certain  ef- 
fects to  Cluvius  by  a  bill  of  sale.     But  the 
time  for  paym^ent  of  the  money,  for   which 
they  are  a  security,   being  elapsed,  I  beg  you 
would   compel  him  either   to   discharge   the 
debt,  or  to  deliver  the  goods  to  the  agents  of' 
Cluvius.     My  friend   has  likewise  some  de- 
mands  of  the  same  kind  upon  the  cities  of 
Heraclea  and  Bargylos^    I  beseech  you,  there- 
fore, either  to  procure  him  satisfaction,  by  an 
immediate  payment,  or  to  oblige  them  to  put 
him  in  possession  of  a  proportionable  part  of 
their  demesnes.     The  corporation  of  Caunus' 
is  also  indebted  to  Cluvius  :  but  they  insist 
that,  as  the  money  has  been  ready  for  him, 
and  actually  lodged  in  the  temple,  for  that 
purpose,  he  is  not  entitled  to  any  interest  be- 
yond the  time  the  principal  was  so  deposited*. 

I  entreat 

^  In  Caria. 

*  This  city  was  likewise  in  Carfa. 

»  This  passage  is  rendered  in  a  sense  very  different  from 
that  m  which  all  the  commemators  have   understood  it. 


346  The  LETTERS          Book  IV- 

the  favour  of  you  to  enquire  into  the  truth  of 
the  fact,  and  if  it  shall  appear  that  the  sum  in 
question  was  not  paid  into  the  sacred  treasury 

either 

They  take  the  expression,  aiunt  se  pfCvniatM  depositam  habu- 
isse    10  mean,   That  the  Caunians  pretended  the  money  m 
^i.pute  xvas  a  deposite ;  and,  therefore,   that  they  were  not 
liaUe  to  pay  interest.     But  if  we  suppose  the  question  be- 
tween the  Caumans  and  Cluvius  to  have  been,  whether  the 
sum  he  demanded   was  or  w«9  not  a  deposite ;  the  request 
i^hich  Ckero  afterwards  makes  must  be  highly  unjust :« 
intelkieris  eos  ncque  ex  edicto  neque  ex  decreto  depo^itam  ha^ 
hmsse,  rfef   optram   ut   usnrx   Cluvw   comerxciitur      i'or  rt 
they  were  merely  trustees,  it  could  make  no  equitable  differ- 
ence whether  the  money  came  to  them  by  a  judicial  de- 
cree   or  from  a   private  hand  :  and  in  either  case  it  must 
have  been  equally  oppressive  to  oblige  them  to  pay  interest. 
Kow  this  difficulty  will  be  entirely  removed,  by  supposing 
that  the    expression   dtpositam   hahume,   is   penphrastical, 
and  to  be  resolved  into  deposuisic,     Ai»d  this  is  agreeable  to 
the  idiom  of  the  Latin  language,  as  well  as  to  the  manner  m 
which  Cicero  expresses  himself  upon  other  occasions.     1  hus 
,n  his  treatise  De  clar.  oral.  U?.  habere  cogmtum  Scttiolum, 
is  equivalent  to  cogfioscere :  as  in  ?\^utu,  lobis  have  hibco 
tdktlo^em,  is  the  same  as  edica.     Pseud,   i.  n.   39-     i^ut   it 
vecuniam  depositam  habuisse,  is  a  circumlocution  lor  (/e6««M- 
Use    some  substantive   must  be  understood  to  complete  the 
sense:  and   accordingly,  a  passage  in  the  letters  to  Atticus 
will  not  only  point  out  the  word  required,   but  prove  like- 
wise  that    dcpouo   is    used   in  this  ebptical   manner.--Ci- 
cero,  giving  an  account  to  Atticus  of  a  transaction  relahng 
to  the  claim  of  a  debt  due  from  the  city  o*  Salamis,  in  C>- 
prus,   tells  him,   that    dcponere  volebant.     Ad   Alt.   vi     1. 
which,  in  another   letter,   where  he  is  speaking  of  the  veiy 
same  affair,  he  expresses  at  full  length  :  ut  ^"/^"^/^Z^^" 
rent  postulant  thus,  says  he,   noH  cmcesst.     Ad  Att.  v.  ^i. 
And  The  last  cited  passages  will  not  only  justify,  but  explain, 
the  sense  contended   for:   as  they  prove  that  it  was  usual 
where  any  controversy  arose  concerning  the  quantum  ol   a 
debt,  for  the  defendant  to  apply  for  leave  to  pay  the  money 
into  some  temple ;  from  which  time  it  no  longer  carried  in- 
terekt      Thus  Cicero  tells  Atticus  that  the  interest  "P^'^^^ 


Book  IV. 


OF  CICERO. 


347 


either  in  conformity  to  the  general  edict^  or 
special  decree,  of  the  prsetor;  to  direct  that 
Cluvius  may  have  such  a  rate  of  interest  al- 
lowed him,  as  is  agreeable  to  the  laws  you  have 
established  in  these  cases. 

I  enter  with  so  much  the  more  waimth  into 
these  affairs,  as  my  friend  Pompey  likewise 
makes  them  his  own ;  and,  indeed,  seems  more 
solicitous  for  their  success  than  even  Cluvius 
himself  As  I  am  extremely  desirous  that  the 
latter  should  have  reason  to  be  satisfied  with 
my  good  offices,  I  most  earnestly  request  yours 
upon  this  occasion.     Farewel. 

LETTER 

debt  due  from  the  city  of  Salamis  ought  to  have  ceased 
comutere  usura  dehuit :  and  assigns  this  reason  for  it  •  depol 
fiere  vokbant :  they  were  ready  and  desirous  to  have  lodged 
It  in  the  sacred  treasury.  But,  in  the  case  of  Cluvius,  if  the 
Caunians  had  paid  in  the  money  without  giving  him  notice 
(which  might  very  possibly  have  been  the  fact,  if  they  had 
not  acied  under  a  judicial  order)  it  was  no  unreasonable  re- 
quest to  desire  they  might  be  compelled  to  pay  the  whole  in- 
terest up  to  the  time  when  Cluvius  should  receive  the  princi- 
•     ,  /' 

By  the  term  edict  is  meant,  in  this  place,  that  formulary 
of  provincial  laws  explained  in  rem.  7.  p.  338.  of  this  vol. 


S4S 


The  letters         Book  IV. 


LETTER  VL 

[A.  U.  TOJ.] 

To  the  Consuls,  the  Praetors,  the  Tribunes  of 
the  People,  and  the  Senate. 

Th  e  first  inteUigence  I  received  that  the  Par- 
thians  had  passed  the  greatest  part  of  their 
army  over  the  Euphrates,  was  extremely  posi- 
tive.    However,  as  I  imagined  the  proconsul, 
Marcus  Bibulus-,  could  give  you  a  more  certain 
account  of  this  event,  I  did  not  think  it  neces- 
sary to  charge  myself  with  the  relation  of  what 
more  immediately  concerned  the  province  of 
another.     But,  since  my  last  dispatch,  I  have 
been  farther  and  more  satisfactorily  assured  of 
this  fact,  by  several  expresses  and  deputations, 
that  have  been  sent  to  me  for  that  purpose.— 
When  I  consider,  therefore,  the  great  impor- 
tance of  this  news  to  the  republic ;  that  it  is 
uncertain,   likewise,   whether   Bibulus   is  yet 
arrived  in  Syria ;  and  that  I  am  almost  equally 
concerned  with  him  in  the  conduct  of  this 
Avar ;  I  deem  myself  obliged  to  communicate 
to  you  the  purport  of  my   several  informa- 
tions. 

The  first  advice  I  received   was  from  the 
ambassadors  of  Antiochus,  king  of  Comma- 
gene; 


Book  IV. 


OF  CICERO. 


349 


gene ;  who  acquainted  me  tliat  the  Parthians 
had  actually  begun  to  transport  a  very  consi- 
derable body  of  forces  over  the  Euphrates. . 

But,  as  it  was  the  opinion  of  some  of  my  coun- 
cil, that  no  great  credit  was  to  be  given  to  any 
intelligence  that  came  from    this   quarter,    I 
thought  proper  to  wait  for  better  information. 
Accordingly,  on  the  19th  of  September,  whilst  I 
was  on  my  march  towards  Cilicia,  I  was  met 
by  a  courier  on  the  frontiers  of  Lycaonia  and 
Cappadocia,  with  an  express  from^  Tarcondi- 
motus :  a  prince  esteemed  the  most  faithful  of 
our  allies  on  that  side  the  Taurus,    and  ex- 
tremely in  the  interest  of  the  Romans.     The 
purport  of  his  dispatches  was  to  inform  me, 
that  a  powerful  body  of  horse,  commanded  by 
Pacorus,  the  son  of  Orodes,  king  of  Parthia, 
had  passed  the  Euphrates,  and  were  encamped 
at  Ty ba ;  and  that  the  province  of  Syria  was 
in  great  commotion.     The  same  day  I  received 
an  express  likewise  to  this  purpose  from  Jam- 
blichus,  an  Arabian  Phylarch^  and  one  who 
has  the  general  reputation  of  being  a  friend  to 

the 

'  His  dominions  lay  on  the  southern  side  of  Mount  Tau- 
rus,  in  a  part  of  Cilicia  which  the  Romans  had  not 
thought  proper  to  annex  to  their  province.  A  coin  of 
this  prince  is  still  extant.  Se^  Biblioth.  raisonie,  Tom.  xii. 
P-  329. 

*  Th«  lord  cr  chief  of  a  cjan. 


350  The  letters  Book  IV. 

the  republic.     Upon  the  whole,  therefore,  I 
came  to  a  resolution  of  leading  my  army  to 
Tarsus*.     I  was  sensible  that  our  allies  in  ge- 
neral were  far  from  being  warm  in  our  interest, 
and  were   only   waiting   the   opportunity  of 
some  favourable   revolution  to  desert  us.     I 
flattered  myself,   however,  that  the  lenity  and 
moderation  of  my  conduct  towards  such  of 
them  through  whose  territories  I  had  already 
passed,  would  render  them  better  inclined  to 
the  Romans,  as  I  hoped  to  strengthen  Cilicia 
in  its  allegiance,  by  giving  that  part  of  my 
province  an  opportunity  of  experiencing  also 
the  same  equitable  administration.     But  I  had 
still  a  farther  inducement :  I  determined  upon 
this  march,  not  only  in  order  to  chastise  those 
who  had  taken  up  arms  in  Cilicia,  but  also  to 
convince  our  enemies  in  Syria,  that  the  army 
of  the  Romans,  far  from  being  disposed  to  re- 
treat upon  the  news  of  their  invasion,  were  so 
much  the  more  eager  to  advance. 

If  my  advice,  then,  has  any  weight,  let  mc 
earnestly  exhort  and  admonish  you  to  take 
proper  measures  for  the  preservation  of  these 
provinces :  measures,  indeed,  which  ought  to 

,  have 

»  In  the  original  it  is  flrf  T<iun,m  ;  but  Mr.  Ro»  «•'»» 
good  reason  supposes  there  is  an  error  in  the  te.M,  and  thai 
it  should  be  read  ad  Tarsum. 


Book  IV. 


OF  CICERO. 


351 


have  been  concerted  long  before,  as  yoti  were 
well  apprised  of  those  dangers  which  are  now 
almost  within  my  view.     I  need  not  inform 
you  in  what  manner  you  thought  proper  to 
equip  me  when  I  was  sent  into  this  part  of  the 
world,  under  a  full  expectation  of  being  en- 
gaged in  so  important  a  war.     If  I  did  not, 
however,  refuse  this  commission,  it  was  not  be- 
cause I  was  so  weak  as  to  be  insensible  how  ill 
provided  I  was  to  execute  it  in  a  proper  man- 
ner, but  merely  in  submissive  deference  to  your 
commands.     The  truth  is,  I  have  at  all  times 
willingly  exposed  myself  to  the  utmost  ha- 
zards, ratlier  than  not  testify  my  implicit  obe- 
dience to  your  authority.     But  the  plain  fact  is, 
that,  if  you  do  not  speedily  send  a  very  pow- 
erful reinforcement  into  these  provinces,  the 
republic  will  be  in  the  greatest  danger  of  losing 
the  whole  of  her  revenues  in  this  part  of  the 
world.     If  your  reliance  is  upon  the  provincial 
mihtia,   be  assured  you  will  be  extremely  dis- 
appomted ;  as  they  are  very  inconsiderable  in 
pomt  of  numbers,  and  such  miserable  dastards 
as  to  run  away  upon  the  first   alarm.     Tlie 
brave  Marcus  Bibulus  is  so  sensible  of  the  na- 
ture of  these  Asiatic  troops,   that  he  has  not 
thought  proper  to  raise  any  of  them,  tho'  he 
had  your  express  permission  for  that  purpose. 
As  to  the  assistance  that  may  be  expected  from 


Our 


352 


The  letters 


Book  IV. 


cur  allies,  the  severity  and  injustice  of  our  go- 
vernment has  either  so  greatly  weakened  them, 
as  to  put  it  out  of  their  power  to  be  of  much 
service  to  us,  or  so  entirely  alienated  their  af- 
fections, as  to  render  it  unsafe  to  trust  them. 
The  inclinations,  however,  and  the  forces  too, 
(whatever  they  be*)  of  king  Deiotarus,  I  rec- 
kon as  entirely  ours.   Capadocia  is  wholly  un- 
furnished with  any  place  of  strength :  and  a« 
to  those  other  neighbouring  princes,  our  allies, 
they  are  neither  willing  nor  able  to  afford  us 
any  considerable  succours.    Ill  provided,  how- 
ever, as  I  am  with  troops,  my  courage,  you 
may  be  assured,  shall  not  be  wanting ;  nor,  I 
trust,  my  prudence.   ,What  the  event  may 
prove,  is  altogether  uncertain :  I  can  only  wish 
that  1  may  be  in  a  condition  to  defend  myself 
with  as  much  success  as  I  certainly  shall  with 
honour. 

LETTER 

»  It  is  probable  that  Cicero  did  not  at  this  time  know 
tber  number ;  but  they  were  by  no  means  inconsiderable. — 
For  it  appear*,  by  a  leUer  to  Atticut,  that  they  amounted 
to  12,000  fool,  armed  in  the  Roman  manner,  and  2,000 
horse.    Jd  Att.  vi.  1. 


Book.  IV. 


OF  CICERO. 


953 


LETTER  VII. 

[A.  U.  702.J 

Marcus  Ccelius  to  Cicero. 


i  HOUGH  I  have  some  political  hews  to  com- 
municate to  you,  yet  I  can  acquaint  you  \vith 
nothing,  I  believe,  that  will  give  you  more 
pleasure  than  what  I  am  going  previously  to 
mention.  You  are  to  know,  then,  that  Rufus*, 
your  favourite  Sempronius  Refus,  has  been 
lately  convicted  of  false  accusation',  to  the 
singular  joy  of  the  whole  city.  This  prosecu- 
tion was  occasioned  by  the  following  circum- 
stance.   Rufus,  soon  after  the  exhibition  of 

the 

ml  »l"T  T"?","?  *''''  P""""  '■"  «  '«""  io  Atticus,  as  a 
waiL,  n  ''"\.^"'?^"'  "«=  civili.ies  he  owed  him,  bylt 
waiting  upon  him  before  he  set  out  for  Chcia  •   but    at   the 

ZT  """■•/^,P^'='^"  «  '"'-faction  in  having  by  that  mein' 
been  spared  the  trouble  of  a  very  di.agreeabU:  visitor  The 
epithet,  theretore,  which  Coelms  here  gives  to  Rufus'  must 
be  understood  ironically.     Ad  Att.  v.  2. 

•  "  The  Roman  laws  were  particularly  severe  ajrainst  those 
who  were  discovered  to  have  offended  in  this  point      In 

generally  deposited  a  sum  of  money;  which  he  forfeited  if 

•  alluTel  r'  'T'  "'■  """«*"«  -^  '-«->»  suil      Cicero 

•  fhi  r      K     .  "f^"  punishment  of  marking  a  letter  upon 

•  ine  the  firs  U,^  ^"''  T  ""P'""''*  "P""  "'«'".  ^^at  be- 


Vol.  I. 


Aa 


554  The  LETTERS  Book  IV. 

the  Roman  games'',   was  impeached  by  Marcus 
Tuccius ;  and  being  sensible  that  the  charge 
vould  be  proved  against  him,  and  that  his  trial 
must  unavoidably  come  on  this  year,  unless 
some  other  of  an  higher  nature'  intervened,  he 
determined  upon  an  expedient  for  that  purpose. 
Accordingly,  as  no  one,  he  thought,  had  so  good 
a  title  to  the  honour  of  this  precedence  as  his 
prosecutor:  he  preferred  an  accusation  upon  the 
Plotianla>v'  against  Tuccius,  for  a  violation  of 
the  public  peace;  a  cliarge,  however,  which  he 
could  not  prevail  with  a  single  person  to  sub- 
scribe".  As  soon  as  I  was  apprised  of  tliis  affair, 

I  flew 

'  These  ?ames  were  if.stit..t«.d  by  Tarquimu,  Phsws, 
A  U.  138,  in  houour  of  Jupiter,  JuRo,  and  Minerva.  Their 
annual  celebration  cumme.'ced  on  the  pth  of  September,  and 

continued  nine  diiys.  ,      •    .„., 

»  It  is  probable,  as  Manutms  observes  that  the  jud|e» 
of  the  nrelt  year  were  m  general  no  friends  to  Refus,  wh  c^ 
^ade  h.m  endeavour  to  pos.pose,bis  trial.  The  -^a^e  '«r.  - 
ed  comtnentaior  re.t.arks.  that  all  trials  were  brought  o„m 
I  regular  rotation,  unless  in  accusations  that  were  connec  - 
^H^ith  some  other  cause,  that  b^dbeen  .mmed.a  ely  beft«. 
adjudged,  or  in  the  case  of  impeachments  for  the  violation 
of  the  public  peace.  1  hese,  he  proves,  by  several  instance  . 
^ere  always  determined  preferably  to  all  other  causes  what- 

'^T'hc  author  of  «his  law  was  P.  Platius.  or  PIautf«s, 
tribune  of  the  people,  an.  urb.  675  ;  and  the  penalty  .n-. 
flirted  bv  it  was  banishment.  . 

■  It  sterns  to  have  been  customary    or  the  prosocutor  m 

capital  causes  to  procure  some  of  his  f"^-'* '"J^i^'f^J^^, 
in  sianinc  the  articles  of  bis  impeachment.  These  «eie 
"iXuLrirtores,  and  acted  as  a  sort  of -^onds  to  ..m  m 
tL  judicial  combat.    They  could  not,  however,  be  adm^u- 


BooK  IV.  OF  CICERO.  555 

I  flew  to  the  assistance  of  Tuccius,  without 
waiting  his  request.  But  when  I  rose  up  to 
speak,  I  forbore  entering  into  a  particular  de- 
fence of  my  friend,  contenting  myself  with 
displaying  the  character  of  his  adversary  in  all 
its  ti-ue  and  odious  colours,  in  which  you  may 
be  sure  I  did  not  forget  the  story  concerning 
Vestorius,  and  his  unworthy  conduct  towards 
you. 

I  must  inform  you,  likewise,  of  another  trial, 
which  at  present  greatly  engages  the  Forum! 
Marcus  Servilius  had  been  convicted  of  extor- 
tion in  his  office',  and  I  ventured  to  be  his  ad- 
vocate, notwithstanding  the  popular  clamour 
•was  strongly  against  him.  Servilius,  however, 
having  dissipated  his  whole  estate,  and  being 
utterly  insolvent,  Pausanius'  petitioned  the 
pr«tor  Laterensis  (and  I  spoke,  likewise,  in 
support  of  this  petition)  that  he  might  be  em- 
powered 

ted  into  this  association  without   a  special  licence  from  the 
judges  for  that  purpose.  Vid.  Hottom.  in  Q.  Cacil.  divin.  15. 

I  he  whole  account  of  the  following  transactions  con- 
cerning  Servilius,  is  extremely  (perhaps  impenetrably)  ob- 
scure in  the  original;  and  has  exercised  the  ingenuitv  of  all 
the  commentators  to  enlighten.  The  translator,  however, 
ftas  ventured,  in  some  instances,  to  depart  from  them  ;"  tho' 
lie  acknowledges,  at  the  same  time,  that  he  is  scarce  more 
sausned  with  his  own  interpretation,  than  with  theirs. 

Who  this  person  was,  or  in  what  manner  concerned  in 
the  present  cause,  is  altogether  undiscoverable.  Perhaps,  as 
Air.  Ross  conjectures,  he  might  have  been  the  prosecutor. 

As 


556  The  LETTERS  Book  IV. 

powered  to  pursue  the  sum  in  question,  into 
Hrhose  hands  soever  it  should  appear  to  have 
been  paid*      But  this  petition  was  dismissed  ; 
the  pnEtor  alledging  that  Pihus,  a  relation  of 
our  friend  Atticus,  had  also  exhibited  articles 
•  of  impeachment  against  my  client  for  a  crime 
of  the   same    kind.     This  news  immediately 
spread  throughout  Rome,  and  it  was  generally 
said  in  all  conversations,  that  Pilius  would  cer- 
tainly make  good   his   charge.     Appius,  the 
younger,  was  much  disturbed  at  this  report,  as 
having  a  claim  upon  Servilius,  of  eighty-one 
hundred  thousand  sesterces',  a  sum  which  he 
scrupled  not  to  avow,  had  been  deposited  m 
the  hands  of  Servilius,  in  order  to  be  paid  over 
to  the  prosecutor  in  an  information  against  his 
father,  provided  the  informer  would  suffer  liim- 
self  to'  be  nonsuited.     If  you  are  surprised  at 
the  weakness  of  Appius,  in  thus  acknowledging 

so 

♦  It  ai>nears  bv  a  passage  which  Ma«utios  produces  from 

kind  the  money  was  recoverable  by  the  Julian  law  from  ai^ 
hand  imo  whfch  it  could  be  prved  to  hate  been  pa.d.  Ff* 
Rabir.  fMt.4<_.     .     .  ,  '•     '  -"n 

»  About  6i.367i.  of  out  motley.    This  s"™  .•""^' »PP*f, 
e^ie.  if.  considered  onVj^'.^-Pect  to^he  w^^^^^^  o^ 

the  DTCsent  times.     But  Appms  rai.gni  ^^'^     ,:„w.^  like- 

S;Tt,  ana  it  .ight  ^^^^^^^-i^^^^ :  L?;;?i 

v^ise.  to  have  done  so,  if  »^»%PJ°'!^X°"  /l^iJ^  plundereti 
hiahly  probable)  on  account  of  bis  father  s  having  piuna*^ 
some  pr  .vinqp  committed  to  bis  administram>D.     , 


Book  IV. 


OF  CICERO. 


357 


so   shameful   a    bargain,     how   much  higher, 
would  your  astonishment  have  risen,   if  yoi| 
had  heard  his  evidence  upon  the  trial  of  that 
very  ill-judged  action  which  he  brought  against 
Servilius  for  this  money  ?     He  most  clearly,  in- 
deed, made  appear,  to  the  full  satisfaction  of 
the  whole  court,  both  his  own  folly  and  his  fa-r 
ther's  guilt.     To  complete  the  absurdity  of  his 
conduct,  upon  this  occasion,  he  was  so  impru- 
dent as  to  summon  the  very  same  judges  upon 
this  cause,  who  tried  the  information  I  just  now 
mentioned  to  have  been  brought  against  his  fa-- 
ther.     It  happened,  however,  that  their  voices 
were  equally  divided^     But  the  praetor,  not 
knowing  how  the  law  stood  in  this  case,  de- 
clared that  Servilius  had   a   majority  of  the 
three  classes  of  judges  in  his  favour;  and,  ac- 
cordingly, acquitted  him  in  the  usual  form.  At 
the  rising  of  the  court,  therefore,  it  was  gene* 
rally  imagined   that  the  acquittal  of  Servihus 
would  be  enrolled.    But  the  praetor  thinking  it 
^dviseqtble  to  look  into  the  laws  upon  this  point, 
before  he  made  up  the   record,  found  it  ex- 
pressly enacted,  that  **  in  all  causes  sentence 
snail  be  pronounced  according  to  the  majo- 
rity of  the  votes  in  the  whole  collective  num-^ 

"ber 

*  In  this  case  the  Roman  law  determined  by  the  most  fa- 
vourable presumption,  and  absolved  the  aefeodant. 

Aa3 


Ci 


4i 


f  > 


I 


358 


The  letters         Book  IV. 


*'  ber  of  judges^/'     Instead,  tlierefore,  of  re- 
gistering the  acijuittal  of  Serviiius,  he  only  in- 
serted in  the  roll  the  number  of  voices  as  they 
stood  in  each  respective  class.    Appius,  in  con- 
sequence of  this   mistake,  re-commenced  his 
suit,  Avhile  the  praetor,   by  the  intervention  of 
Lollius,  promised  to  amend  the  record,  and 
enter  a  proper  judgment.    But  the  hapless  Ser- 
viiius,   neither  entirely   acquitted,   nor  abso- 
lutely condemned,  is,  at  length,  to  be  deliver- 
ed over,   with  this  his  blasted  character,  to 
the  hands   of  Pilius.     For  Appius    not  ven- 
turing to  contend  with  the  latter,  which  of 
their  actions   should  have   the   priority,  has 
thought  proper  to  wave  his  prosecution.     He, 
himself,  is  likewise  impeached  by  the  relations 
of  Serviiius  for  bribery  :  as  he  has  also  another 
accusation  laid  against  him  by  one  Titius,  a 
creature  of  his  own,    who   has  charged  him 
with  a  breach  of  the  peace.     And  thus  are 

these 

^  It  has  already  been  observed  in  the  foregoing  remarks, 
that  the  judges  were  divided  into  three  classes.  See  rem.  4. 
p.  292  ol  this  vol.  It  is  obvious,  therefore,  that  there  might 
have  been  a  majority  in  two  of  the  classes  out  of  the  three, 
in  favour  of  Serviiius,  and  yet  that  the  voices  considered 
with  respect  to  the  whole  number  of  judges,  might  have  been 
equal.  But  it  is  inconceivable  that  a  magistrate  of  Praeto- 
rian rank  could  possibly  be  ignorant  of  a  practice  which  one 
can  scarce  suppose  the  most  common  citizen  of  Rome  to  have 
been  unacquainted  with.  Notwithstanding,  therefore,  Coe- 
lius  ascribes  the  piacior's  conduct  to  ignorance,  it  seema 
much  more  probable  to  have  arisen  from  design. 


Book  IV. 


OF  CICERO. 


359 


these  two  worthy    combatants  most  equally 
matched. 

As  to  public  affairs ;  we  had  waited  several 
days  in  expectation  that  something  would  be 
determined  concerning  Gaul;  frequent  motions 
having  been  made  in  the  senate  for  this  pur-; 
pose,  which  were  followed  by  very  warm  de-? 
bates.  At  length,  however,  it  plainly  appear- 
ing, agreeable  to  Pompey's  sentiments,  that 
Caesar's  command  in  Gaul  should  not  be  con* 
tinued  longer  than  the  first  of  March,  the  se-p 
nate  passed  the  following  orders  and  decrees^. 

"  Br    AUTHORITY    OF    THE   SENATE,  hcld 

^'  in  the  temple  of  Apollo,  on  the  30th  day  of 
*' September.  Signed^:  L,  Domitius  Aheno- 
"  barbas;  Q.  Csecihus;  MetuUus  Pius  Scipio; 
"  Jw.  ViUius  Annalis;  C.  Septimius;  Caius 
**  Lucceius  Hirrus;  C,  Scribonius  Curio;  L. 
'^  Atteius  Capito ;  M.  Oppius,  Whereas  a 
4^  motion  was  made  by  Marcus  Marceilus,  the 
"  consul,  concerning  the  consular  provinces, 
'^  it  is  ORDERED,  that Lucius Paulus,  and Caius 
*'  Marceilus,  consuls  elect,  shall,  on  the  first  of 
^'  March  next,  following  their  entering  upon 

their 

'  With  regard  to  the  difference  between  nn  order  and  a 
decree  of  the  senate,  see  remark  9.  p-  ^^o.  csf  this  vol. 

^  The  decrees  of  the  senate  were  usually  signed  in  this 
laanner  by  thos#  who  were  the  principal  pron^oters  of  th^ 
question. 

A  a  4 


i' 


360 


The  letters 


Book  IV. 


**  their  office,  move  the  senate  concerning  the 
"  consular  provinces,  at  which  time  no  other 
"  business  shall  be  proceeded  upon,  nor  any 
"  other  motion  made  m  conjunction  therewith. 
"  And,  for  this  purpose,  the  senate  shall  con- 
'*  tinue  to  assemble,  notwithstanding  the  comi- 
"  tial  days'*,  and  until  a  decree  shall  be  passed." 


'*  Ordered,  that  when  the  consuls  shall 
"  move  the  senate  upon  the  question  aforesaid, 
"  they  shall  be  empowered  to  summon  such  of 
**  the  300  judges  who  are  members  of  the  se- 
"  nate  to  attend"." 


(C 


u 


"  Resolved,  that  if  any  matters  shall  arise 
upon  the  question  aforesaid,  which  shall  be 
necessary  to  be  laid  before  the  people ;  that 
"  Servius  Sulpicius,  and  Marcus  Marcellus, 
**  the  pfesent  consuls,  together  with  the  prcetors 

'[  and 

*®  The  comitial  days  were  those  on  which  the  Comitia,  or 
assemblies  of  the  people  were  held ;  and,  on  these,  the  law 
prohibited  ihe  senate  to  be  convened.  The  senate,  however, 
in  the  pesent  instance,  and  agreeably  to  a  prerogaiive  which 
they  claimed  and  exercised  upon  many  other  occasions,  took 
upon  tlicmselves  to  act  with  a  dispensing  power.  See  Mid, 
on  the  Rom,  Sen,  p.  121. 

*'  This  clause  was  inserted  in  order  to  secure  a  full  house, 
a  certain  number  of  senators  being  nece'^sary  to  be  present 
for  making  a  decree  valid.  See  remark  14.  p.  i65.  of  this 
vol.  The  correction  of  Manutius  has  been  adopted  in  tbc 
translation,  who,  instead  of  sex  abducere  liceret|  reads  eos 
abducere,  &c« 


Book  IV. 


OF  CICERO. 


3Sl 


"  and  tribunes  of  the  people,  or  such  of  them 
*^  as  shall  be  agreed  upon,  shall  call  an  assem- 
bly of  the  people  for  this  purpose  :  and  if  the 
magistrates  aforesaid  shall  fail  herein,  the  same 
"  shall  be  proposed  to  the  people  by  their  sue- 


(( 


if 


cessors. 


5  f  • 


u 


<t 


<i 


"  The  thirtieth  day  of  September, 
in  the  temple  of  Apollo.  Signed:  L,  Domi- 
tius  Ahenobarbus;  Q.  Cascilius;  Metulluj 
*'  PiusScipio;  L.  Villius  Annalis ;  C.,§epti^ 
mius;  C.  Scribonius  Curio;  M.  Oppius.. 

"  The  consul,    Marcus   Marcellus,   having 
moved  the  senate  concerning  the  provinces, 

"  Resolved,  that  it  is  the  Opinion  of  the 
senate,  that  it  will  be  highly  unbecoming 
any  magistrate,  who  has  a  power  of  control- 
ling their  proceedings,  to  occasion  any  hin- 
'  drance  whereby  the  senate  may  be  prevented 
from  taking  the  aforesaid  motion  into  con- 
sideration as  soon  as  possible:  and  tW 
whosoever  shall  obstruct  or  oppose  the  same 
shall  be  deemed  an  enemy  to  the  republic. 

^'  Ordered,  that  if  any  magistrate  shall 
put  a  negative  upon  the  foregoing  resolu- 
tion,  the  same  shall  be  entered  as  an  order  of 

"  the 


•  <c 

iC 

ic 
u 


ii 
4t 


I 


362 


The  letters         Book  IV. 


Jl 


I 


•'  the  senate,  and  again  referred  to  the  consi- 
''  deration  of  this  house." 

This  resolution  was  protested  against  by 
Caius  Ccelius,  Lucius  Vinicius,  P.  Publius 
Cornelius,  and  Caius  Vibius  Pansa. 

"  Resolved,  that  the  senate  will  take  into 
•'  consideration  the  cajse  of  such  of  the  soldiers 
"  under  Cesar's  command,  who  have  served 
"  out  their  legal  time,  or  who,  for  other  reasons, 
"  are  entitled  to  a  discharge :  and  make  such 
"  order  thereupon  as  shall  be  agreeable  to 
•'  equity' 


.la  ^ 


It 


Resolved,  that,  if  any  magistrate  shall 
''  put  his  negative  upon  the  foregoing  decree, 
*'  the  same  shall  stand  as  an  order  of  senate, 
''  and  be  again  referred  to  the  consideration  of 
'*  this  house." 

This  resolution  was  protested  against  by 
Caius  CceUus,  and  Caius  Pansa,  tribunes  of  the 
people. 

"  Orderkd,  that  such  of  the  present  pix- 
"  tors,  who  have  never  held  any  provincial 

"  command, 

"  A  Roman  soldier  couW  not  be  compelled  to   beat 
arms  after  having  been  in  the  service  ten  years.     As  the 
strength  of  Cssar's  army  in  Gaul  consisted  principally  m 
his  veterans,    this  claube   was   added,   as   Gronovios   ob- 
serves. 


Book  IV. 


olF  CICERO. 


36a 


<l 

<c 
tc 
a 
tc 
ic 
tc 
ic 

i( 
<i 

it 


tt 

it 
tt 


command,  shall  draw  lots  to  succeed  respec- 
tively to  the  government  of  Cilicia,  and  the 
eight  remaining  Praetorian'^  provinces.  But 
if  there  shall  not  be  a  sufficient  number'*  of 
these  to  fill  up  the  aforesaid  governments ; 
then,  and  in  this  case,  the  deficiency  shall  be 
suppHed  by  lot  out  of  the  first  college^^  of 
praetors,  among  those  who  have  never  held  a 
foreign  government.  And  if  there  shall  not 
be  found  a  sufficient  number  among:  these 
last,  so  qualified  as  aforesaid,  the  same  shall 
be  supplied  from  the  members  of  each  pre- 
ceding college,  till  the  whole  number  re- 
quired be  conjpleted. 

Resolved,  that,  if  any  magistrate  shall 
put  his  negative  upon  the  foregoing  decree, 
the  same  shall  stand  as  an  order  of  the  se- 
nate." 


// 


J 


This  decree  was  protested  against  by  Caius 

Ccelius, 

serves,  with  a  view  of  drawing  ofif  those  soldiers  from  his 
troops. 

"  The  provinces  of  lesser  note  were  usually  assigned  to 
the  prastors ;  and  from  thence  they  were  distmguish«d  by 
the  name  of  the  Praetorian  provinces. 

'*  The  number  of  praetors  varied  in  different  periods  of 
the  republic.  In  the  times  of  Cicero  this  magistracy  was 
composed  of  eight  persons,  as  Cellarius  remarks  in  his  note 
upon  this  passage. 

'5  Every  annual  set  of  praetors  were  distinguished  by 
colleges,  styled  the  1st,  2d,  3d,  &c.  according  to  their  seve- 
ral removes  from  the  current  year.  ■ 


364 


The  letters 


Book  IV, 


^ 


Corlius,    and    Caius    Pansa,    tribunes   of  the 
people. 

In  the  debates  which  preceded  the^e  de- 
crees, Pompey  let  fall  an  expression  that  was 
much  observed,  and  gave  us  very  confident 
hopes  of  his  good  intentions.  **  He  could  not, 
*'  without  great  injustice,  he  said,  determine 
"  any  thing  in  relation  to  the  provinces  under 
•*  Casar's  command,  before  the  first  of  March  : 
"  but,  after  that  time,  he  assured  the  senate  he 
**  should  have  no  sort  of  scruple."  Being 
asked,  '^  what  if  a  negative  should  then  be 
**  put  upon  a  decree  of  the  senate  for  recalling 
"  Caesar  ?"  He  declared  that  he  should  look 
upop  it  as  just  the  same  thing,  whether  Caesar 
openly  refused  to  obey  the  authority  of  the  se- 
nate, or  secretly  procured  some  magistrate  to 
obstruct  their  decrees.  But  suppose,  said  ano- 
ther member,  Csesar  should  pursue  his  preten- 
sions to  the  consulate,  and  retain  Ws  command 
abroad  at  the  same  thne.  ^*  Suppose,*"  replied 
Pompey,  with  great  temper,  "  mf  o>yn  son 
ahould  lay  violent  hands  upon  me  ?"  From  ex- 
pressions of  this  kind  the  world  has  conceived  a 
notion  that  a  rupture  will  undoubtedly  ensue 
between  Pompey  and  Caesar.  I  am  of  opi-' 
nion,  however,  that  the  latter  will  submit  to 
:K  one 


Book  IV-         or  CICERO. 


36S 


one  of  these  two  conditions;  jcither  to  giveiip 
his  present  pretensions  to  tlie  consulate,  and 
continue  in  Gaul,  or  to  quit  the  province, 
provided  he  can  be  assured  of  bis  elections- 
Curio  is  preparing  most  strongly  to  oppose  his 
demands.  What  he  may  be  able  to  effect,  I 
know  not ;  but  sure  I  am,  that  a  man  w^io  acts 
upon  such  patriot  principles,  must  gain  ijio- 
nour  at  least,  if  he  gain  nothing  else.  He 
treata  me  upon  all  occasions  with  great  gene- 
rosity ;  and,  indeed,  in  a  late  instance,  has  been 
more  liberal  than  I  could  have  wished;  as  his 
civility  has  drawn  upon  me  a  trouble  which, 
perhaps,  I  might  otherwise  have  escaped.  He 
has  presented  me  with  some  African  panthers, 
which  he  had  procured  for  his  own  games,  and 
by  that  means  laid  me  under  a  nQqessity  of 
making  use  of  them'^  I  must,  therefore,,  re- 
mind you  of  what  I  have  often  mentioned  aU 
ready,  and  entreat  you  to  send  me  some  of 
these  animals  from  your  part  of  the  world;, 
and  I  again  likewise  recommend  to  your  car$ 

the  bond  of  Sitius.  ,^  o 

Him*)  1 

->:I  have  had  occasion  to  dispatch  my  free^? 
ma%JRbil9,  together  with  Piogenes,,;t^jQreekj, 
into  your  province.  I  hope,  jqu  >viU  aftW 
your  patronage  both  to  them  and  their,  cpxuj^ 

-.    ;  P'^ur  I  ftrf  mission; 

STk^'  In  tht  games  he  was  preparing  to  exhibit  as  iEdile. 


i 


. » 


566 


The   letters 


Book  IV. 


mission ;  as  you  will  find,  by  the  letter  they  are 
to  deliver  to  you  on  my  part,  that  it  is  an  af- 
fair'* in  which  I  am  deeply  interested*  Fare- 
wel. 


i 


LETTER  VIIL 

[A.  U.  702.] 

To  PuBLius  SiLius',  Propraetor. 

You  are  apprised,  I  imagine,  of  the  friend- 
ship that  subsisted  between  Titus  Pinnius  and 
myself.  He  has  sufficiently  declared  it,  indeed, 
by  his  will,  w^herein  he  not  only  appointed  me 
one  of  the  guardians  to  his  son,  but  left  me 
the  contini»:ent  reversion  also  of  his  estate. 
My  WMrd  (who  is  a  youth  of  uncommon  mo- 
desty, as  well  as  great  application  to  his  studies) 

has 

'•  This  affair  seems  to  I)e  explained  by  an  epistle  to  At- 
ticus,  wherein  Cicero  mentions  the  rect-ipt  of  a  very  pressing 
letter  from  Ccelius,  by  the  hands  of  his  freedman.  The  pur- 
port of  it  appears  to  bave  been,  to  solicit  Cicero  to  levy  a 
contribution  upon  his  province,  towards  the  expence  of 
those  public  games  which  Coelius,  as  JEdWc  was  obliged  to 
exhibit.  This  oppressive  tax  had  been  frequently  raised  by 
the  governors  of  provinces,  in  favour  of  their  friends  at 
Rome,  and  was,  indeed,  almost  established  into  a  custom. — 
But  CiCero,  notwithstanding  he  seems  to  have  had  a  sincere 
affection  for  Cojlius,  w.ald  by  no  means  be  prevailed  upon 
to  break  through  the  equitable  maxims  of  his  administration, 
and  with  great  integrity  refased  his  request.  Jd  Att,  vi.  1, 
Ad  Q,  F,  1.  1.  No.  9. 

"  He  was  at  this  time  propraetor,  or  governor,  of  Bithy- 
nia  and  Pontus  in  Asia,  where  he  discharged  the  provincial 
functions  with  great  applause.     Ad  Att,  vi.  8. 


Book  IV. 


OF  CICERO. 


i^ 


567 


has  a  very  considerable  demand  upon  the  city 
of  Nicaea,  amounting  to  eight  millions  of  ses* 
terces*:  and  the  corporation,  I  am  told,  are 
incUned  to  pay  oiF  part  of  this  sum  the  first 
debt  they  shall  discharge.  Now,  as  not  only 
the  rest  of  the  trustees,  who  know  the  regard 
you  bear  me,  but  the  young  man  himself,  is 
persuaded  tliat  you  will  not  refuse  any  thing 
to  my  request,  I  shall  be  exceedingly  obliged 
to  you  for  employing  your  good  offices,  (asfar^ 
I  mean,  as  may  be  consistent  with  your  dig- 
nity and  character)  that  they  pay  off  as  large  a 
proportion  of  this  demand  as  possible.  FareweL 


LETTER  IX, 

[A.  U.  702.] 

To  Marcus  Cgelius,  CuruIe-iEdile  elect 

1  CONGRATULATE  you  ou  the  houourablc 
post  you  have  lately  obtained^  and  on  the 
prospect  which,  by  this  mean,  is  open  to  you, 
of  advancing  still  higher  in  the  dignities  of 
the  republic.  I  am  somewhat  late,  I  confess, 
in  my  compliments :  however,  you  must  not 
impute  it  to  any  intentional  neglect,  but 
merely  to  ray  ignorance  of  what  passes  at 
Rome.     For,  partly  from  the  great  distance  of 

my 

»  About  70,0001.  steriing.  .  »>  The  y^dileship.   * 

4 


3G5 


The  letters         Book  IV. 


Book  IV. 


•   ^ 


OF  CICERO. 


369 


my  situation,  and  partly  from  those  banditti 
which  infest  the  roads,  it  is  a  considerable 
time  before  I  can  receive  any  intelligence  from 
Italy.  And  now  I  know  not  where  to  find 
words  sufficiently  strong  to  give  you  joy  upon 
this  occasion,  or  to  express  my  thanks  for  your 
having  thus  "  furnished  me  (as  you  termed  it 
•*  in  one  of  your  former  letters)  with  a  subject 
•'  of  perpetual  ridicule."  When  I  first  received.^ 
the  news  of  your  victory,  I  could  not  forbear 
mimicking  a  certain  xcorthy  friend  of  ours, 
and  imitating  the  droll  figures  those  gallant 
youths  exhibited,  of  whose  interest  he  had  so 
confidently  boastcd\  But  it  is  not  easy  to 
give  you  in  description  a  complete  idea  of  this 
my  humorous  sally.  I  must  tell  you,  however, 
that  I  next  figured  you  to  myself,  and  accost- 
ed  you,  as  if  present,  in  the  words  of  the  co- 
mic poet- 

Far  lessy  my  goodfriend,  I  rejoice  at  your  deedy 

As  exceeding  xchataer  before  did  exceed^ 

Than  as  mounting  aloft  6*er  my  hopes  the  most  high ; 

And  for  thisy  "  By  my  troth  'tis  amazing,'*  /  ciy. 

Upon 

*  A  mere  modern  reader,  who  judges  of  past  ages  by 
the  modes  that  prevail  in  bis  own,  must  undoubtedly  con« 
ceive  a  very  low  opinion  of  Cicero  from  the  account  which 
he  here  gives  of  his  behaviour.  But  mimickry  was  not 
esteemed  by  the  Romans,  as  it  is  with  us,  a  talent  becoming 
only  a  comedian  or  a  buffoon.  On  the  contrary,  this  spe- 
cies of  humour  was  thought  worthy  of  the  gravest  cha- 
racter 


Upon  which  I  broke  out  into  a  most  immode- 
rate fit  of  laughter :  and  when  some  of  my 
friends  reproved  my  mirth,  as  deviating  al- 
most into  downright  folly,  I  excused  myself  by 
the  old  verse, 

Excessive  joy  is  not  exceeding  wise. 

In  short,  whilst  I  ridiculed  this  noble  friend  of 
ours,  I  became  almost  as  ridiculous  as  himself. 
But  you  shall  hear  farther  upon  this  subject  an- 
other opportunity :  for,  in  truth,  I  have  many 
things  to  say  both  ^  you  and  to  yon,  whenever 
I  shall  find  more  leisure  for  that  purpose.  In  thfc 
mean  time  be  assured,  my  dear  CoeHus,  that  I 
sincerely  love  you.  I  consider  you,  indeed,  as 
one  whom  fortune  has  raised  up  to  advance  my 
glory,  and  avenge  my  wrongs :  and  I  doubt  not^ 
you  will  give  both  those  who  hate  and  those 
who  envy  me,  sufficient  reason  to  repent  of  their 
folly  and  their  injustice.     Farewel. 

LETTER 

tacters  even  upon  the  gravest  occasions :  and  it  was  prac- 
tised by  their  orators^  as  well  as  recommended  by  their  rhe- 
toricians, as  a  quality,  under  certain  restrictions,  of  singular 
grace  and  efficacy  in  the  whole  business  of  public  eloquence. 
Vii,  Cic.  de  Orat.  ii.  69,  60. 

Vol.  I.  B  b 


370. 


The  LETTER3        Book  IV. 


hi 


LETTER  X. 

[A.  U.  702.] 

To  PuBLius  SiLius,  Propraetor. 

Your  good  offices  in  the  affair  of  Atilius,  afr, 
ford  me  an  additional  motive  for  giving  you 
my  affection.     Late,   indeed,   as  I  applied  to 
you  in  his  behalf,  I  have,  however,  by  your  ge-^ 
nercms  intervention,  preserved  a  most  worthy 
Roman  knight  from  ruin.     The  truth  is,  I  al- 
ways looked  upon  my  friendship  with  Lamia, 
as  giving  me  a  claim  to  yours.     In  the  first 
place,  then,  I  return  you  thanks  for  easing  my 
mind  of  all  its  disquietude  with  respect  to  Ati- 
lius ;  and,  in  the  next,  after  thus  acknowledging 
your  last  favour,  I  have  the  assurance  to  request 
another  :  and  it  is  a  favour  which  I  shall  repay 
with  the  utmost  returns  of  my  esteem  and  gra- 
titude.    Let  me  entreat  you,  then,  if  I  have 
any  share  in  your  heart,  to  allow  my  brother 
an   equal   enjoyment  of  the  same  privilege: 
which  will  be  adding  a  very  considerable  obli- 
gation to  that  important  one  I  so  lately  re- 
ceived at  your  hands.     Farewel. 

LETTER 


Book  IV. 


OP  CICERO. 


371 


«•■.-"    f  .  i'*^ 


LETTER  XI. 

[A.  U.  702.] 

ToAppius  Pulcher. 


Br  all  that  I  can  collect  from  your  last  let- 
ter, this  will  find  you  in  the  suburbs^  of  Rome. 
But  though  the  impotent  calumnies  of  these 
paultry  provincials  will  probably  be  subsided 
ere  this  reaches  your  hands,  yet,  I  think  it 
necessa-ry  to  return  some  answer  to  the  long 
epistle  1  received  from  you  upon  that  sub- 
ject ;  and  I  shall  do  so  in  as  few  words  as  pos- 
sible. 

^  As  to  the  accusation  contained  in  the  two 
fixst  paragraphs  of  your  letter,  it  is  conceived 
in  such  vague  and  general  terms,  that  it  ii 
impossible  to  give  it  a  direct  reply.  The 
AYhole  that  I  can  gather  from  it  is,  that  I  am 
accused  of  having  discovered,  by  my  coun- 
tenance  and  my  silence,  that  I  was  by  no  means 
your  friend:    a  discovery  which  I  made,  it 

y  seems, 


'  App'us  at  his  return  from  Cilicia,  demanded  a  tri- 
umph, a:>  the  reward  of  his  milnar);  exploits  in  that  pro- 
vifKre:  and  accordingly  took  up  his  residence  without  the 
city.  Fur  those  who  claimed  this  honour  were  not  admitted 
wiihin  the  walU  of  Rome  till  their  petition  was  either  granted 
or  rejected,  or  they  chose  to  drop  it  themselves.  The  lat- 
ter was  the  case  with  respect  to  Appius,  as  will  hereafter 
appear. 

Bb2 


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Book  IV. 


Book  IV. 


OF  CICERO. 


373 


seems,  upon  some  occasion  in  the  courts  of  ju- 
dicature, and  likewise  at  certain  public  enter- 
tainments. I  am  very  sure,  there  is  not  the 
least  ground  for  tliis  imputation  ;  but  as  vou  do 
not  point  out  the  particular  instances,  I  know 
not  in  what  manner  to  vindicate  niyself  troni 
the  charge.  This,  liouever,  I  most  undoubtcdlv 
know,  that  I  have  mentioned  you,  upon  all  oc-  * 
casions,  both  public  and  private,  with  the  hic»-h- 
est  applause,  and  with  the  warmest  professions 
of  friendship.  As  to  the  affair  of  the  deputies*. 
I  will  appeal  to  your  own  breast,  whether  I 
could  possibly  have  acted  with  more  probity 
and  discretion  than  to  lessen  the  expences  of 
these  empoverished  cities,  without  any  diminu- 
tion, at  the  same  time,  of  those  honours  which 
they  proposed  to  pay  you :  especially  as  it  was  ia 

compliance 

*  "  It  was  a  custom  for  the  governors  of  province^ 
,Vupon  their  retirement  from  their  government,  to  pro- 
**  cure  ambassadors  W)  be  sent  to  Home  from  the  several 
**  cities  under  their  jurisdiction,  to  praise  the  integrity  and 
*'  equity  of  their  administration.  The  origin  of  this  custom 
"  was  undoubtedly  gootJ,  and,  in  some  few  instances,  we  find 
**  that  it  wa^  UHderiaken  voluntarily:  but.it  was  generally 
**  extoited  by  force,  and  a  great  burden  to  the  miserable 
"  »nha^)itantsi,  who,  perhaps,  had*  bten  already  fleeced  by 
**  the  rapine  and  plunder  of  that  very  person  whose  lenity 
"  an*l  moderation  they  were  compelled  to  extol.  Appius 
•^  had  taken  tare,  before  he  left  Cilicia,  to  secure  this  com- 
"  pliment  t.>  be  paid  to  himse'f,  thoujih  as  undeserving  of  it 
I*  as  any  <»f  his  predecessors.  Bui  Cicero,  who  set  out  upon 
I*  a  mote  fiiugal  plan  than  other  governors,  prevented  it,  out 
••  of  compassion  to  the  povcriv  and  iudixeuce  of  the  nro- 
•'  fincc."     Mr.  Ross.  '  ^ 


compliance  with  their  own  immediate  request  ? 
And,  indeed,  I  was  wholly  unapprised  of  the 
particular  purposes  of  that  deputation,  which 
w^as  going  to  Rome  with  the  customary  com- 
plimental  address  to  the  senate  upon  your  ac- 
count When  I  was  at  Apamea^  some  of  thr 
principal  inhabitants  of  several  different  cities, 
complained  to  me  of  the  excessive  appointments 
that  were  decreed  to  their  deputies ;  assuring  me, 
that  their  respective  communities  were  by  no 
means  in  a  condition  to  support  the  assessments 
levied  upon  them  for  that  purpose.  This  sug- 
gested to  my  thoughts  various  reflections:  and 
I  imagined,  that  a  man  of  your  refined  senti- 
ments could  not  be  extremely  fond  of  honours 
of  this  unsubstantial  nature.  Accorduigly,  it 
was  at  Synnada,  I  think,  that  I  took  occasioij 
to  say  from  the  tribunal,  (and  I  expatiated  very 
largely  upon  the  subject)  "  that  the  approved 
*'  merit  of  Appius  was  sufficient,  without  the 
"  testimony  of  the  Midensians  (for  it  was  in  their 
''  city^  that  the  proposal  first  arose)  to  recom- 
**  mend  him  to  the  esteem  of  the  senate  and  the 

*'  Roman 

5  A  city  in  that  part  of  Phrygia  which  was  annexed  to 
Cicero's  province:  as  was  Synnada,  likewise,  mentioned  a 
few  lines  below. 

*  A  town  in  t4ie  neighbourhood  of  Synnada.  In  the  ori- 
ginal it  is  Myndensium :  but  Quariier  has  given  good  reasons 
for  the  reading  here  followed. 

Bb3 


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The  letters 


Book  IV. 


Book  IV.        op  CICERO. 


375 


i(  : 


a 


"  Roman  people;  that  I  had  often,  indeed,  seen 
instances  of  this  kind  of  deputations,  hut  did 
not  remember  they  were  ever  admitted  to  an 
"audience;    that,  however,   I  applauded  the 
"  gratitude  they  had  thus  shewn  for  your  merit 
"  towards  them,  but  thought   the  particular 
**  instance  in  question  was  wholly  unnecessary; 
"  that  if  any  of  them  were  willing  to  undertake 
**  this  commission  at  their  own  expence,  I  should 
"  highly  commend   their  zeal ;   and  I  would 
"  even  consent  it  should   be  performed  at  the 
**  public  charge,  provided  they  did  not  exceed 
*'  a  reasonable  sum  :  but,  beyond  that,  I  would 
"  in  no  sort  give  my  permission.'' 

I  am  persuaded  there  is  nothing  in  what  I 
thus  said,  that  can  possibly  give  you  offence  : 
and,  indeed,  your  principal  complaint  is  levelled, 
I  perceive,  against  my  edicts  For  there  were 
some,  it  seems,  who  thought  it  manifestly  drawn 
up  with  a  view  of  preventing  these  legations.  I 
cannot  forbear  saying,  that,  to  give  attention  to 
these  groundless  insinuations,  is  no  less  inju- 
rious to  me  than  to  be  author  of  them.  The 
truth  of  it  is,  I  settled  this  edict  before  I  left 
Rome:  and  the  single  addition  that  I  made  to 
it  afterwards,  was  at  the  instance  of  the  farmers 

of 

^  The  nature  of  these  proconsular  edicts  has  already  been 
explained  lu  rem.  7.  p.  338.  of  this  vol. 


of  the  revenues  :  who,  when  they  met  miS  at 
Samos*,  desired  I  would  transcribe  a  paragraph 
out  of  your  edict  and  insert  it  into  mine.  It 
was  that  article  which  restrains  the  public  ex- 
pencesj  and  contains  several  new  and  very  salu- 
tary regulations,  which  I  greatly  approved. 
But  as  to  that  particular  section  which  gave 
rise,  I  find,  to  the  suspicion  that  I  framed  it 
with  a  design  of  striking  at  you,  it  is  copied 
entirely  from  the  old  precedents.  I  was  not,  in- 
deed, so  absurd,  as  to  think  (what  I  perceive  you 
imagine)  that  some  private  affair  was  concerned 
iti  this  deputation ;  well  knowing  that  it  was 
sent  from  a  public  body  in  relation  to  your  pub- 
lic character,  and  addressed  to  that  great  coun- 
cil of  the  whole  world,  the  senate  of  Rome. 
Nor  did  I,  (as  you  object,)  when  I  prohibited 
any  person  from  going  out  of  the  province  with- 
out my  permission,  exclude  all  those  from  the 
possibility  of  obtaining  that  leave,  who  could 
not  follow  me  to  the  camp  and  beyond  Mount 
Taurus :  an  imputation,  I  must  needs  say,  tl>e 
most  ridiculous  of  any  in  your  vvhol^  letter. 
For  where,  let  me  ask,  was  the  necessity  that 
any  person  should  follow  me  for  this  purpose  to 


•iiitodj  u 


lU 


the 


•  An  island  near  the  coast  of  Ionia,  Ivins  oppns  te  t  ^  the 
city  of  Ephesus.  Cicero  touched  at  this  island  in  his  Vva- 
a^e  to  the  proYince. 

Bb4 


It 


\ 


576 


Th£  letters         Book  IV. 


the  camp,  ox  Hyqnsl  Mount  Taurus ;  when  I 
regulated  my  journey  from  Laodieea  to  Iconi- 
um  in  such. ^.manner,  that  all  the  magistrates 
and  deputies  of  the  several  cities  in  that  district 
migh^  have  an  opportunity  of  meeting  me? 
They  could  not,  therefore,  be  under  the  diffi- 
culty you  charge  me  with  having  thrown  in 
their  way,  unless  they  had  taken  ^p  tlie  design 
9(,.go^^g  to  Rome  after  my  having  passed 
Mount  Taurus :  which  most  undoubtedly  was 
iip.t;  the  case.  For,  during  my  stay  at  Apamea, 
Synn^da,  Philomelum^  and  Iconium,  all  affairs 
o|;,th?t  nature  were  entirely  settled. 

I  mpt  fartl^er  a^ure  you,  that  I  decreed 
nothing  concerning  the  abating  or  aboUshing 
the  aj^pointments  of  the  deputies,  but  at  the 
express  request  of  the  principal  inhabitants  of 
several  cities :  and  their  view  was,  to  prevent^ , 
any  unnecessary  exactions  that  were  occa- 
sioned by  the  farming  of  the  subsidies  imposed 
for  this  purpose,  and  raising  them  in  that  cruel 
method  of  capitation,  with  which  you  are  so 
well  acquainted.  Compassion,  indeed,  as  well  a& 
justice,  inclined  me  to  ease  the  calamities  of  these 
unhappy  cities,  oppressed  as  they  chiefly  were 

'Ani^'^^  Phrygia  Majpr,  situated  on  the  frontiers  to-  A 
wardl  Galatia.     The>iiuation  of  the  other  cities  meniioned^io 
in  thi8  place  has  already  been  occasionally  noted  as   ihry 
occurred  in  the  preceding  letters. 


Book  IV. 


OF^CICERO. 


377 


by  their  own  magistrates*:  and  when  I  was  en- 
gaged in  a  design  of  that  nature,  I  could  not 
possibly  overlook  an  expence  which  appeared 
so  extremely  superfluous  as  that  of  the  appoint- 
ments of  these  deputies.  It  was  but  a  piece  of 
justice  therefore  due  to  me,  not  to  have  hstened 
to  any  idle  tales  that  might  be  related  to  you 
upon  this  subject  But  if  it  should  prove, 
after  all,  that  you  attribute  to  the  reports  of 
others,  what,  in  truth,  receive  their  rise  merely 
from  your  own  suspicions,  you  Certainly  make 
use  of  a  sort  of  figure  which  the  language  of 
friendship  will  by  no  means  authorise.  Had 
it  ever,  indeed,  been  my  design  to  derogate 
from  your  reputation  in  the  province,  I  should 
scarce  have  acted  in  the  manner  I  did,  I' 
should  not  have  referred  it  to  your  son-in-law 
at  Rome,  to  your  freedman  at  Brundisium/" 
and  to  the  commander  of  your  artillery  when 
I  saw  him  at  Corcyra,  to  name  the  place  which 

they 

'  It  appears  from  the  letters  to  Atticus,  to  whom  it  was 
that  the  grievances  of  these  unhappy  cities  were  principally 
owing.  Their  own  magistrates,  it  is  true,  had  sora«  share  in 
them  :  but  their  chief  oppressor  was  Appius  himself.  The 
desolation  he  had  brought  upon  this  plundered  province  was 
10  dreadful,  that  one  would  rather  imagine,  says  Cicero, 
some  savage  monster  had  been  let  loose  upon  them,  than  that 
they  had  been  trusted  to  the  care  of  any  human  creature. 
And  in  another  letter  he*  tells  Atticus,  that  he  had  sufficient 
employment  in  applying  remedies  to  those  wounds  which  bad  . 
been  given  to  this  province  by  his  predecessor.  M  Att^  v, 
»6.  17.  •  .  * 


\ 


378 


The  letters 


Book  IV. 


they  thought  would  be  most  agreeable  to  you 
for  our  meeting.  In  short,  I  wish  you  would 
remember  the  maxim  which  those  great  air- 
thors  have  laid  down,  who  have  written  so  ex- 
cellently upon  friendship  ;  that  ^' to  accuse  and 
*^  to  defend  are  terms  which  ought  for  ever  to 
*'  be  banished  from  intercourses  of  this  ami- 
"  cable  kind." 

But  do  yon  imagine  that  I  have  had  no  op- 
portunities of  listening,  in  my  turn,  to  accu- 
sations of  the  same  nature  against  yourself? 
Was  it  never  told  me,  do  you  think,  that 
after  you  had  appointed  mc  to  meet  you  at 
Laodicea,  yotf  Vetfred  beyond  Mount  Taurus? 
Tliat,  at  the  ver\'  time  I  Ava^' employed  in  my 
jiiridicaroffice  at  Apamea,  Synnada,  and  Phi- 
lomelum,  you  took  the  liberty  to  exercise  the 
same  authority  at  Tarsus  ?  But  I  forbear  to 
"enter  farther  into  these  particulars,  that  I  may 
not  follow  your  example  in  the  ATry  instance 
of  which  I  am  complaining.  This,  however, 
I  will  say,  (and  I  say  it  with  great  sincerity) 
that  if  you  are  really  persuaded  of  the  truth  of 
these  reports,  you  dome  much  injustice;  and 
you  are  uot  entirely  without  reproach,  if  you 
only  suffered  them  to  be  related  to  you.  The 
truth  is,  it  will  appear  that  I  have  acted  to- 
wards you  in  one  uniform  tenor  of  friendship; 
1  *  Aud 


Book  IV. 


OF  CICERO. 


379 


.And  let  those  who  impute  artifice  to  me,  say, 
^.whether  it  is  probable,  that,  after  having  paid 
4lhe  utmost  attention  to  your  interest,  during 
your  absence  from  Rome,  and  at  a  time  when 
,  .1  had  not  the  least  expectation  of  its  ever  be- 
ing in  your  power  to  return  nie  the  same  fa- 
vour, I  should  give  you  just  reason  to  abandon 
me  now  that  I  have  so  many  occasions  for 
your  good  offices.  I  must,  however,  acknow- 
ledge, that  there  is  one  article  wherein  1  may 
not,  perhaps,  have  regulated  myself  altogether 
agreeably  to  your  inclinations.  I  am  sensible 
you  would  be  displeased  with  any  liberties  that 
cshould  be  taken  with  the  characters  of  those 
who  acted  in  office  under  you  :  and  I  will  own 
that  I  have  heard  very  unfavourable  representa- 
tions of  some  of  them.  But  I  must  add,  that 
no  persons  were  ever  mentioned  upon  this  oc- 
casion, or  any  greater  irregularities  laid  to  their 
charge^  than  those  which  your  friend  Clodius 
himself  named  to  me  when  I  saw  him  at  Cor- 
cyra:  who  lamented,  I  remember,  that  you  had 
been  some  sufterer  in  your  reputation  by  the 
mal-practices  of  those  officers*.     Reports  of 

^.i  f  A  particular  instance  of  the  cruelty  of  oueof  these  offi- 
cers under  Appius,  is  mentioned  in  the  letters  to  Atticus. 
Scaptius,  who  commanded  a  troop  of  horse  in  Cyprus,  iuN 
rouoded  their  senate  with  his  forces  in  order  to  conopel  them, 
U  is  probable,   to  comply  with  some  unjust  demands,  and 

kept 


580 


The  LErrERS        Book  IV. 


this  kiiul  (and.  many  such  indeed  there  are)  I 
never  in  the  least  encouraged :  but  I  will  frankly 
acknowledge,  likewise,  that  I  never  greatly  em 
deavoured  to  n  press  them  ;  well  persuaded  as 
1  am,  that  they  can,  in  no  sort,  affect  your 
character.  -  1^ 

Whoever  attempts  to  persuade  you,  that 
there  is  no  such  thing  as  a  perfect  reconcile- 
ment between  friends  whose  affections  have 
once  been  alienated,  discovers  the  perfidy  of 
his  own  heart,  instead  of  proving  the  dissimu- 
lation of  mine:  at  the  same  time  that  it  is  evi- 
dent that  he  has  not  a  worse  opinion  of  my 

.        .  sincerity, 

kept  them   thus  besieged   till  five   of  ihc  members  perishe<l 
w»ih  hunger.     When  the  g«.vernment  of  this  province  came 
Into  the  h^ds  of  Cicero,  the  Cyprian?,  as  their  island   lay 
*'iihiii  hh  jori^diction,  petitioned  that  these  troops  might  be 
withdrawn  :  and   he  very  humanely  complied   with  their  re- 
quest. He  relieved  them,  li/iewikc,  as  well  as  other  cities  un- 
der his  gov«rnment,  from  the  immoderate  interest  which  they 
paid  for  the  money  which  their  necessities  had  obliged  them 
U  borrow  in  Rome  ;  reducing  it  from  4  per  cent,  paid  month- 
l>f  to  I  per  cent.   This  vcjuitable  reduction  very  considerably 
affectel   Brutus,  who  was  concerned  in  these  loans;  and  he 
seems  to  have  complained  of  it  to  Atiicus.  Birt  notwithstand- 
ing the  la«er.§trongly  pressed  Cicero  to  favour  Brutus  in  this 
aflTair,  and  Brutus  himself  likewise  had  written  to  Cicero  tor 
the  saixie  purpoie:  yet  he  reioluiely  vwiihstooJ  their  united 
solicitations.     »*  l(  Brutus,"  says  he,  "  resents  my  conduct 
"  upon  this  occasion,   I  shall   be  sorry  :   but  much  more  so, 
.**»  to  find   him  a  different   man  from  what  I  always  thought 
"  him."     And  if  Cicero,  I  will  add,  had  spoken  and  acted 
upon  every  other  occasion  with  the  same  spirit  and  integrity, 
as  he  certainly  did  in  the  pnsent,  he  would  have  mentied  all 
the  encomiums  which  the  warmest  of  his  admirers  could  bave^ 
bestowed.     Jd  Att.  vi.  1.  2. 


Book  IV.  ot'XICERO, 


381 


sincerity,  than  he  must  necessarily  entertain  of 
yours.     But  if  any  man  has  taken  offence  at 
4he  measures  I  pursue  in  my  government,  as 
liot  exactly  coinciding  with  yours,  I  am  per- 
fectly unconcerned  at  the  loss  of  his  frietidshiji. 
To  say  truth,  we  have  both  acted  in  the  man- 
ner we  ought,  though  -we  have  not  both  fol- 
lowed the  same  plan.     The  instances  you  gave 
of  your  diffusive  liberality,   in  this  province, 
were  suitable  to  a  man  of  your  quality,     Tho' 
indeed,  even  you  yourself  were  obliged,  the 
last  year,  in  comphance  with  the  calamities  of 
-the  season,  a  little  to  restrain  the  munificence 
of  your  natural  disposition.     But  if  mine,  on 
the  contrary,  jflows  in  a  somewhat  more  limited 
channel,  let  not  those  to  whom  the  benefit  of 
that  stream  has  not  reached,   wonder  that  I 
rather  choose  they  should  suffer  from  the  ne- 
cessary restrictions  of  my  bounty,  than  that 
/  should  from  the  just  reproaches  of  my  con- 
science.    I  have  ever,  indeed,  been  extremely 
reserved  in  dispensing  largesses  at  another's 
cost :  as  I  cannot  but  be  sensibly  affected  with 
distresses  that  extend  themselves  throughout  a 
whole  community. 

I  am  much  obliged  to  you  for  the  account 
you  ^ave  me  of  affairs  at  Rome ;  and  particu- 
larly for  the  assurance  of  your  faithfully  exe- 
cuting 


I    ,  »v 


382 


The  letters 


Book  IV. 


cuting  all  my  requests.  What  I  principally  re- 
commend to  your  care  is,  that  neither  the  bu- 
siness nor  the  period  of  my  administration 
may  be  enlarged.  To  this  end,  I  beg  you 
Av^ould  entreat  our  common  friend  and^  col- 
league Hortensius,  that  if  ever  he  was  disposed 
to  comply  with  my  inclinations,  he  would  not 
persist  in  my  continuing  two  years  in  this  go- 
vernment, than  which  he  cannot  do  me  a 
more  unfriendly  office. 

As  to  the  information  you  desire  concerning 
my  own  motions;  I  marched  from  Tarsus  in  my 
way  to  Amaiius  on  the  7th  of  October,  and,  I 
write  this  the  day  following,  from  my  camp 
in  the  plains  of  Mop5uhesta^     If  any  action 
should  happen,   I  shall  not  fail  of  giving  you 
notice:  aiid  you  may  depend  upon  my  eu-^.j 
closing  a  letter  to  you  whenever  I  send  one  to 
my  fauiily.      With  respect   to   the  Parthians 
whom  you  inquire  after;  I  am  persuaded  that 
none  ever  appeared.     They  were  only  a  troop 
of  Arabians,  armed  after  the  Parthian  manner.,, 
But  these,   it  is  said,  are  all  returned  home^^ 
and  I  am  assured  there  is  now  no  appearance 
of  an  enemy  in  Syria. 

I  entreat  you  to  write  to  me  as  often  as  pos- 
sible 

'  In  the  Au2ural  Collfge. 

^  A  city  io  Cilicia,  situated  upon  the  banks  of  the  liver 
Pyramus. 


Book  IV. 


0Frt!I€ERO. 


383 


sible,  not  only  as.  to  what  regai'd%  youiojQwa^ 
and  my  private  aifairs,  but  as  to  those  likewise 
of  the  republic,  I  am  more  than  ordinarily, 
indeed,  soHcitous  concerning  the  latter,  as  I 
find,  by  your  letter,  that  Pompey  is  going  into 
Spaing     FarcM  el. 


I   I.      LETTER  XIL 

[A.  U.  702.] 

To  PuBLius  Si  LI  us,  Proprietor. 

I  DID  not  imagine  I  should  ever  have  found 
myself  at  a  loss  for  expressions :  yet  at  a  loss, 
believe  me,  I  am,  to  recommend  Marcus  Lse- 
nius  to  vou  in  the  terms  he  deserves.  I  must 
content  myself,  therefore,  with  explaining  the 
business  of  this  letter  in  a  few  words  :  but  in 
such,  however,  as  may  render  you  sufficiently 
sensible  of  my  inclinations.  It  is  incredible 
how  great  an  esteem  both  my  dearest  brother 
and  myself  entertain  for  Laenius  :  an  esteem, 
which  is  founded,  not  only  on  the  many  good 
offices  he  has  conferred  upon  us,  but  on  the 
exalted  integrity  of  his  heart,  and  the  singular 

modesty 

*  The  government  of  Spain  had  been  renewed  to  Pompey 
for  five  years  at  the  end  of  his  consulate  in  the  preceding 
year:  which  provinci',  however,  he  administered  by  his 
lieutenants,  whU*l  fce  himself  tiiii  coniinued  in  Home.  X/W, 
xli.  p.  148. 


384 


The  letters 


Book  IV. 


modesty  with  which  all  his  virtues  are  accom- 
panied.    It  was  with  the  utmost  regret,  there- 
fore, that  I  consented  to  part  with  him  :  as  I 
receive  much  advantage  from  his  counsels,  as 
well  as  great  entertainment  from  his  company. 
But  if  I  should  expatiate  any  farther  in  his 
praise,  will  you  not  think  that,  far  from  want- 
ing word's  as  I  just  now  complained,  I  have  em- 
ployed more  than  are  necessary  ?  To  be  short 
then;  I  recommend  La^nius  to  your  protec- 
tion, with  all  that  warmth  which  you  must  be 
sensible  I  ought,  after  what  I   have  here  said. 
Let  me  earnestly  entreat  you  to  expedite  the 
business  which  has  called  him  into  your  pro- 
vince, and  to  favour  him,  likewise,  with  your 
advice  in  the  conduct  of  it.    You  will  find  him, 
be  assured,  a  man  of  a  most  generous  and  well- 
natured  disposition :  for  which  reason,  I  beg 
you  will  send  him  back  to  us  with  the  satisfac- 
tion of  having   finished   his  affairs   by  your 
means,  as  soon  as  possible.     Your  compliance 
with  this  request,  will  extremely  oblige  both 

my  brother  and  myself.     Farewel.  . 

LETTER 


•  ^ 


Book  IV.         of  CICERO.  3^5 

LETTER  XIII.  •      • 

'  ■  [A.  U.  702.]  * 

To  Marcus  C(E  LI  us,  Curule-^dile  elect. 

1  WISH  you  would  enquire  the  reason   that 
your  letters  miscarry;  for  I  cannot  be  induced 
to  think  tiiat  you  have  not  once  written  to  me 
since  ypur  election*.     I  am  persuaded,  on  the 
contrary,  that  you  would  not  have  omitted  to 
communicate  a  piece  of  news  I  so  much  viish- 
ed  with  regard  to  yourself;  and  so  little  ex- 
pected in  relation  to  Hirrus.     The  truth,  how- 
ever, is,  that  I  have  not  heard  from  you  since 
that  glorious  and  joyful  event;  which  gives  me 
some  uneasiness,  lest  my  letters  should  have 
had  no  better  success  in  finding  their  way  to 
your  hand.     But  fc  assured  I  have  never  writ- 
ten  to  my  family  without  accompanyin<r  my 
packet  with  a  letter  for  you  ;  as,  indeed,  There 
IS  no  man  wliom  I  more  sincerely  and  tenderly 
value.-But  to  turn  to  the  prmcipal  purpose 
of  this  epistle.     Your  wish  has  succeeded,  and 
I  have  just  had  employment  enough  of  the  mi- 
litary kind  to  entitle  me  to  a  triumph.     You 
were  under  some  apprehensions,   I   perceive 
about  the  Parthians,  as  being  diffident  of  my 

forces, 

*  Into  the  office  cf  .£dile. 

Vol.  I.    .  C  c 


!'■ 


I 


I 


I  I 


I 


4 


y 


386  The  LETTERS  Book  IV. 

forces.     I  must  acquaint  you,  then,  that,  hav- 
ing received  advice  that  the  Parthians  had 
committed  hostilities,  I  took  the  advantage  of 
some  defiles,  and  of  the  neighbouring  moun- 
tains,  to  lead  my  army,  supported  by  a  tolera- 
We  number  of  auxiliaries,  to  Amanus.     The 
reputation  of  my  name  was  of  some  benefit  to 
me  likewise  in  my  march :  for  you  cannot 
imagine,  of  what  importance  it  is,  m  places  of 
this  kind,  to  have  the  populace  ask.  Is  this  the 
consul  that  saved  Rome  ?    Is  this  he  that  was 
so  honoured  by  the  senate  ?  together  with 
other  questions  of  the  same  import,  which  I 
need  not  add.     When  I  approached  to  Ama- 
nus, a  mountain  which  separates  Cilicia  from 
Syria,  I  had  the  satisfaction  to  hear  that  Cas- 
sius*  had  obliged  the  enemy  to  abandon  the 
siege  of  Antiochea,  and  that  Bibulus  had  taken 
upon  himself  the  command  of  the  province.— 
However,  I  employed  my  artiiy  in  harassing 
the  Amanienses,  our  eternal  enemies ;  and  hav- 
ing put  many  of  them  to  the  sword,  as  well  as 
taken  a  great  number  of  prisoners,  and  entirely 
dispersed  the  rest,  1  surprised  and  burnt  some 
of  their  fortresses.     Having  thus  obtained  a 

complete 

♦  He  was  lieutenant  to  Cra.sus  in  Syria,  af"  *'><''e 
death  the  comn,anH  o.  .he  province  devo  yed  "P""  J-' '^^ 
n^hulu.  who  «as  appointed  successor  to  Cr«ssus.  arrived .- 
A  mt:*  part.cular  account  «.ll  be  given  of  bim  m  the  far- 
ther  progress  of  ihese  remarks. 


L 


^ 


Book  IV,         qf  CJCERQ.  gg^ 

complete  victory,  I  wa$  saluted  with  the  titl^ 
of  Imperator,  by  the  whole  army,  at  Issus?; 
the  very  place  (as  your  favourite  historian, 
Clitarchub',  has  often,   I  have  heard  you  say, 
informed  you)  where  Alex^^nder  defeated  Da- 
rius.    From  thence  I  marched  into  the  most 
infested  parts  of  Cihcia,   where  I  am  now  be- 
fore Pindenessum,  a  city  of  great  strength, 
and  which  I  have  already  been  battering  above 
these  three  weeks.   The  garrison  makes  a  most 
obstinate  and  vigorous  defence;  sp  jthat  co- 
thing  seems  wanting  to  complete  the  glory  I 
«hali  here  obtain,  but  that  the  name  of  thi? 
place  were  less  obscure.     If  I  sjbould   maj<e 
myself  master  of  it,  (as  I  trust  I  shall)  I  will 
send  an  immediate  express  to  the  senate.     In 
the  mean  time  I  have  given  you  this  general 
account  of  my  operations,  tp  let  you  see  there 
is  some  foundation  to  hope  that  your  gopd 
wishes  will  take^ffect.     But  to  return  to  the 
Parthiaus.      This     summer's     campaign    has 
proved,  you  find,  tolerably  successful :  I  am 
in  gj-eat  pain,  however,  for  tlv^  next.     Let  me 
entreat  you,  therefore,  my  dear  friend,  to  en- 
deavour 

]^  A  city  which  stood  on  the  frontiers  of  Cilicia  and 
Syria. 

•  A  Greek  historian,  who  attended  Alexander  in  his  Per- 
sian expedition. 

Cc2 


\ 


I 


f 


388 


The  letters 


Book  IV* 


deavour  that  a  successor  be  appointed  to  my 
government :  but  if  that  should  prove  a  matter 
of  too  much  difficulty,  (as  you  intimate  in  one 
of  your  letters,  and  as  I  am  myself  inclined  to 
suspect)  be  careful  at  least  to  guard  against 
what  may  easily  be  prevented ;  I  mean  the  pro- 
longation of  my  residence. 

I  expect  from  your  letters, '(as  I  mentioned 
in  one  of  my  former)  not  merely  an  account 
of  what  is  at  present  going  forward  in  the  re- 
public, but  a  clear  prospect  also  of  what  is 
likely  to  happen.  For  M^hich  purpose  I  entreat 
you  to  inform  me  fully  of  every  thing  that  con- 
cerns the  public.     Farewel. 

LETTER  XIV. 

[A.  t.  702.] 

Marcus  Ccelius  to  Cicero. 
Wfi^have  received  an  express  from  Caius  Cas- 
sius,  and  another  from  Deiotarus,  which 
greatly  alarm  us.  The  former  writes  that  the 
Parthian  army  has  passed  the  Euphrates ;  and 
the  latter,  that  they  are  actually  marching  to- 
wards your  province,  by  the  way  of  Comma- 
gene.     As  I  well  know  how  ill  provided  you 

are 

'This  letter  appears  to  have  been  wriiten  before  any  of 
CiceroN  di^^paiche^,  concerning  the  Parthiani>,  bad  reached 
Rome ;  and  consequently  betore  CceUus  had  received  the 
preceding  epistle. 


Book  IV.         of  CICERO. 


389 


are  with  troops ;  the  principal  concern  I  feel 
from  this  invasion,  with  respect  to  you,  is  lest 
you  should  be  a  loser  by  it  in  point  of  reputa- 
tion.   Had  you  been  better  prepared,  indeed,  to 
receive  the  enemy,  I  should  have  been  in  great 
pain  for  your  life  :  but  as  the  very  small  num- 
ber of  your  forces  m^II  incline  you,  I  imagine, 
rather  to  think  of  a  retreat  than  an  engage- 
ment, I  am  only  anxious  concerning  your  ho- 
nour.   For  how  far  the  world  may  consider  the 
necessity  of  the  case,  and  approve  of  your  thus 
dechning  a  battle,  is  a  point,  I  confess,  which 
gives  me  much  uneasy  reflection.     In  short,  I 
shall  be  in  continual  anxiety  till  I  hear  of  your 
arrival  in  Italy.     In  the  mean  time,  this  news  " 
of  the  Parthians  has  occasioned  a  variety  of 
speculations.     Some  are  of  opinion  that  Pom- 
pey  ought  to  be  sent  to  oppose  them ;  and 
others,  that  it  is  by  no  means  convenient  be 
should  leave  Rome.     A  third  party  is  for  as- 
signing  this  expedition  to  Caesar  and  his  army, 
whilst  a  fourth  names  the  consuls'  as  the  most 
proper  persons  to  be  employed.     But  all  agree, 
however,  in  being  silent  as  to  any  decree  of  the 
senate  for  placing  this  command   in  private 
hands*.   The  consuls,  in  the  apprehension  that 

they 

*  Marcus  Marcellus,  and  Servius  Sulpicius. 

*  That  is,  in  the  hands  of  those  who  were  not  investfcl 
with  some  public  command. 

Cc3 


Vi 


590 


THt  LETTERS         Book  ir. 


they  shall  either  be  nominated  to  a  commission 
which  they  do  not  relish,  or  suffer  the  disgrace 
T)f  its  being  given  from  them,  forbear  to  con- 
vene the  senate,  and  by  this  mean  incur  the 
censure  of  neglecting  the  public  interest.  But 
whether  indolence  or  pusillanimity  be  the  leal 
motive  of  their  declining  the  conduct  of  this 
Dirat,  it  is  concealed  under  the  specious  appear- 
ance, however,  of  modesty. 

As  we  have  received  no  courier  from  you,  it 
was  suspected,  till  the  dispatch  from  Deiotarus 
arrived,  that  the  whole  was  an  invention  of 
Cassius,  who,  it  was  thought,  in  order  to  cover 
his  own  rapihe,  had  suffered  a  parcel  of  Arabs 
to  make  an  incursion  into  the  province,  and 
then  represented  them  to  the  senate  as  a  for- 
midable body  of  Parthians.     Whatever,  there- 
fore, may  be  the  true  state  of  the  affair,  let  me 
persuade  you  to  be  extremely  circumspect  in 
giving  a  faithful  and  accurate  account  of  it  to 
the  senate,  that  you  may  neither  be  reproached 
with  magnifying  matters  in  order  to  gratify  the 
private  purposes  of  Cassius,  nor  with  conceal- 
ing any  thing  which  may  be  of  importance  for 
the  public  to  know. 

It  is  now  the  18th  of  November:  and  as  we 
krt  advanced  thus  far  towards  the  end  of  the 
year,  I  do  not  sec  that  any  thing  can  bie  done 

in 


Book  IV, 


OF  CICERO. 


391 


in  this  affair  before  the  first  of  Januarys     For 
you  knovv  how  slow  and  inactive  Marcellus  is 
upon  all  occasions,  and  are  no  stranger  to  the 
dilatory   disposition  of  Sulpicius.     You  will 
easily  judge,  therefore,  what  is  to  be  expected 
from  two  men  of  this  unperforming  cast ;  and 
that  they  who  usually  act  with  so  much  cold- 
ness, as  to  make  one  doubt  their  inclinations, 
even  in  points  they  really  desire  to  effect,  will 
not  be  very  warm  in  forwarding  a  business 
from  which  they  are  certainly  averse. 

If  the  Parthian  war  should  become  a  serious 
matter,  the  new  magistrates  will  be  engaged, 
for  the  first  two  or  three  months  of  their  office, 
in  adjusting  the  proper  measures  to  be  taken  in 
this  conjuncture.     On  the  other  hand,  if  it 
should  appear  to  be  an  invasion  of  no  conse- 
quence, or  such,  at  least,  that,  with  the  supply 
of  a  few  additional  troops,  may  easily  be  re- 
pelled by  you  and  the  other  proconsuls  already 
in  those  provinces,  or  by  your  successors.  Cu- 
rio, I  foresee,  will  begin  to  play  his  double 
game  :  that  is,  he  will  in  the  first  place  attempt 
to  weaken  the  authority  of  Caesar^ :  and  in  the 
next  endeavour  to  throw  some  little  advan- 
tages 

3  When  the  consuls  elect  entered  upon  the  administra- 
tion of  their  office.  j  j 

♦^  Curio  had  not  as  yet  pulled  off  the  mask,  and  deciared 
himself  openly  in  favour  of  Gaesar. 

Cc4 


392 


Thi  letters  Book  IV. 


tages  on  the  side  of  Pompey.     As  for  Paulus', 
he  declares  most  vehemently  against  suffering 
Ca?sar  to  continue  in  Gaul ;   and  our  friend 
Furniusis  the  only  tribune  whom  I  suspect  of 
obstructing  his  measures  for  that  purpose.   You 
may  depend  upon  these  articles  as  certain :  but 
beyond  these  I  cannot  with  any  assurance  pro- 
nounce.    Time,  indeed,  may  produce  much; 
as  many  schemes,  I  know,  are  concerted  :  but 
they  all  turn  upon  the  points  I  have  already 
specified.     I  forgot  to  mention  that  Curio  de^ 
signs  to  make  an  attempt  to  procure  a  division 
of  the  lands  in  Campania*.     It  is  pretended 
that  Caesar  does  not  concern  himself  in  this 
matter;  certain,  however,  it  is,  that  Pompey  is 
very  desirous  of  having  the  distribution  set- 
tled before  Caesar's  return,  that  he  may  be  pre- 
cluded from  applying  them  to  his  own  pur- 
poses. 

As  to  wliat  concerns  your  leaving  the  pro- 
vince, I  dare  not  promise  that  you  shall  be  re- 
lieved 

'  One  of  the  consuls  elect.     See  rem.  6.  p.  324.  of  this 
vol. 

*  Cacsar,  when  he  was  consul,  an.  urb.  6^4,  had  procured 
a  law  UtT  the  Hisiribution  of  these  lands,  and  part  of  them 
had  actually  been  distributed  accordingly.  The  remaining 
pan  was  what  Curi  >  had  in  bis  view,  which  were  to  be  pur- 
chased uf  the  private  possessors  with  the  public  monev,  and 
parcelled  out  amongst  the  poor  citizens  in  the  same  riianner 
as  those  had  beeu  which  were  already  divided.  See  rem. 
13.  p.  165,  of  this  vol.     Vid  ctiam  Manut,  in  ep,  Fam,  i.  % 


Book  IV>        of  CICERO. 


S93 


lieved  by  a  successor  5  but  you  may  rely  upon 
my  endeavouring  all  I  can  that  your  admini- 
stration  shall  not  be  prolonged.  Whether  you 
will  think  proper  to  remain  in  your  government 
if  affairs  should  be  so  circumstanced  as  to  ren- 
der it  indecent  for  me  to  oppose  any  decree  of 
the  senate  for  that  purpose,  depends  upon  your- 
self to  determine,  as  it  does  upon  me  to  re- 
member, how  warmly  you  made  it  your  request 
when  we  parted,  that  I  would  prevent  any  such 
resolution  from  being  taken.     Farewel. 


LETTER  XV. 

[A.  U.  702.] 

To  PuBLius  SiLius,  Proprator. 

It  was  with  the  warmest  and  most  grateful 
acknowledgment  of  your  favours,    that  my 
friend  Nero  assured  me,  you  have  distinguished 
him  with  every  honour  in  your  power.     You 
may  depend  upon  the  most  efficacious  instances 
of  his  friendship  in  return,  as  there  is  not  a  man 
in  the  world,  of  a  more  grateful  and  generous 
disposition.     You  have  conferred,  at  the  same 
time,  a  very  singular  obligation  upon  myself, 
for  I  know  not  any  man  amongst  all  our  nobi- 
lity, who  stands  higher  in  my  esteem  and  af- 
fection.    Your  good  offices  to  him,  therefore, 

in 
4 


594 


The  letters    BookIV. 


I 


in  the  following  instances,  wherein  he  desired  I 
would  particularly  request  them,  will  he  highly 
jioreeable  to  me.     In  the  first  place,  1  beg  you 
to  defer  tlie  affair  of  Pausanias,  an  inhabitant 
©f  Alibanda,  till  Nero  arrives  in  your  province; 
and  as  this  is  a  point  in  which  I  perceive  he  is 
exceedingly  solicitous,  it  is  with  a  proportion- 
able degree  of  zeal  that  I  entreat  your  compli- 
ance.    The  next  favour  I  anrto  ask  is,  your 
particular  protection  for  the  citizens  of  Nysa. 
Nero  is  greatly  attached  to  the  interest  of  this 
corporation,  and  I  hope  you  will  shew  them 
that  nothing  can  be  more  to  their  advantage 
than  his  patronage.     I  have  frequently  had  oc- 
casion of  recommending   Strabo  ServiUus  to 
you,  but  I  renew  my  applications  with  so  much 
the  more  ardour,  as  Nero  takes  a  share  in  his 
concerns.    We  jointly  then  entreat  you  to  settle 
his  affair,  ai^d  not  leave  an  innocent  man  to  be  a 
prey,  perhaps,  to  one  who  may  succeed  to  your 
government  with  a  turn  of  mind  far  different 
from  that  generosity  which  disnnguishes  yours^ 
This  will  be  acting  in  a  manner  highly  agreeable 
to  myself,  and  suitable  at  the  same  time  to  your 
usual  humanity.     In  a  word,  the  purport  of 
my  present  application  amounts  to  this ;  that 
you  would,  upon  all  occasions,  continue  to  dis- 
tiniruish  Nero  with  your  most  peculiar  regard. 

The 


Book  IV. 


OF  CICERO. 


395 


The  truth  is,  your  province  has,  in  this  respect, 
greatly  the  advantage  over  mine,  as  it  affords 
you  full  scope  of  doing  honour  to  so  noble,  so 
ingenious,  and  so  virtuous  a  youth.  Your  per- 
severance  in  the  same  generous  offices  with 
which  you  have  thus  far  assisted  my  friend, 
will  give  him  an  opportunity  of  confirming  and 
strengthening  those  illustrious  clientships  which 
have  been  delivered  down  to  him  from  his  an- 
cestors. And  let  me  add,  that  it  will  be  placing 
your  favours  with  great  judgment  in  respect  to 
Nero,  as  well  as  bestowing  them  in  the  most 
obliging  manner,  likewise,  with  regard  to  my- 
self,    FareweL 

m 

LETTER  XVI. 

[A.  U.  702.] 

To  Curio,  Tribune  of  the  People. 

Ihe  congratulations  of  a  friend  are  not 
usually  considered  as  too  late,  if  they  are  paid 
as  early  as  possible :  my  great  distance,  there- 
fore, from  Rome,  together  with  the  slow  pro- 
gress with  which  news  travels  into  this  corner 
of  the  world,  will  excuse  me  for  not  sooner 
sending  you  mine.  But  I  now  sincerely  give 
them  you,  and  most  ardently  wish  that  "you 
may  obtain  immortal  honour  by  your  adminis- 
tration 


...■■":'l:.,-^:-Vi 


I 


596 


The  letters        Book  IV. 


tration  of  the  tribunate.     To  this  end,    I  must 
exhort  you  not  to  suffer  yourself  to  f)e  turned 
aside  from  your  natural  bias,  in  compliance 
with  the  sentiments  and  advice  of  others  ;  on 
the  contrary,  let  me  entreat  you  to  be  directed 
in  your  ministry  by  the  faithful  light  of  your 
own  superior  wisdom.     No  man,  indeed,  is  ca- 
pable of  giving  you  more  prudent  counsels  than 
will  arise  from  the  suggestions  of  your  own 
good-sense;  and,  believe  me,  you  can  never  be 
misguided  so  long  as  you  pursue  the  honest  dic- 
tates of  your  uninfluenced  judgment.  I  say  not 
this  inconsiderately,  but  as  perfectly  well  know- 
ing the  genius  and  principles  of  him  to  whom  I 
am  addressing  myself.     Yes,  my  friend,  I  can 
never  be  apprehensive  that  you  will  act  either 
weakly,  or  irresolutely,  whilst  you  support  the 
measures  your  heart  approves.     It  was  neither 
chance  nor  ionorance  that  led  vou  to  solicit 
this  magistracy  in  so  important  a  crisis.     It 
was  a  deliberate  and  well  considered  resolution 
that  engaged  you  in  this  design,  and  you  wei;e 
perfectly  sensible  of  the  great  and  general  coi>- 
fu&ion  in  which  the  commopwealth  is  involved, 
together  with  the  utter  uncertainty  in  what  man- 
ner these  our  unhappy  divisions  will  finally  be 
terminated.     You  frequently   reflect,  I  doubt 
not,  on  the  vain,  the  treacherous,  and  the  pliant 

dispositions 


Book  IV. 


OF  CICERO. 


397 


dispositions  of  the  present  generation.  To 
repeat,  then,  what  I  just  now  mentioned,  let 
me  conjure  you  stedfastly  to  persevere  in  your 
old  principles;  to  consult  the  dictates  of  your 
own  breast;  and  faithfully  to  comply  with  its 
wise  and  worthy  admonitions.  Hardly,  per* 
haps,  is  any  man  more  quahfied  than  yourself 
to  direct  the  conduct  of  others:  none,  lam 
sure,  to  steer  your  own.  Good  Gods  !  Why 
am  I  thus  prevented  from  being  a  witness  of 
your  glorious  actions,  and  an  associate  in  your 
patriot  designs  ?  The  latter,  1  am  persuaded, 
you  are  far  from  wanting;  however,  the 
strength  and  warmth  of  my  affection  might 
possibly  render  the  conjunction  of  my  coun- 
sels with  yours  not  altogether  unprofitable. 

You  will  hear  from  me  again  very  soon:  as 
I  purpose  in  a  few  days  to  send  an  express  to  the 
senate  with  a  particular  account  of  the  success 
of  my  arms  during  the  last  summer's  campaign. 
In  the  mean  time,  you  will  perceive,  by  the 
letter  which  I  delivered  to  your  freed-man 
Thraso,  with  what  zealous  pains  I  have  solicited 
your  election  to  the  pontifical  dignity;  an 
election,  indeed,  that  will  be  attended  with 
much  difficulty.  I  conjure  you,  in  return,  my 
dear  Curio,  not  to  suff'er  this  my  very  trouble- 
some provincial  administration  to  be  length- 
ened 


I     »• 


598 


The  letters         Book  IV. 


cued  out  beyond  the  usual  period,  and  I  entreat 
it  by  all  the  strong  and  tender  ties  of  our  mu- 
tual friendship.  When  I  first  made  this  re- 
quest to  you  in  person,  and  several  times  after- 
wards repeated  it  by  letter,  I  had  not  the  least 
imagination  of  your  being  tribune.  I  then,  in- 
deed, only  entreated  your  good  offices  as  an  il- 
lustrious senator,  and  as  one  who  stood  high 
in  the  favour  and  esteem  of  every  Roman.  But 
I  now  apply  to  Curio,  not  only  as  my  noble 
friend,  but  as  a  powerful  tribune.  I  do  not 
desire,  however,  (what,  indeed,  would  be  more 
difficult  to  obtain)  that  any  thing  unusual 
should  be  decreed  in  my  favour ;  but,  on  the 
contrary,  that  you  would  support  that  decree, 
and  maintain  those  laws  by  which  I  was  ap- 
pointed to  this  government.  In  a  word,  my 
single  and  most  earnest  request  is,  that  the 
terms  upon  which  I  set  out  for  this  province 
may  not  be  changed.     Farewel. 

LETTER 


Book  IV. 


J 


6F  CICERO. 


LETTER  XVII. 


^^ 


[A.  U.  702,] 

To  Therm  US,  Proprgetor. 

1  FOUND  you  perfectly  well  inclined  to  em- 
ploy every  good  office  in  your  power  for  my 
lieutenant  Marcus  Anneius,  when  I  mentioned 
his  affair  to  you  at  Ephesus.     However,  as  my 
affection  will  not  suffer  me  to  omit  any  circum- 
stance which  may  tend  to  his  advantage,  I 
write  to  you  in  the  belief  that  this  letter  will 
considerably  add  to  the  favourable  disposition 
in  which  you  already  stand  towards  him.    He 
has  long  enjoyed  a  share  in  my  friendship ;  as^ 
indeed,  I  have  sufficiently  shewn  the  good  opi- 
nion I  entertain  of  him,  by  having  appointed 
him  my  lieutenant  in  preference  to  so  many 
others,  who  solicited  for  that  office.     The  war 
in  which  I  was  soon  afterwards  enffawd,  grave 
me  occasion  of  experiencing  his  military  abili*. 
ties ;  and  the  prudence,  the  courage,  and  the 
fidelity  with  which  he  executed  his  commission, 
together  with  the  extraordinary  marks  he  gave 
me  of  his  affection,  have  raised  him  to  the 
higliest  possible  degree  of  my  esteem.     I  in- 
formed you  at  Ephesus,  that  there  were  some 
points  in  controversy  between  him  and  the  city 

of 


I 


A 


400 


The  letters 


Book  IV. 


Book  IV- 


OF  CICERO: 


401 


of  Sardis^;  the  particulars  of  wliich  you  will 
best  learn  when  the  cause  shall  come  before  you. 
And  here,  I  must  confess,  I  have  been  long 
debating  with  myself  what  I  should  farther  say 
to  you.     The  world  universally  acknowledges 
and  admires  your  impartial  administration  of 
justice,  and  my  friend's  claim  is  so  well  founded 
as  to  require  no  other  protection  than  that  of 
your  usual  equity.     However,  as  I  am  sensible 
of  the  great  authority  which  naturally  attends 
the  Prcctorian  office,  especially  where  it  is  exer- 
cised with  so  much  honour,  lenity,  and  wisdom, 
as  are  well  known  to  distinguish  your  adminis- 
tration ;  I  entreat  you  to  exert  that  influence 
in  such  a  manner,  upon  this  occasion,  as  may 
convince  Anneius  that  you  are  his  friend.     He 
is  already,  indeed,  persuaded   that  you  are  so, 
and  has  often  mentioned  you  to  me  in  that  cha- 
racter. Nevertheless,  I  cannot  forbear  conjuring 
you,  by  those  reciprocal  good  oflices  whicli  have 
equally  passed  between  us,  to  let  him  see  that 
this  letter  has  rendered  you  still  more  inchned 
to  serve  him.     Be  assured,  the  whole  extent  of 
your  provincial  power  cannot  supply  you  with 
an  opportunity  of  more  effectually  obliging  me. 
It  is  unnecessary  I  should  add,  that  you  cannot 
better  dispose  ofyour  favours,  than  by  conferring 

them 

'  In  Lydia. 


them  on  Anneius:  and  I  am  persuaded  you 
have  too  high  an  opinion  of  his  merit  and  gra- 
titude to  entertain  the  least  doubt  upon  that 
article.     Farewel. 

LETTER  XVIII. 

[A.  U.  702.] 

To  V0LUMNIUS8. 

1  HE  familiar  manner  in  which  your  letter  to 
me  was  addressed,  though  extremely  agreeable' 
indeed  to  the  intimacy  that  subsists  between 
us,  made  me  at  first  doubt  whether  it  did  not 
come  from  my  very  good  friend,  your  name- 
sake, the  senator.  But  I  soon  found,  by  that 
lively  and  elegant  humour  with  which  it  was 
distinguished,  that  it  could  be  the  produce  of 
no  other  hand  than  yours.  I  was  exceedingly 
pleased  with  it  in  every  respect,  but  that  I 
perceived  you  had  not  sufficiently  discharged 

your 

•  The  person  to  whom  this  letter  is  addressed  was  a  Ro- 
man knight,  extremely  admired  for  his  wit  and  pleasantry. 
It  was  this  quality,  it  is  probable,  that  recommended  him 
to  Antony,  with  whom  he  appears  to  have  been  in  some  cre- 
dit ;  as  he  was  likewise  employed  by  him  in  the  civil  wars, 
Atticus  also  was  in  the  number  of  Volumnius's  friends  ?  and 
after  the  battle  of  Modena,  when  Antony's  faction  was  sup- 
posed to  be  irrecoverably  ruined,  he  generously  protected  him 
from  the  violences  of  the  successful  party.  Ad  Att,  xv.  $. 
Corn,  Nep.  in  vit,  AtticU 

Vol.  I.  D  d 


402 


The  letters 


Book  IV. 


your  trust,  and  defended  the  credit  of  my  pos-. 
sessions  as  a  wit.  For  you  tell  me,  that  since 
I  left  Rome,  every  paltry  joke,  evea  those  of 
the  dull  Sextius  himself,  is  placed  to  my  ac- 
count. And  did  you  suffer  your  friend  to  be 
thus  dishonoured,  without  heroically  standing 
forth  in  vindication  of  his  genius  ?  I  was  in 
hopes  that  my  wit  was  stamped  with  such 
distinguishing  marks  as  to  prevent  the  possi- 
bility of  its  being  mistaken.  But  it  seems 
there  is  such  a  general  depravation  of  taste  in 
Rome,  that  no  man  s  conceits  are  so  execrably 
vile,  as  not  to  meet  with  admirers.  As  you 
value  my  reputation  then,  assert  boldly  that 
every  low  thing  which  is  repeated  of  this  sort^ 
is  none  of  mine.  And  unless  it  be  some  smart 
pun,  or  elegant  hyperbole,  some  striking  para- 
gram ',  or  some  arch  and  unexpected  turn*;  in 
a  word,  unless  it  answers  the  character  of  true 

humour 

'  The  hyperbole  is  a  figure  of  speech  by  which  any  thing 
is  extravagantly  magnified  or  diminished  beyond  the  truth  : 
^  a  paragram  is  a  species  of  the  pun,  which  consists  in 
Cha'*^ing  liie  initial  letteib  of  a  name.  It  would  be  needless 
to  produce  any  example  in  explanatic/n  of  the  former;  atxl 
an  insiance  of  ihc  laner  kind  will  occur  to  every  English 
Tender  lu  the  weil-kn«!»\vn  reply  which  Cromwell  made  to  the 
ju(U;es4  when  they  reminded  him  oi  Magna  Chartu, 

*  Ot  this  kind  ts  what  the  Duke  of  Buckingham  ooce  said 
to  a  tioble  Earl  :  My  Lord,  you  wUl  ceilainly  be  damned.  Hov^y 
my  Lord  !  returned  the  Earl,  with  some  warmih.  Aq^,  replied 
the  Duke,  there's  no  help  for  it :  for  it  ispositrceiy  saidy  Cursed^ 
is  he  o/'whom  all  men  speak  mell.    Taller ,  vol.  i.  No.  17. 


Book  IV. 


OF  CICERO. 


403 


humour',  as  described  in  my  dialogue  oil  ora- 
tory, I  desire  you  would  do  me  the  favour 
most  vehemently  to  swear,  that  mine  you  are 

confident 

'  Cicero,  in  the  treatise  to  which  he  here  refers,  intro- 
duces one  of  his-  speakers  as  pointing  out  the  principal  sources 
of  oratorical  humour:  among  which  he  makes  very  honour- 
able mention  of  the  pun.  There  is  scarce  an  author,  indeed, 
of  any  note  among  the  ancients,  that  has  not,  in  some  part 
or  other  of  his  writings,  tried  his  genius  at  a  conceit :  and  it 
is  remarkable,  that  there  is  one  in  particular  which  runs 
through  almost  the  whole  set  of  Roman  Classics.  The  first 
that  appears  to  have  started  it  is,  that  venerable  censor,  Cato 
the  elder  :  who,  in  a  grave  speech  recorded  by  Livy,  taking 
notice  of  those  fine  statues  that  had  been  lately  transported 
into  Italy,  after  the  conquest  of  Greece,  expresses  his  concern 
ne  ilicB  magis  res  no$  ceperint  quam  so*  itlas.  Horace  was  so 
well  pleased  with  this  witticism,  that  he  has  transplanted  it 
into  one  of  his  epistles  : 

Groecia  captafentm  viciorem  cepit,  et  artes 

Intulit  agresti  Latio» 
And  even  the  majestic  Virgil  could  not  secure  himself  from 
the  infection  of  this  contagious  ambiguity  : 

Num  Capti  poPuere  Capi  ? 
a  quibble,  which  was  afterwards  taken  up  by  Quintus  Cur«* 
tius :  though  it  seems  to  be  somewhat  damaged  in  passing 
through  his  hands  :  phres  captivi  (says  that  historian,  speak- 
ing of  one  of  Alexanders  victories)  quam  qui  caperent,  erant. 
When  it  is  considered  how  early  this  species  of  false  wit  ap- 
peared in  the  world ;  with  what  difficulty  it  has  been  sub- 
dued ;  that  some  of  the  best  writers  have  not  been  able  en» 
tirely  to  abstain  from  it ;  and  that  it  was  the  favourite  of  so 
unquestionable  a  genius  as  Cicero  ;  one  cannot  forbear  think- 
ing with  the  inimitable  Mr.  Addison,  **  that  the  seeds  of 
punning  are  in  the  minds  of  all  men/'  It  is  the  business, 
therefore,  of  criticism,  to  root  out  a  weed,  which  the  best  as 
well  as  the  worst  soil,  it  seems,  is  so  ^t^ongly  disposed  to 
produce:  as  it  cannot  spread  without  checking  the  nobler 
gjpowth  of  true  wit  and  just  imagination.  Cic.  de  orat,  ii.  3S^ 
Xit;.  xxxiv.4.  Hor.  fp.  ii.  1. 157.  Virg,  Mn.s\u295,  Quint, 
Cur.  V.  13.  Addison  Spect,  i.  No.  6l. 


404 


The  letters 


Book  IV, 


confident  it  is  not.  With  regard  to  those  little 
pretenders  to  eloquence,  of  whom  you  com- 
plain, as  having  usurped  my  place  in  the  Fo- 
rum, I  am  much  less  concerned.  Fare  it  as  it 
may  with  plaintiffs  and  defendants  of  every 
kind,  I  am  nothing  disturbed ;  no  not  though 
the  worthless  Sehus  himself  should  be  deemed 
eloquent  enough  to  persuade  the  world  that  he 
is  not  an  arrant  slave.  But  in  the  article  of  wit, 
my  friend — there,  indeed,  I  am  much  too  jea- 
lous not  to  assert  my  prerogative.  It  is  an  ar- 
ticle, however,  in  which  I  stand  in  fear  of  no 
other  competitor  but  yourself:  for  your  preten- 
sions, doubtless,  are  formidable.  Yet  when  I 
say  this,  you  will  modestly  suspect,  perhaps, 
that  I  am  bantering  :  and  who  but  must  own 
that  Volumnius  is  a  man  of  penetration  ?  To 
speak  seriously :  a  most  agreeable  and  lively 
vein  of  wit  runs  throughout  your  whole  letter. 
I  will  confess,  however,  that  what  you  men- 
tion concerning  our  friend*,  though  you  repre- 
sented it  in  a  very  droll  light,  did  not  once 
make  me  smile.  It  is  much  my  desire,  I  must 
own,  that  he  should  conduct  himself  through 
his  tribunitial  office  with  dignity  ;  not  only  for 
his  own  sake,  as  you  know  he  is  a  man  I  value, 
but  for  the  sake  hkewise  of  my  country  :  which, 

however 

^  This  seems  to  allude  to  Curio. 


\  ... 


Book  IV. 


OF  CICERO. 


405 


however  ill  it  has  treated  me,  I  shall  never 
cease  to  love. 

And  now,  my  dear  Volumnius,  I  hope  you 
will  continue  the  agreeable  correspondence  you 
have  begun,  and  give  me  frequent  accounts  of 
affairs  both  private  and  public  :  for,  be  assured, 
your  letters  are  extremely  pleasing  to  me.     I 
entreat  you,   likewise,    to  endeavour  to  gain 
Dolabella  entirely  to  my  interests,  by  confirm- 
ing him  in  that  amicable  disposition  towards 
me,  which,  I  know,  he  is  inclined  to  enter- 
tain.    Not  that  I  suspect  he  wants  any  ap- 
plications of  this  sort :  but,  as  I  am  very  de- 
sirous to  make  him  my  friend,  it  is  a  point, 
I  think,  that  cannot  be  too  much  laboured. 
FareweL 


»    V^  )■*»  I  ■•» .  \  ■♦ 


DdS 


LETTER 


406  The  LETTERS 


Book  IV* 


LETTER  XIX, 

[A.  U.  702.] 

To  Crassipes\ 

I  TOOK  occasion,  before  I  left  Rome,  of  re- 
commending the  Bithynia*  company  to  you  in 
the  strongest  terms  I  was  able :  and  I  had  th« 
pleasure  to  find  you  perfectly  well  disposed, 
not  only  from  my  instances,  but  your  own  in- 
clinations, to  do  them  all  the  good  offices  in 
your  power.    However^  as  those  who  are  con- 
cerned in  the  affairs  of  this  society,  think  it 
may  be  to  their  advantage  that  1  should  thus 
repeat  my  assurances  of  the  regard  I  bear  them, 
I  make  no  difficulty  of  yielding  to  their  solicita- 
tions. Be  well  persuaded  then,  that  I  have  ever 
been  desirous  of  rendering  to  this  whole  or- 
der, in  general,  my  best  services  :  to  which,  in- 
deed, the  important  obligations  they  have  con- 
ferred  upon   me,    give   them  an  undoubted 
right.     But  my  attachments  are  more  particu- 
larly strong  to  that  branch  of  them  concerned 

in 

'He  was  Quxstor  in  Bithynia:  and,  probably,  at  the 
same  time  \*bHn  P.  Silius  was  governor  of  that  province :  See 
rem  1.  p.  3^6  of  this  v(»l. 

♦The  .  even  lies  of  the  republic  arising  from  the  foreiga 
provinces  wf  le  larmed  b)  the  Roman  knights^  who  were  di- 
vi'eH  into  several  C"mpanies  distinguished  by  the  name  of 
the  particular  pr  )vince  whose  taxes  they  rented.  See  rem* 
53.  p.  204.  of  this  vol. 


Book  IV. 


OF  CICERO. 


407 


- 


in  the  finances  of  Bithynia :  as  this  compatiy, 
from  the  rank  and  character  of  its  members, 
forms  one  of  the  most  considerable  bodies  in 
the  whole  republic.  It  is  composed,  indeed, 
out  of  all  the  other  companies,  and  happens  to 
consist  of  several  of  my  most  intimate  friends. 
In  this  number  their  governor  Publius  Rupi- 
lius  holds  the  principal  rank :  the  most  impor- 
tant part  of  whose  function  is  concerned  in  my 
present  address.  I  make  it  then  my  earnest 
request  (and  it  is  a  request  you  may  very  easily 
comply  with)  that  you  assist  and  protect  their 
agent  Pupius  in  discharging  his  services  to  the 
satisfaction  of  the  company  :  and,  in  general, 
that  you  would  promote  their  interest  by  all 
those  means  which,  I  well  know,  are  in  the 
power  of  a  Quaestor.  Your  compliance  in  this 
instance  will  greatly  oblige  me :  and  I  will  add 
too,  what  I  can  affirm  from  my  own  expe- 
rience, that  you  cannot  confer  your  gopd  of- 
fices upon  a  society  that  will  more  gratefully 
remember  them.     Farevvel. 

.    Dd4  LETTER 


408  The  LETTERS        Book  IV; 

LETTER  XX. 

[A.U.702.] 

To  PuBLius  Si  LI  US,  Proprseton 

X  UBLius  Terentius  Hispo,  who  is  deputy* 
receiver-general  of  the  customs  arising  from 
pasture  and  cattle  in  your  province,  is  a  person 
for  whom  I  have  a  very  particular  firiendship : 
as,  indeed,  many  important  good  offices  have 
mutually  passed  between  us.  The  settling  hi« 
accounts  with  the  several  cities  under  his  de- 
partment which  yet  remain  unadjusted,  is  a 
point  wherein  his  character,  you  are  sensible, 
is  greatly  concerned.  This  I  attempted  in  his 
behalf  with  regard  to  the  inhabitants  of  Ephe- 
SU5  :  but  my  attempts,  I  must  confess,  prov- 
ed unsuccessful.  It  is  the  general  opinion 
of  the  world,  however,  and  what  I  am  firmly 
assured  of  myself,  that  the  justice  and  cle- 
mency of  your  administration  has  gained 
you  such  an  ascendant  over  the  people  of 
Greece,  that  you  may  easily  obtain  of  them 
anything  you  shall  request.  I  entreat  you  then 
to  employ  your  interest  with  them  in  favour  of 
Hispo  :  and  I  ask  it  as  a  point  in  which  my 
honour  is  pt  culiarly  concerned.  The  truth  is, 
not  only  the  whole  company  in  this  branch  of 
the  revenues  has  placed  itself  under  my  pro- 
tection, 


Book  IV. 


OF  CICERO. 


4t)9 


tection,  but  I  have  particular  intimacies  M-ith 
many  of  its  members.  Your  compliance,  there- 
fore, with  my  requst,  will  strengthen  my  interest 
with  this  society  in  general,  and  will  also  give 
me  the  satisfaction  and  credit  of  having  obtain- 
ed your  good  offices  for  my  friends  To  this  I 
will  add,  that  you  may  depend  on  receiving 
great  complacency,  both  from  the  grateful  re- 
turns of  Hispo  in  particular,  and  from  the  in- 
terest you  will  establish  with  this  illustrious 
company  in  general.  You  will  likewise  oblige 
me  in  a  most  sensible  manner :  for,  be  assured, 
the  whole  extent  of  your  government  cannot 
supply  you  with  an  opportunity  of  rendering 
me  a  more  acceptable  service.     Farewel. 


,.••  f 


V     ;..YJ-:,-^ 


LETTER 


...,>yef»'2 


■•>      kl: 


f  • 
,y  .  * 


t    AH     ) 


LETTERS 


JPF 


MARCUS  TULLIUS  CICERO 


TO 


SEVERAL  or  His  FRIENDS. 


BOOK  V. 


LETTER  L 


[A.  U.  703.] 

To  Marcus  Cato'. 

The  great  authority  you  bear  in  the  republic^ 
together  with  the  high  esteem  I  have  ever  en- 
tertained for  your  uncomtnon  virtues,  make 

me 

*  This  illustrious  Roman  was  great- grand  son  to  Marcus 
Cato  the  Censor  :  to  whom  he  w^s  no  less  allied  in  virtue 
than  in  blood.  He  had  all  histnerit,  indeed,  without  any  of 
fai»  failings :  and  with  the  sam«  determined  inflexibility  in 

his 


412 


The  letters 


Book  V. 


me  look  upon  it  as  a  point  of  much  conse- 
quence to  me,  that  you  should  be  apprised  of 

the 

in  his  public  conduct,  he  was  far  more  amiable  in  the  com- 
mon intercourses  of  private  life.  Perhaps  a  character  eqwally 
perfect,  is  no  where  to  be  found  in  the  whole  annals  of  pro- 
fane history  ;  and  it  may  well  be  questioned  whether  kuman 
philosophy  ever  produced,  either  before,  or  since,  so  truly 
great  and  good  a  man.  It  is  a  just  observation  of  Seneca  ; 
magnam  rem  putUj  unum  hominem  agere:  and  it  is  this  un- 
common consistency  of  action  that  marks  the  character  of 
Cato  with  its  most  distinguishing  beauty.  All  the  parts  of  his 
conduct  accord  with  each  other,  and  are  the  regular  result 
of  one  steady  and  invariable  principle : 

-Patria — impcndere  vitam : 


Ncc  iibi,  sed  toti  genitum  se  credere  mundo. 

.      This  was  the  glorious  object  of  his  ambition  from  his  first 
appearance  in  the  world  to  the  last  moment  of  his  life  :  and 
he  undauntedly  pursued  it  through  all  the  various  insulis  and 
opposition  that  Caesar,  Crassus,  and  Poropey  could  contrive 
to  traverse  and  perplex  his  way.    He  resolutely,  indeed,  op- 
posed the  progress  of  their  power,  in  every  step  of  its  un- 
constitutional advancement ;  and,  with  a  most  consummate 
prudence,  perpetually  forewarned  his  countrymen  of  those 
calamities    which    they   afterwards   experienced.      Cicero, 
nevertheless,  has  said  (and  it  has  been  often  repeated  after 
•  him)  that  there  was  more  of  probity  than  of  prudence  in 
Cato's  politics;  and  particularly  instances  his  treatment  of 
the  Roman  knights  in  a  very  nice  case,  wherein  they  peti- 
tioned the  senate  for  redress.     See  rem.  9.  p.  114.  of  this 
vol.     Perhaps  Cato's  firmness  in  this  article  cannot  be  jus- 
tified :  but  certainly  it  would  not  be  reasonable  to  pro- 
nounce, from  a  particular  article,  that  he  did  not,  in   the 
general  tenor  of  his  public  actions,  discover  great  abilities. 
Cicero  speaks  of  them,  it  is  true,  upon  other  occasions  also, 
yikh  some  diminution  :  but  it  is  no  wonder  he  should  repre- 
sent that  conduct  as  injudicious,  which  was  almost  in  every 
respect  the  very  reverse  of  his  own.     One  cannot  easily,  in- 
deed, believe  that  Cato's  talents  were  unequal  to  his  vir- 
tues, when  one  considers  the  perpetual  jealousy  with  which 
he  was  looked  upon  by  the  first  triumvirate;  the  violent 
measures  they  employed  to  prevent  his  being  elected  prae- 
tor; 


Book  V. 


OF  CICERO. 


413 


the  success  of  my  arms ;  of  the  ^disinterested 
protection  I  have  given  to  our  allies ;  and  of 
the  integrity  of  my  administration  in  general. 
And  I  doubt  not,  when  you  shall  be  informed 
of  these  several  articles,  I  shall  find  the  less  dif- 
ficulty in  persuading  you  to  comply  with  the 
request  I  am  going  to  make. 

I  arrived  in  this  province  on  the  last  of  July ; 
and,  as  the  season  of  the  year  rendered  it  neces- 
sary for  me  to  hasten  to  the  army,  I  continued 
only  two  days  at  Laodicea,  four  at  Apamea, 
threfe  at  Synnadae,   and  as  many  at  Philome- 
lum.     I  found  great  numbers  of  people  assem- 
bled in  these  several  towns,  in  expectation  of 
my  arrival :  and,  during  my  stay  in  each,  I  re- 
lieved many  cities  from  the  oppressive  taxes  they 
laboured  under,  reduced  the  exorbitant  interest 
they  paid  for  the  money  they  had  been  obliged 
to  borrow,  and  discharged  them  from  the  unjust 
demands  of  their  usurious  creditors.     Before  I 

arxived 

tor;  and  that  they  would  never  suffer  him  to  attain  the 
consular  office.  Integrity  under  the  direction  of  much  in- 
ferior abilities,  could  not,  surely,  have  been  thus  formida- 
ble ;  especially  in  an  age  the  most  venal  and  unprincipled 
that  ever  darkened  the  annals  of  human  corruption.  But 
whatever  may  be  determined  as  to  the  measure  of  his  intel- 
kctual  qualities,  he  unquestionably  possessed  the  patriot 
virtues  in  their  highest  perfection  :  and  (as  a  noble  author 
justly  observes)  **  if  he  could  not  save,  he  prolonged  the 
"  life  of  liberty."  Plut.  in  vit,  Qaton,  Senec.  ep,  120.  Lu- 
can.  ii.  382.  Ad  Att,  i.  18. 11.  5.  Let,  on  the  spirit  ofpa^ 
t  riot  ism  f  p.  35. 


414 


The  letters 


Book  V. 


arrived  in  my  governinent,  a  mutiny  had  arisen 
in  the  army,  and  the  soldiers  had  dispersed  them-« 
selves  into  diifei*ent  parts  of  the  provinces:  five 
cohorts,  in  particular,  were  retired  to  Philome- 
lum,  without  a  single  officer  to  command  them. 
I  therefore  ordered  my  lieutenant  Anneius  ta 
conduct  these  scattered  regiments  to  the  main 
body  in  Lycaonia^  and  to  assemble  the  whole 
army  at  Iconium  ;  where  I  directed  him  to 
encamp.  These  orders  he  very  diligently  exe- 
cuted :  and  I  joined  the  troops  on  the  26th 
of  August.  In  the  interval  I  employed  myself, 
agreeably  to  the  injunctions  of  the  senate,  in 
1  aising  a  strong  body  of  Evocati',  together  with 
a  proper  number  of  cavalry,  as  also  in  assem- 
bling those  auxiliary  forces  which  the  free  as 
well  as  regal  states  in  alliance  with  the  republic 
bad  voluntarily  offered  me.  As  soon  as  the 
junction  of  all  the  troops  was  completed,  I  re- 
viewed the  whole  army ;  and,  on  the  50th  of 
August,  w^e  began  to  move  towards  Cilicia.  In 
the  mean  time,  envoys  from  the  king  of  Com-t 
magene  arrived  with  a  very  confused  indeed,, 
but,  however,  as  it  appeared  afterwards,  a  very* 
true  account,  that  the  Parthians  had  invaded 
Syria.  This  news  greatly  alarmed  me,  not  only 
for  the  danger  to  which  that  province,  but  my 

own^ 

^  See  remark  1.  on  letter  3.  book  iv. 


Book  V. 


OF  CICERO. 


415 


own,  was  exposed :  and  which  threatened,  like^ 
wise,  all  Asia  in  general.  I  thought  it  ad  viseable, 
therefore,  to  lead  my  troops  through  that  part 
of  Cappadocia  which  borders  on  Cilicia.  If, 
indeed,  I  had  marched  directly  into  Cilicia,  I 
could  easily  have  protected  that  district  of  my 
province  from  any  invasion  on  the  side  of  Sy- 
ria :  as  it  cannot  be  entered  from  thence  with- 
out traversing  Mount  Amanus,  over  which  there 
are  only  two  narrow  defiles,  that  might  be  de-^ 
fended  by  a  very  small  force.  In  short,  no- 
thing can  be  more  impregnable  than  Cilicia  is 
from  that  quarter,  by  the  fortifications  with 
which  nature  has  secured  it.  But  my  chief 
concern  was  for  Cappadocia,  which  lies  entire- 
ly open  towards  Syria :  and  besides,  there  are 
several  little  kingdoms  in  its  neighbourhood, 
which,  though  in  friendship  with  the  Romans, 
5^et  dare  not  openly  act  against  the  Parthians. 
These  considerations,  therefore,  determined  me 
to  lie  with  my  army  on  the  borders  of  Cappa- 
docia :  and  accordingly  I  encamped  at  Cybis- 
tra,  a  town  situated  not  far  from  Mount  Tau- 
rus. By  these  means,  I  was  in  a  condition  of 
protecting  Cilicia,  at  the  same  time  that,  by 
possessing  myself  of  Cappadocia,  I  prevented 
the  contiguous  states  from  entering  into  any 

measures  to  our  prejudice, 

Whilst 


I 


41^ 


The  letters 


Book  V. 


Whilst  aflfairs  were  in  this  commotion,  and 
there  was  reason  to  apprehend  a  general  war, 
King  Deiotarus  sent  an  embassy  to  my  camp> 
with  an  offer  of  joining  me  with  all  his  forces. 
I  was  extremely  sensible  of  this  instance  of  his 
zeal  and  friendship  :  and  immediately  returned 
him  a  letter  of  acknowledgments,  with  my  press- 
ing exhortation,  at  the  same  time,  that  he  would 
liasten  his  march.  I  cannot  but  observe,  upon 
this  occasion,  that  Deiotarus  justly  merits  those, 
peculiar  marks  of  favour  and  esteem,  with  which 
both  you  and  I  in  particular,  as  well  as  the  se- 
nate in  general,  have  ever  distinguished  him.^ 
He  discovers,  indeed,  a  remarkable  fideHty  and 
affection  to  the  republic,  together  with  an  un- 
common presence  and  greatness  of  mind  both 
in  action  and  in  council. 

I  found  it  necessary,  for  the  better  concerting 
my  plan  of  operations,  to  continue  five  days  at 
Cybistra.  Durlfig  my  stay  there,  I  had  the  sa- 
tisfaction to  be  of  singular  service  to  Ariobar- 
zanes:  a  prince  particularly  assigned  to  my  pro- 
tection by  the  senate,  in  consequence  of  your 
motion  for  that  purpose.  I  delivered  him  from 
a*  very  dangerous  conspiracy,  >vhich  was  just 
upon  the  point  of  being  carried  into  execution. 
I  did  more  indeed  :  and  not  only  preserved  his 
person,  but  strengthened  his  authority.  ^Porthis 

*  —  purpose 


BbOK  V-* 


OF  CICERO. 


417- 


purpose  I  procured  Mctras  and  Athenaeus,  (the 
latter  of  whom  you  strongly  recommended  to 
my  caFe)  not  only  to  be  recalled  from  that  exile 
into  which  the  intrigues  of  the  cruel  Athenais 
had  driven  tbem^  but  to  be  restored  to  their 
former  favour  and  credit  with  the  king.  And  as 
it,^ould  have  produced  a  very  terrible  civil 
war,  if  _the  high  priest*,  who  was  among  the 
disaffected  party,  had  taken  up  arms,  as  waj 
generally  supposjed  to  be  his  intention;  I  found 
means  of  obliging  him  to  depart  the  kingdom. 
This  young  man  abounded  both  in  mo-ney  and 
troops,  and  possessed  every  other  advantage  that 
could  render  him  of  importance  to  those  who 
were  inclined  to  attempt  a  revolution. — In  a 
WQfd,  I  recovered  the  authority  of  Ariobar- 
«anes,  without  occasioning  the  least  blood- 
shed, ,or  disturbance^  and  firmiy  established 
him  in  his  royal  dignity. 

In  the  mean  tiwe,  I  was  informed,  by  various 
expresses^  that  a  considerable  army  of  Parthianj 
and  AjC^ians  were  advanced  to  the  city  of  An- 
tioctiia';  and  that  a  large  body  of  their  cavalry,, 
which  had  penetrated  into  Cilicia,  were  en- 
tirely 

*  It  appears,  by  a  passage  which  Manutius  cites  from 
HirtiMS,  that  the  high  priest  of  the  temple  of  Bellona,  at 
Coramaoa,  a  city  in  Cappadocia,  was  next  in  rank  aud 
power  to  the  kiD^  himself.     Hirt,  dt  Bd>  Al€9Wid. 

>  In  Syria. 

Vox..  L  Ee 


\ 


418 


The  letters 


Book  V. 


tirely  cut  to  pieces  by  a  detachment  of  mine, 
supported  by  the  praetorian*  cohort  in  garrison, 
at  Epiphanea^  Perceiving,  therefore,  that  the 
Parthians  had  turned  off  from  Cappadocia,  and 
were  approached  within  a  small  distance  of  the 
frontiers  of  Cilicia,  I  conducted  the  army  with 
all  possible  expedition  to  Amanus.  Upon  my 
arrival,  I  found  the  enemy  was  retired  from  An- 
tiochia,  and  that  Bibulus  had  taken  possession 
ef  the  city.  I  sent  an  express,  therefore,  to  Dei- 
otarus,  who  was  upon  full  march  with  all  his 
forces  to  join  me,  acquainting  him  that  I  did 
not  at  present  see  occasion  of  drawing  him  out 
cf  his  dominions ;  but  that  if  any  new  occur- 
rence  should  arise,  I  would   immediately  give 

hhn  notice. 

My  principal  view  in  advancing  to  Amanus 
was,  that  I  might  be  ready  to  assist  either  Cili- 
cia or  Syria,  as  circumstances  should  require.  I 
had  likewise  another  design,  which  I  had  before 
meditated,  and  now  prepared  to  execute,  as  be- 
ing of  great  importance  to  both  provinces:  I 
mean  to  quell  the  insurrection  of  these  high- 
landers,  and  extirpate  an  enemy  that  was  per- 
petually 

♦  The  praetorian  cohort  composed  a  sort  of  body-guard  to 
the  proconsul,  or  general ;  and  consisted  of  a  select  number 
chosen  out  <>f  the  Evocati.  The  nature  ©f  the  latter  has  been 
alread)  explained  in  remark  1.  p.  340.  of  this  vol. 

'  A  city  in  Cilicia. 


Book  V. 


dF  CICERO. 


41:9 


petually  infesting  us.  To  this  end  I  made  a  feiiit 
of  retiring  towards  another  part  of  Cilicia ;  and, 
having  actually  returned  a  day's  march,  I  en- 
camped at  Epiphanea.  But,  on  the  12th  of  Oc- 
tober, in  the  evening,  I  struck  my  tents,  and, 
by  a  long  march  during  the  whole  night,  I  ar- 
rived early  the  next  morning  at  Amanus.  I  im- 
mediately formed  in  order  of  battle,  heading 
part  of  the  troops  myself,  in  conjunction  with 
my  brother,  and  distributing  the  command  gf 
the  rest  amongst  my  other  lieutenants.  The 
enemy  being  thus  surrounded  by  surprise,  were 
taken  and  destroyed  in  great  numbers.  Mean^ 
while,  my  lieutenant  Pontinius,  attacked  Sepyra; 
Commons,  and  Erana;  the  latter  of  which  is 
the  principal  town  on  these  mountains,  and,  in*- 
deed,  considerable  enough  to  be  called  a  city. 
They  each  made  a  very  obstinate  resistance; 
and,  notwithstanding  the  attack  began  before 
day-break,  they  did  not  suiTender  till  night,  nor 
without  having  suffered  a  prodigious  slaughter. 
In  this  action  we  took  six  fortresses,  and  burnt 
many  more. 

Having  thus  successfully  completed  this  ex* 

pedition,  we  encamped  at  the  foot  of  Mount 

Amanus,  near  Alexander's^  altars,  where  I  con- 

'  tinned 

•  A  place  near  Issus,  where  Alexander  having  defeated 
Darius,  consecrated  three  altars  to  Jupiter,  Hercules,  and 
Minerva,  as  memorials  of  his  victory.     Quint,  Curt,  iii. 

Ee2 


420 


The  letters 


Book  V; 


eontinued  four  days.    During  the  whole  time  I 
remained  here,   I  was  employed  in  cxtii-pating 
the  rest  of  these  mountaineers,  and  destroying 
that  part  of  their  lands  which  lies  within  my 
province.     From  hence  I  sat  down  before  Pin- 
dinessum  ;  a  city  in  the  territories  of  that  part 
of  Cilicia,  which  has  never  submitted  to  the 
Romans.     This  Av^as  a  place  of  great  strength, 
and  inhabited  by  a  stubborn  people,  who  had 
preserved  themselves  unconquered,  even  by  the 
neighbouring  kings.     It  was  a  harbour,  like- 
wise, for  fugitives  of  every  kind,  and  they  were 
greatly,  also,  in  the  interest  of  the  Parthians, 
whose   approach   they   impatiently   expected^ 
Upon  these  considerations,  I  thought  it  for  the 
honour  of  my  arms  to  restrain  their  insolence; 
especially,  as  1  should  by  this  means  the  more 
easily  subdue  the  spirit  of  those  other  cantons 
which  were  equally  averse  to  the  Roman  govern- 
ment   In  consequence  of  this  resolution,  I  in- 
vested the  town ;  and,  having  raised  six  large 
fortresses,  I  began  to  play  my  battering  en- 
gines against  their  walls.    They  held  out,  how- 
ever, fifty-seven  days ;  but,  at  length,  finding 
the  flames  had  seized  several  parts  of  the  town, 
and  that  other  quarters  were  laid  in  ruins,  they 
surrendered  at  discretion,  after  having  occ^- 
fiioned  me  an  infinite  fatigue.     I  had  the  satis- 

4  faction 


Book  V. 


OF  CICERO. 


421 


faction  to  complete  this  enterprise  without  oc* 
casionino*  our  allies  the  least  inconvenience  or 
expence.  After  having  thus  reduced  Pindi- 
nessum,  and  received  hostages  from  the  Tibu- 
rani,  a  neighbouring  people  equally  bold  and 
insolent,  I  sent  my  army  into  winter-quarters. 
This  care  I  assigned  to  my  brother,  and  order- 
ed him  to  canton  the  troops  amongst  those 
towns  we  had  lately  taken,  or  that  were  most 
disposed  to  revolt. 

And  now,  if  a  motion  should  be  made  in  the 
senate  concerning  the  honours  due  to  the  suc- 
cess of  my  arms,  I  shall  esteem  it  the  highest 
glory  to  be  supported  in  my  pretensions  by 
your  suffrage.  I  am  sensible  it  is  usual  for  the 
gravest  characters  to  request,  as  well  as  to  be 
requested,  for  favours  of  this  nature,  in  the 
strongest  terms ;  but  I  persuade  myself  it  will 
be  more  proper  for  me  to  remind,  than  to  solicit 
you,  in  the  present  instance.  You  have  fre- 
quently, indeed,  not  only  distinguished  me  with 
your  vote,  but  with  your  highest  applause,  both 
in  tlie  senate  and  in  the  assemblies  of  the  peo- 
ple^.  And  believe  me,  I  have  ever  thought 
fnh  there 

/  )?l Cicero,  soon  after  the  expiration  of  his  eonsulate,  had 
very  particular  obligations  to  Cato,  of  the  kind  he  mentions. 
For  the  latter  being  tribune  at  that  time,  procured  him  a  con- 
firmation from  an  assembly  of  the  people,  of  the  glorious 

litleof  FATHKH   or    HIS    COUNTRY.      FM.  iu  t^,  C^« 

Ee  3 


423 


Th£  letters 


Book  V. 


there  was  so  much  weight  and  authority  in  all 
you  uttered,  that  a  single  word  of  yours  in  my 
favour  was  the  highest  honour  I  could  possibly 
receive.  I  remember,  upon  a  certain  occasion, 
when  you  refused  to  vote  for  a  public  thanks- 
giving^ which  was  proposed  in  favour  of  a  very 
worthy  and  illustrious  citizen;  you  told  the 
senate  that  you  should  willingly  have  given 
your  suffrage  in  support  of  the  honour  in  ques- 
tion, had  it  been  designed  as  a  reward  for  any 
civil  services  which  that  consul  had  performed 
in  Rome.  Agreeably  to  this  maxim,  you  for- 
merly concurred  in  voting  that  a  public  thanks- 
giving should  be  decreed  to  me  ;  not,  indeed, 
for  having  advanced  the  glory  of  our  country  by 
itty  military  achievements  (for  that  would  have 
been  aeircumstancenothinguncommon)  butfor 
having,  in  atnosti  singular  and  unexampled  man* 
B^r,  preserved  the  liberties  of  the  whole  com- 
monwealth^ without  drawing  a  sword.  I  for- 
hmt  to  mention  the  generous  share  you  have 
tftken  in  all  the  envy,  the  difficulties,  and  the 
dangers  to  which  my  lif6  has  been  exposed ;  and 
a  far  greater  you  were  willing  to  have  taken,  if 

I  could 

■  Thishonotir  wai  usually  4«cre<»d  to  a  general  after  some 
sigi'^al  a<ivan>ag€)  obtained  by  his  arms.  It  consisted  in  ap- 
pTtfrtPing  a  solemn  festival  in  order  to  return  thanks  to  the 
god:*  for  the  public  success;  at  which  time  the  senate  went  in 
soleHin^f>ni*ceiM4m  to  the  principal  templls  in  Roma,  and  as- 
sisted at  the  sacrifices  instituted  for  such  occasions. 

^  By  the  suppression  of  Catiline's  conspiracy. 


Book  V. 


OF  CICERO. 


.423 


I  could  have  been  prevailed  upon  to  have  con- 
sented. I  forbear  to  mention,  likewise,  that  you 
considered  my  enemy'°  as  your  own;  and  that, 
in  order  to  give  me  aconvincingproof  of  your 
great  regard,  you  scrupled  not  to  shew  your 
approbation  even  of  his  death,  by  defending 
Milo  in  the  senate.     In  return,  (and  I  speak 
of  it,  not  as  a  favour  for  which  you  are  indebt- 
ed to  me,  but  as  a  tribute  which  I  owed  to 
truth)  I  have  been  no  silent  admirer  of  your 
virtues ;  for  who,  indeed,  can  suppress  his  ap- 
plause of  them  ?     In  all  my  speeches,  both  in 
the  forum  and  the  senate,  as  well  as  in  the  se- 
veral pieces  I  have  published,  either  in  our  own 
language,  or  in  Greek,  I  have  ever  represented 
your  character  as  superior,  not  only  to  the 

noblest  amongst  our  contemporaries,    but  to 

the  most  celebrated  in  history. 

After  all,  you  will  wonder,    perhaps,  what 

should  induce  me  to  set  so  high  a  value  upon 
^  these  little  transient  honours  of  the  senate.     I 

will  acknowledge,   then,  the  whole  truth,  and 

lay  open  my  heart  before  you  with  a  freedom 
'  becoming  that  philosophy  we  cultivate,  and  that 

friendship  we  profess ;  a  friendship   delivered 
'  down  to  us  from  our  parents,  and  improved  by 

m^ny  reciprocal  good  offices..  Let 

»°Clodius. 

E  e  4 


424 


The  letters 


Book  V. 


Let  mc  previously  observe,  that  if  ever  any 
man  was  a  stranger  to  vain-glory,  and  a  desire 
of  vulgar  admiration,  it  is  myself;  and  this 
frame  of  mind,  which  I  possess  by  temper,  has 
been  still  strengthened  (if  I  am  not  deceived) 
by  reason  and  philosophy.  As  an  evidence  of 
this,  I  appeal  to  my  consulate ;  in  which,  as 
in  every  other  part  of  my  Hfe,  tho'  I  pursued 
that  conduct,  I  confess,  from  whence  true  hor 
nours  might  be  derived,  yet  I  never  thought 
they  were  of  themselves  an  object  worthy  of 
my  ambition.  On  the  contrary,  I  refused  the 
government  of  a  very  noble  province" ;  and, 
notwithstanding  it  was  highly  probable  1  might 
have  obtained  a  triumph,  yet  I  forbore  to  pro- 
secute my  pretensions  of  that  kind.  I  forbore, 
too,  the  offering  myself  as  a  candidate  for  th^ 
office  of  augur,  tho'  you  are  sensible,  I  dare  say, 
that  I  might  have  succeeded  without  much  diffi- 
culty. But  I  will  acknowledge,  that  the  injurious 
treatment  I  afterwards  suffered,  tho'  you  always 
speak  of  it,  indeed,  as  a  circumstance  which  re- 
flects the  highest  honour  upon  my  character,  and 
as  a  misfortune  only  to  the  republic,  has  ren- 
dered me  desirous  of  receiving  the  most  distin- 
guished marks  of  my  country's   approbation. 

''  Macedonia ;  to  which  he  had  a  right  by  lot  to  have 
succeeded  at  the  expiration  of  his  consulate.  See  rem.  1.  p. 
p.  of  this  voL 


Book  V. 


OF   CICERO; 


4S3 


For  this  reason,  I  solicited  the  office  oFaiTgur, 
which  I  had  before  declined  :  and,  as  Httle  as  t 
once  thought  the  military  libnbUTs  deserved 
my  pursuit,  I  am  now  ambitious  of  thaft  dis- 
tinction which  the  senate  usuallv  confers  on 
Its  successful  2:enerals.  I  will  own  I  have 
some  view,  by  this  mean,  of  healing  the 
wounds  of  my  former  unmerited  disgrace;  and, 
therefore,  tho'  I  just  now  declared  that  I 
would  not  press  you  upon  this  article,  I  recal 
my  words,  and  most  earnestly  conjure  your 
suffrage  and  assistance.  I  make  this  request, 
however,  upon  the  supposition  that  what  I 
have  performed  in  this  campaign  shall  not  ap- 
pear contemptible  in  your  eye,  but,  on  the 
contrary,  far  superior  to  th^  aStiofts '6f  many 
of  those  generals  who  have  obtained  the  most 
glorious  rewards  from  the  senate. 

I  have  observed  (and  you  are  sensible  I  at 
ways  listen  with  great  attention  whenever  you 
deliver  your  opinions)  that,  as  often  as  any 
question  of  this  nature  has  come  before  the  se- 
nate, you  were  less  inquisitive  into  the  military 
than  civil  conduct  of  the  proconsul.  It  was 
the  political  ordinances  he  had  established, 
and  the  moral  qualities  he  had  displayed, 
that  seemed  to  have  the  principal  weight  in 
determining  your  vote.  If  you  should  exa- 
mine my  pretensions  in  this  view,  you  will  see 

that, 


426 


The   letters 


Book  V. 


that,  with  a  weak  and  inconsiderable  army,  I 
found  a  strong  resource  against  the  danger  of 
a  very  formidable  invasion  in  the  lenity  and 
justice  of  my  government.  By  these  aids  I  ef- 
fected what  I  never  could  by  the  most  power- 
ful legions :  I  recovered  the  friendship  of  our 
alienated  allies ;  firmly  strengthened  their  alle- 
giance to  the  republic ;  and  conciliated  their 
affections  at  a  time  when  they  were  waiting 
the  opportunity  of  some  favourable  conjunc- 
ture to  desert  us. 

But  perhaps  I  have  expatiated  farther  upon 
this  subject  than  is  necessary ;  especially  to 
you,  before  whom  all  our  allies  in  general  are 
accustomed  to  lay  their  complaints'*.  To  them,, 
therefore,  I  refer  you  for  an  account  of  the  be- 
nefits they  have  received  by  my  administration. 
They  will  all  of  them,  as  with  one  voice,  I  am 
persuaded,  give  you  the  most  advantageous 
testimony  in  my  favour;  but  particularly  those 
illustrious  clients  of  yours,  the  Cyprians*^  and 

Cappa- 

**  Cttto  settler!  a  correspondence  throughout  the  whole 
Roman  provinces,  and  received  constant  intelligence  of 
the  conduct  of  the  several  governors  in  their  respective 
commands,  so  attentive  was  J  his  vigilant  patriot  to  what- 
ever concerned  the  interest  of  the  commonwealth  !  Flut,  m 
vit.  Cat  an, 

*^  Cyprus  had  a  particular  claim  to  the  patronage  of 
Cato,  a»  he  had  been  employed  in  executing  a  commission 
by  which  that  island  was  annexed  to  the  dominions  of  the 
repubiic.     This  commission  was  arUuUy  connived  by  Clo- 

dius 


Book  V. 


OF  CICERO. 


4S7 


Cappadocians,  to  whom  I  may  likewise  add 

your 

dius  in  his  tribunate,  in  order  to  remove  Cato  out  of  his 
way  :  but  the  precise  nature  of  it  is  no  where  distinctly  ex- 
plained. It  should  seem,  by  what  may  be  collected  from 
Plutarch,  that  it  was  only  an  embassy  in  which  Cato  was 
appointed  to  claim,  on  behalf  of  the  republic,  the  dominions 
of  Ptolemy,  king  of  Cyprus,  and  to  offer  him,  at  the  same 
time,  the  high-priesthbod  of  the  temple  of  Venus,  in  the 
island  of  Paphos,  which  in  those  days  might  have  been  no 
disadvantageous  exchange.  Cato,  however,  has  been  sevei*e- 
]y  censured  by  some  modern  historians,  for  having  accepted 
this  office;  and  Dr.  Middleto'n,  in  particular,  thinks  he  can- 
not  be  justified.  But  none  of  the  ancient  historians  speak 
of  it  as  in  the  least  unworthy  of  Cato's  virtue :  and,  indeed, 
one  of  the  most  moral  writers  in  all  antiquity  mentions  it 
upon  an  occasion  which  evidently  shews  that  it  was  by  no 
means  thought  inconsistent  with  that  character  of  rigid  jus- 
tice which  this  illustrious  Roman  had  so  deservedly  obtained. 
Seneca,  in  his  letter  of  consolation,  addressed  to  Marcia,  on 
the  loss  of  her  son,  taking  notice  of  the  advantages  of  an  early 
death,  instances,  among  other  examples,  those  calamities 
which  a  more  extended  period  had  brought  upon  Cato. 
Marcum  Catonem,  says  he,  si  a  Cypro  et  hereditatis  regict  dU- 
pematione  redeuutem  mare  decorassety — nonne  illo  bene  actum 
foret  ? — Nunc  annorum  adjectio  paucissimoruniy  virum  liber- 
tati  non  suot  tantum  sed  publicce  natum,  coegit  Ccesaremfu- 
gere,  Pompeium  sequi.  It  is  evident,  then,  that  this  action 
was  so  far  from  being  deemed  unjustifiable  in  the  opinion  of 
the  ancients,  (by  which  alone  it  can  be  fairly  examined) 
that  the  Loblest  of  their  moralists  has  chosen  it  to  complete 
the  glory  and  grace  the  exit  of  his  favourite  hero.  It  must 
unquestionably,  therefore,  have  been  founded  upon  some 
circumstances  that  reconciled  it  to  that  law  of  nations  which 
then  prevailed  in  the  world.  Accordingly,  it  appears,  by 
some  passages  in  Cicero's  orations,  that  the  republic  had  an 
ancient  claim  to  these  dominions.  For  Alexander,  king  of 
Egypt,  to  whose  territories  Cyprus  belonged,  appointed  the 
Roman  commonwealth  his  general  heir;  and  though  the 
senate  did  not  judge  proper,  at  that  juncture,  to  assert  their 
full  right  under  his  will,  they  thought  it,  however,  a  suffici- 
ent title  to  possess  themselves  of  Alexander's  effects.  From 
that  time  dowu  to  the  date  of  Cato's  commission,  frequent 

attempts 


438 


Thj;  letters 


Book  V, 


Book  V. 


OF  CICERO. 


49]? 


your  great  and  royal  friend**,  prince  Deiotanis. 
If  thus  to  act  is  a  merit  of  the  most  superior 
kind ;  if  in  all  ages  the  number  has  been  far 
less  considerable  of  those  who  knew  how  to 

subdue 

attempts  bad  been  made  in  the  senate  to  enforce  tbeir  right 
under  the  will :  and  a  decree  had  actually  passed  for  that 
purpose.  But  as  this  decree  was  protested  against  by  some 
tribune,  it  had  never  been  carried  into  execution.  Thus  fa^ 
it  should  seem  that  Cato's  commission  was  not  founded  upon 
a  mere  arbitrary  exertion  of  power,  but  on  a  right  which 
had  long  before  received  the  sanction  of  the  senate,  and 
which  had  already  in  part  been  vindicated  to  the  public. — 
In  the  next  place,  the  inhabitants  of  Cyprus  were  extremely 
oppressed  under  the  government  of  Ptolemy,  and  desirous  of 
transferring  their  subjection  to  the  Romans.  Peterculus  re- 
presents this  prince  as  one  who  well  deserved  the  punish- 
ment he  sutfered  :  omnibus  monan  vitiis,  say?  he,  earn  coutu^ 
meiiam  merituni.  And  Dion  Cassius  expressly  declares  that 
the  Cyprians  received  Cato,  **  ovxoKOvtjuos  hoping  that,  from 
"  slaves  as  they  were  before,  they  should  be  raised  into  the 
♦•  number  of  the  friends  and  allies  of  Rome."  But  to  consi* 
der  this  question  in  another  view  ;  what  probable  reason  of 
personal  interest  can  be  assigned  for  Cato*s  undertaking  this 
office  ?  It  could  not  be  from  a  spirit  of  avarice  :  for  itisunani-* 
mously  confessed  that  he  discharged  it  with  the  most  unspotted 
integrity.  It  could  not  be  from  a  motive  of  ambition  ;  for  he 
refused  all  the  honours,  upon  this  occasion,  which  his  coun- 
try would  have  paid  him.  It  could  not  be  from  a  servile 
compliance  with  the  power  of  Clodius  ;  for  he  died  rather 
than  submit  even  to  that  of  Cpesar.  Upon  the  whole,  there- 
fore, it  seems  reasonable  to  assert,  that  Cato  acteU  in  thijj 
instance,  as  in  all  others,  upon  a  principle  ©f  disinterested 
patriotism,  and  consistently  with  the  strictest  maxims  of  Pa« 
gan  morality.  P/«/.  in  vit,  Caton,  Orat,  in  Rul.  i.  1.  11. 
W    VeL  Faterc.  ii.  4$,  Jpto,  p.  10^.     Senec.  Consol,  ad 

Marc.  20,  "^-o  .  >jlij2 

■♦  Cato  took  a  voyage  ii\to  Asia^  in  order  to  inform  him-, 
self  of  the  strength  and  disposition  of  these  eastern  provinces ; 
aad  it  was  upon  this  occasion  that  he  entered  into  a  persona^ 
friendship  with  Deiotarus,  who  paid  him  the  hoiiours  of  bis 
court  with  singular  marks  of  estecia  and  4»»sidenaion.-r^ 
m^U.  in  Tit.  Caton.  ■  .,^-l\  : 


subdue  their  desires,  than  to  vanquish  their 
enemies;  he  that  has  given  an  instance  of 
both,  cannot,  certainly,  but  be  deemed,  in  Ca- 
to's estimation  at  least,  to  have  strengthened 
his  claim  to  the  honours  of  his  country,  and 
to  have  improved  the  splendour  of  his  military 
achievements,  by  the  more  unusual  lustre  of 
his  civil  conduct. 

Let  me,  in  the  last  place,  and  as  in  diffi* 
«dence  of  my  own  solicitations,  call  in  Philoso- 
phy for  my  advocate ;  than  which  nothing  has 
ever  aflForded  me  a  more  sensible  satisfaction. 
The  truth  is,  she  is  one  of  the  noblest  blessing$ 
that  the  gods  have  bestowed  on  matt.  At  her 
shrine  we  have  both  of  us,  from  our  earliest 
years,  paid  our  joint  and  equal  adorations :  and 
while  she  has  been  thought  by  some  the  com** 
paiuon  only  of  indolent  and  secluded  specula- 
tists,  we  (and  we  alone  I  had  almost  said) 
have  introduced  her  into  the  world  of  business^ 
and  familiarised  her  with  the  most  active  and 
important  scenes.  She,  therefore,  it  is  that 
now  solicits  you  in  my  behalf;  and  when  Phir 
losophy  is  the  suppliant,  Cato,  surely,  can  ne- 
ver rjefiise.  To  say  all  iri  one  word^  be  wejt  as- 
sured, if  I  should  prevail  with  you  to  concut 

*<niO  .  *  r^  )lHi5  4»t.  )  '^* 

in.  procunng  a  decree  I  so  much  wish  to  ob- 
tain, I  shall  cofisider  my3elf  as  wholly  indebted 
for  tliat  honour  to  your  authority  and  friend- 
ship.    FareweL  LETTER 


r 


r 


\ 


430 


The  letters 


Book  V. 


LETTER  IL 
[A.  u.  ro3.] 

Marcus  Cato  to  Cicero. 

The  affection  I  bear  both  to  you  and  to  the 
republic  induces  me,  very  sincerely,  to  rejoice 
in  finding  that  you  exercise  the  same  integrity 
and  vigilance  in  the  conduct  of  our  arms 
abroad,  as  distinguished  your  administration  of 
our  most  important  afJkirs  at  home.  I  have, 
therefore,  paid  your  actions  that  honour  which 
was  most  consistent  with  my  judgment;  and 
in  speaking  to  this  question  before  the  senate, 
as  well  as  afterwards,  when  I  assisted  in  draw- 
ing up  the  decree  that  has  passed  in  your  fa- 
vour, I  applauded  the  probity  and  prudence 
with  which  you  have  protected  your  province, 
preserved  the  crown  and  person  of  Ariobar- 
zanes,  and  conciliated  the  affections  of  our  al- 
lies in  general. 

If  you  rather  choose,  however,  that  wx 
should  ascribe  to  the  gods  those  advantages 
which  the  republic  has  gained  entirely  by  your 
own  consummate  wisdom  and  probity,  I  am 
glad  the  senate  has  passed  a  decree  for  that 
purpose.  But  if  you  are  willing  that  Fortune 
should  have  the  credit  of  your  actions,  as  sup? 

posing 


Book  V. 


OF  CICERO. 


431 


posing  a  public  thanksgiving  necessarily  opens 
your  w^ay  to  a  triumph,  I  must  observe  that 
the  latter  is  not  always  a  consequence  of  the 
former.  Yet,  granting  it  were,  is  it  not  far 
more  to  the  honour  of  a  general,  to  have  it  de- 
clared, by  a  vote  of  tlie  senate,  that  he  pre- 
served his  province  by  the  mildness  and  equity 
of  his  administration,  than  that  he  owed  it  ei- 
ther to  the  strength  of  his  troops,  or  to  the 
peculiar  interpositiou  of  providence  ?  Such, 
at  least,  were  ray  sentiments  when  this  ques- 
tion came  before  the  house ;  and  if  I  have  em- 
ployed more  words  than  usual  in  explaining 
them,  it  was  from  a  desire  of  convincing  you, 
that,  though  I  proposed  to  the  senate  what  I 
thouo'ht  would  be  most  for  the  advantage  of 
your  reputation,  I  rejoice  that  they  have  de- 
termined what  is  most  agreeable  to  your 
wishes.  I  have  only  to  request  the  continu- 
ance of  your  friendship,  and  to  entreat  you 
steadily  to  persevere  in  those  paths  of  inte- 
grity which  you  have  liitherto  pursued  both 
in  respect  to  our  allies  and  the  republic' 

Farewel. 

LETTER 

»  This  letter  (to  speak  in'  the  virtuoso  language)  is  an 
unique,  and  extnmely  viiluable,  as  being  the  only  composi- 
tion that  has  been  trai.smiited  to  us  from  the  hands  of 
Cato.  It  confirms  what  PluUrch  exprebbly  asserts,^  that 
Calo's  manners  were  by  no  means  of  a  rough  and  unpo.ished 


439 


The  letters 


Book  V<  » 


Bboff  V. 


OP  CICERD. 


433 


LETTER  III. 

.  [A.U.  703.] 

« 

To  Caius  Marcellus*,  Consul. 

NoTHii^G  could  be  more  agreeable  to  my  -^ 
wishes,  than  that  the  question  concerning  the 
honours  due  to  my  military  services,  should 
come  before  the  senate  at  a  time  when  you  are 
consul,  as  it  will  afford  you  an  opportunity  of 
gratifying  that  uncommon  zeal  for  my  inte- 
rests which  I  have  upon  all  occasions  experi- 
enced from  every  branch  of  your  family.  Let 
me  entreat  you,  therefore,  when  the  letter  I 
have  addressed  to  the  senate  shall  be  laid  be- 
fore that  assembly,  to  exert  your  influence  in 
procuring  a  decree  in  ray  favour  of  the  most 
distinguished  kind.  I  persuade  myself  you 
will  find  no  difficulty  in  complying  with  this 
request;  as  the  senate,  I  trust,  will  by  no 
means  be  averse  to  my  pretensions.  If  there 
were  any  of  your  family  whose  friendship  I  en- 
joyed in  a  higher  degree  than  yours,  I  should 
have  applied  to  you  by  their  intervention.    But 

tho* 

cast,  as  no  refusal  could  have  been  drawn  up  in  more  decent 
and  civil  terms.  A  judicious  eye,  however,  cannot  but  diif- 
cern  through  this  veil  of  pohteness,  the  nice  touches  of  a  de- 
Icate  and  concealed  raillery,  which  Cicero,  nevertheless, 
thought  proper  to  dissemble,  as  will  appear  by  his  answer  to 
this  letter  in  the  following  book.  See  Yol.  ii.  p.  50. 
*  See  rem.  4.  p.  322. 


tho'  no  man  ever  entered  more  warmly  into  my 
interests,  than  your  father ;  though  the  esteem 
which  your  relation  Marcus  Marcellus  has  long 
entertained  for  me,  is  conspicuous  to  the  whole 
world  ;  and,  in  a  word,  though  all  your  family  in 
general  have  ever  honoured  mje  with  the  most 
signal  marks  of  their  regard ;  yet  there  is  not 
one  of  them  who  hath  afforded  me  stronger  in- 
stances of  affection  than  yourself  I  conjure  yoii 
then,  to  distinguish  me  with  the  highest  ho- 
nours: and  let  me  experience,  in  the  affair  of  my 
thanksgiving,  as  well  as  in  every  other  wherein 
tl>e  glory  of  my  reputation  is  concerned,  that 
1  want  no  solicitor  to  recommend  me  to  your 
good  offices,     FareweL 


Vol.  I. 


Ff 


LETTER 


if 


4t .., 


I  »i 


\ 


1 


434 


Th£  letters 


Book  Yi 


.a 


LETTER  IV. 

(A.U.70S.] 

To  Lucius  Paulus',  Consul. 

Among  many  reasons  for  wishing  myself  with 
you  at  Rome,  the  principal  was,  that  I  might, 
both  at  your  election,   and  in  the  course  of 
your  consular  ministry,  have  given  you  proofs 
of  that  ^al  to  which  you  have  so  undoubted  a 
riffht.     I  am  sensible,  at  the  same  time,  that 
the  unanimity  with  which  you  were  chosen, 
(and  of  which,  indeed,  I  never  entertained  the 
least  doubt)  would  have  rendered  my  assistance 
in  that  article  altogether  unnecessary :  and  I 
sincerely  wish  you  may  have  as  little  occasion 
for  it  in  the  subsequent  discharge  of  your  otBce. 
However,  I  should  have  had  the  satisfaction,  at 
least,  of  seconding  your  views  in  both.     It  is 
a  great  concern  to  me,  I  confess,  when  I  reflect 
that,  notwithstanding  I  experienced  many  im- 
portant instances  of  your  affection  during  my 
consulship,  I  am  yet  utterly  incapable  of  mak- 
ing any  return  in  yours-     And  what  renders 
this  reflection  still  more  mortifying,  is,  that 
you  were  but  a  young  man  when  you  thus  ge- 
nerously displayed  the  effects  of  your  friend- 
ship : 

'  See  rem.  5.  p.  324,  of  this  vol. 


Book  V^* 


of  OCERO. 


435 


ship :  whereas,  I  am  at  a  time  Qf  life  wh/^n, 
much  greater  advantages  might  wqllbe  expect* 
cd  from  mine.     1  know  not,  in  truth,  by  what 
fatality  it  is,  that  you  bav^  qantinually  had  op- 
portunities of  advancing  my  dignities^  and  that; 
I  have  never  been  able  to  contribute  any  thiwg 
but  ineffectual  good  wishes  to  yours,    Thus^  a4 
iiot  only  in  the  instance  I  just  now  mentioned* 
btit  in  the  article  of  my  restoration^  I  was  in- 
debted to  you  for  the  higiiest  hon^ufft;  so  a 
fresh  occasion  now  preseirts  itself  t^  you  of  dis- 
tinguishing me,  as  my  luilitary  ^bi^vamentsi 
have  happened  to  fall  within  the  period  of  y qui 
consulate.  The  dignity  of  that  office  with  whkXit 
you  are  invested,  and  the  importance  of  thqsa 
honours  I  am  suing  for,  might  well  reqwim 
that'  I  should  address  you  in  all  the  warmth  of 
^licitation,    but  I  dare  not  venture  thu«  to 
pr^s  you,  lest  it  should  look  as  if  I  forjpH,  Qr 
at  least  imagined  that  you  had  forgo4iten,  ymr 
usual  disposition  to  serve ;me.    I  will  make  my 
request,  therefore,  in  few  words :  and  it  will  be 
treating  you  in  a  manner  more  agreeable,  I 
dare  say,  to  your  oWit  inclinations,  as  well  as 
to  those  favours  which  all  the  world  is  sensible 
I  have  received  at  your  hands.     If  any  others, 
indeed,  than  you  and  your  colleague  were  in 
possesion  of  the  consular  office,  you  are  the 

Ff2  first 


436 


The  letters 


Book  V* 


^ 


first  man  whose  mediation  I  should  have  em- 
ployed in  order  to  render  the  consuls  favourable 
to  my  pretensions.    But  as  this  high  authority 
is  vested  in  you,  with  whom  1  have  the  strong- 
est and  most  conspicuous  connexions,  I  can- 
not scruple  to  conjure  your  assistance  in  spee- 
dily procuring  a  decree  of  the  most  illustrious 
kind  in  my  favour :  an  honour  which  you  will 
find,  by  the  letter  I  have  addressed  to  the  se- 
nate, that  my  arms  are  not  unworthy  of  receiv- 
ing.    I  recommend  then  my  reputation,  and, 
indeed,  my  concerns  of  every  sort,  to  your  ge- 
nerous patronage.     But,  above  all,   I  beseech 
you  (and  it  is  a  request  I  mentioned  in  my 
former  letter)  that  you  would  not  suffer  the 
time  of  my  continuance  here  to  be  prolonged. 
It  is  much  my  desire,  in  truth,  to  see  you  in 
your  consular  office :  and  I  doubt  not  of  ob- 
taining from  your  administration  every  advan- 
tage, both  here  and  in  Italy,  that  I  most  wish 

to  enioy.     FareweL 

•^  ^  LETTER 


I 


Book  V. 


r  r 


Of  CICERO. 


LETTER  V. 


437 


[A.  U.  703.] 

lU..       Marcus  CcELius  to  Cicero. 

You  have  been  informed,  I  doubt  not,  that 
Dolabella  has  exhibited  articles  of  impeach- 
ment against  Appius*:  and  this  prosecution 
seej^s  to  be  more  agreeable  to  the  world  in 
general  than  I  imagined.  Appius,  however, 
ha;s  acted  with  great  prudence  upon  the  occa- 
sion ;  for  as  soon  as  his  adversary  had  lodged 
Jbis  information,  he  withdrew  his  petition  for  a 
triamph,  and  immediately  entered  the  city^ 
JJy^  these  means  he  silenced  the  reports  to  his 
-disadvantage  :  as  he  appeared  more  willing  to 
take  his  trial  than  his  prosecutor  expected. 
Appius  relies  greatly  in  this  conjuncture  upon 
your  assistance :  and  I  am  persuaded  you  are 
not  disinclined  to  serve  him,  You  have  it  now 
m  your  power^  to  do  so,  as  far  as  you  shall 

think 

*  He  was  prosecuted  by  Dolabella  in  two  distinct  im- 
peachments. The  first  was,  for  being  guilty  of  treason 
in  his  government  of  Cilicia  ;  and  ihe  other,  for  bribery 
and  corruption  in  his  election  to  the  consulate.  Ep.  Fam, 
iii.  11. 

'  See  rem.  3.  p.  371.  of  this  vol. 

*  As  one  of  Dolabella's  impeachments  against  Appius 
vas  for  his  mal-practices  in  Cilicia,  it  was  extremely  in  the 

F  f  3  power 


i 


h 


4M 


The  letters 


Book  V. 


■ 


think  proper :  though  I  raust  add,  you  would 
be  more  at  liberty  to  limit  your  good  offices  to- 
wards him,  if  you  and  he  had  never  been  upon 
ill  terms  together.  But  as  the  case  now  stands, 
were  you  to  measure  out  your  services  by  the 
right  he  has  to  demand  them,  it  might  be 
«u§pected  that  yt)u  Tvrre  not  sincere  in  yoQr 
Tee^ficil^ment :  whereas,  yon  can  hazard  no 
censure  by  obliging  him  ;  as  you  will  shew 
tliat  yon  are  not  to  be  discouraged  frbni  acting" 
A  generous  part,  even  where  friendship*  might 
in<!line  yon  to  the  contrary.  This  reminds  me 
-of  acquainting  you,  that  Dolabella's  wife  ob- 
tained a  divorce  just  upon  the  commencement 
of  this  prosecution.  I  remember  the  commis- 
sion*' you  left  with  me  when  yon  set  out  for 
the  province ;  as  I  dare  say  you  have  not  for- 
^ttcn  ^-iiat  I  afterwai-ds  wrote  to  you  concern- 
ing that  aflfeir.     I  have  not  time  to  enlarge 

upon 

poireT  ofiCiceroto  serve  Appius  ih  those  examinations  wLich 
Hvere  necessary  to  -be  taken  in  his  provifice. 

*  To  Dolabella. 

•  It  seems  probable,  from  this  passage,  that  there  was 
some  pn»ipeci  of  a  divorce  between  Dolabella  and  his  wife 
"before  Cicero  left  Rome;  and  that  the  latter  had  commis* 
sioned  Ccelius,  in  case  this  ev^nt  hhould  happen,  to  lajte 
Borne  measures  for  procuring  a  match  between  Dolabella 
'and  his  daughter  Tullia.  There  will  be  occasion  lo  make 
great  use  of  this  circurostanfe  in  a  remark  upon  a  letter 
in  the  followi?  g  book  :  and,  ihei'efore,  it  is  here  pointed  out 
tor  the  reader's  particular  bbservaiion.  Sec  rem,  6.  p.  6- 
vol.  ii. 


Book  V. 


OF  CICERO. 


439 


upon  it  at  present:  only  let  me  advise^youvhmv 
much  soever  you  may  relish  the  scheme,  to 

rwait  the  event  of  this  trial  before  you  discover 
your  sentiments.  If,  indeed,  your  inclinations 
should  be  known,  it  will  raise  a  very  invidious 

xlamour  against  you:  and  should  you  give 
Dolabella  the  least  intimation  of  them,  they 
will  certainly  become  more  public  than  will  b^ 
convenient  either  for  your  interest  or  your  ho- 

;nour.  He  would  undoubtedly  be  unable  to 
conceal  a  circumstance  so  advantageous  to  his 

vpresent  views,  and  which  would  give  so  much 
credit  to  the  prosecution  in  whichhe  is  engaged  : 
and  I  am  persuaded  he  would  scarce  refrain  from 
making  it  the  subject  of  his  conversation,  not- 
withstanding he  were  sure  the  discovery  would 

-  prove  to  his  prejudice.  Pompey,  I  am  told, 
interests  himself  extremely  in  behalf  of  Appius: 
insomuch,  that  it  is  generally  imagined  he  has  a 
design  of  sending  one  of  his  sons  in  order  to  so- 
licit you  in  his  favour.  Mean  while,  we  are  in 
the  humour  here  of  acquitting  all  criminals  : 
nothing,  in  truth,  so  base  or  so  villanous  can 
be  perpetrated,  that  is  not  sure  of  escaping 
punishment.  You  will  perceive  how  wonder- 
ously  active  our  consuls  are  in  their  office,  when 
I  tell  you  that  they  have  not  yet  been  able  to 
procure  a  single  decree  of  the  senate,  except 

Ff4  coife 


I 


t 


440 


The  letters 


Book  V. 


Book  V. 


OF  CICERO. 


441 


iJtiefor  aifJ)ointing  the  Latian'  festivals.  Even 
our  friend  Curio  has  not  hitherto  acted  with  any 
spirit  in  his  tribunate :  as,  indeed,  it  is  impossible 
to  describe  the  general  indolence  that  has  seized 
us.  If  it  were  not  for  my  contests  with  the 
vintners  and  the  surveyors  of  the  public  aquse-p 
ducts,  all  Rome  would  appear  in  a  profound 
lethargy.  In  short,  I  know  not  to  what  degree 
the  Parthians  may  have  animated  you  ;  but  as 
for  us,  in  this  part  of  the  world,  we  are  fast 
asleep.  But  hoNv^  much  soever  we  may  want  to 
be  awakened,  I  hopejt  will  not  be  by  the  Par- 
thians. It  is  reported,  nevertheless,  though  I 
know  not  on  what  foundation,  that  they  have 
gained  some  slight  advantage  oyer  the  troops 
of  Bibulus,  near  Mount  Amanus.  ' 

,  Since  I  wrote  the  above,  I  must  recal  what 
I  said  concerning  Curio :  the  cold  fit  is  at  length 
expelled,  by  the  xvqrmth  of  those  censures  to 
S^rhich  the  levity  of  his  conduct  has  exposed 
him.  For,  not  being  able  to  carry  bis  paint 
with  respect  to  the  intercalation'",  he  has  de- 
serted the  interest  of  the  senate,  and  harangued 
the  people  in  favour  of  Csesar"..     He  threatens, 

likewise, 

^  This  festival  was  instituted  by  Tarquin,  in  memory  of 
his  coDquest  of  Etruria. 

*°  See  r*ra.  8.  p.  266.  of  this  vol. 

'*  Ii  has  already  been  observed,  in  the  course  of  these  nj- 
mark),  ihAt  Curio  secretly  favoured  the  interest  of  Carbarr, 

at 


likewise  to  propose  a  Viarian  law,  somewhat  of 
the  same  tendency  with  theisAgrarian  one 
which  was  formerly  attempted  by  RuUus^ :  as 
also  another,  empowering  the  iEdiles  to  distri- 
bute corn  among  the  people. 
•^  If  you  should  determine  (as  I  think  you 
ought)  to  employ  your  good  offices  in  behalf 
of  Appius,  I  beg  you  would  take  that  oppor- 
cL  tunity 

at  the  same  time  that  he  affected  to  act  in  concert  with  the 
friends  of  the  senate.  But  circumstances  being  now  mature 
for  throwing  aside  the  mask,  he  seized  the  first  opportunity 
df  quarrelling  with  his  party.  With  this  view  he  applied  to 
ythe  pontifical  college  for  an  intercalation,  in  order  to  lengthea 
'  out  the  period  of  his  tribunitial  ministry.  This  he  knew 
would  not  be  gra<)ted,  as  having  before  raised,  it  is  probable, 
some  suspicion  of  his  real  designs.  The  refu^^al,  however, 
furnished  him  with  the  pretence  he  wanted,  and  ga^e  a  co- 
lour (such  as  it  was)  to  the  desertion  \nt  bad  long  meditate^. 
P/o,  p.  149. 

•f-  11  RuUus  was  tribune  of  the  people  in  the  consulate  of 
Cicerot  by  whose  address  and  eloquence  the  law  which  Rullus 
attempted  to  introduce  was  rejected.  "  These  laws  (as  Dr. 
Middleton  observes)  *'  used  to  be  greedily  received  by  the 
**  populace,  and  were  proposed,  therefore,  by  factious  ma- 
**  gistrates,  as  oft  as  they  had  any  point  to  carry  with  the 
'*  multitude,  against  the  public  good  :  but  this  law  (of  |lul- 
*'  lus)  was,  of  all  others,  the  most  extravagant,  and,  by  a, 
'*^  shew  of  granting  more  to  the  people  than  had  ever  been 
*^  given  before,  seemed  likely  to  be  accepted,  The  purpose 
'*  of  it  was  to  create  a  decemvirate,  or  ten  commissioners, 
'*  with  absolute  power  for  five  years  overall  the  revenues  of 
**  the  republic,  to  distribute  them  at  pleasure  to  the  citizens  ; 
**  to  sell  and  buy  what  lands  they  ihonght  fit ;  to  determine 
**  the  rights  of  the  principal  possessors;  to  require  an  account 
**^from  all  the  generals  abroad,  except  Pompey,  of  the  spoils 
•*  taken  in  their  wars ;  to  settle  colonies  wheresoever  they 
^*  judged  proper,  and  particularly  at  Capua  ;^  and,  in  short, 
**  to  command  all  the  money  and  forces  in  the  empire/* 
lye  of  Tully,  i.  l6l.  8vo.  edit. 


442 


The  letters 


Book  V. 


Boox  V. 


OF  CICERO. 


443 


tunity  of  recommending  me  to  hi»  favour.  Let 
jne  prevail  with  you,  likewise,  not  to  declare 
yourself  with  respect  to  Dolabella :  as  your 
leaving  that  point  at  large  will  be  of  singular 
importance,  not  only  to  the  affair  I  hint  at, 
but  also  in  regard  to  the  opinion  the  world  will 
cnt«*tain  of  your  justice  and  honour.  / 

Will  it  not  be  a  high  reflection  upon  you  if 
I  should  not  be  furnished  with  some  Grecian 
panthers?     Farewel.  :> 

LETTER  VI. 

[A.  u.  ro3.] 

From  the  same, 

1  Kxow  not  how  soon  you  may  wish  to  resign 
-your  government ;  but,  for  my  own  part,  my 
impatience  for  your  return  is  in  proportion  to 
the  good  fortune  that  has  hitherto  attended 
your  arms.  Whilst  you  continue  in  the  pro- 
vince, therefore,  I  shall  be  under  perpetual  ap- 
prehensions, lest  some  unlucky  reverse  should 
damp  the  joy  1  take  in  your  late  successful  ex- 
pedition. 

*    I  have  time  to  write  but  a  very  few  words, 
as  I  convey  this  by  the  hands  of  the  courier 
to  the  farmers  of  the  revenue,  who  is  just  set- 
ting out ;  and,  indeed,  I  sent  you  a  long  letter 
1  yesterday 


yesterday  by  your  f reed-man.  Nothing  has 
since  occurred  worth  communicating :  unless 
you  should  have  curiosity  enough  to  think  (as 
I  imagine  you  will)  that  the  following  articles 
deserve  notice.  In  the  first  place  then,  Comi- 
ficius  is  upon  the  point  of  being  married  to  the 
J^oungest  daughter  of  Sylla :  and  in  the  next, 
Paula  Valeria,  on  the  very  day  her  husband 
was  expected  from  his  government,  procured 
a  divorce,  without  alledging  the  least  cause. 
She  is  to  be  married  to  Decimus  Brutus.  Se- 
veral very  extraordinary  incidents  of  the  same 
kind  have  happened  during  your  absence.  But 
would  you  have  suspected  that  Servius  Ocella 
was  so  well  with  the  ladies,  as  to  have  been 
twice  discovered  inclose  gallantry  within  the 
space  of  three  short  days  ?  If  you  ask  me 
%vhere  the  scene  of  this  amorous  adventure  was 
laid  ?  In  sad  truth,  my  friend,  where  I  least 
wished  :  but  for  the  rest,  I  leave  you  to  inquire 
of  others^  And  a  pleasant  piece  of  intelli- 
gence it  will  be  for  our  noble  general  to  learn, 
in^  whose  fair  quarters  the  luckless  Ocella  was 

seized !     Farewel 

LETTER 

'  One  would  almost  suspect,  from  the  reserved  manner  in 
whicli  Coelius  relates  this  adventure,  that  he  had  a  staring 
reoiQU.  on  kit  bra^  (as  the  peet  humorously  calls  it)  ^  not 
being  more  explicit. 


y 


HI 


;! 


444 


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Book  V. 


BtooK  V. 


OF  CICERO. 


4AS 


} 


|i«f 


LETTER  VII. 

[A.  U.  70.^.] 

ToAppius  Pulcher. 


I  WILL  answer  your  letter  more  fully  thani 
can  at  present,  the  very  first  moment  I  shall 
have  more  leisure.  In  the  mean  while  I  snatch 
the  opportunity  of  sending  this  by  the  hands 
of  some  domestics  of  Brutus,  who  just  now 
called  upon  me  at  Laodicea,  and  are  returning 
with  all  expedition  to  Rome.  They  are  in  so 
much  haste,  that  I  have  only  time  to  write  this, 
and  another  to  Brutus.  ^f- 

The  deputies  from  Apamea  delivered  your 
long  letter  to  me,  wherein  you  very  unjustly 
accuse  me  of  having  obstructed,  by  my  4nan- 
dates,  the  public  monument^  which  that  city 
proposed  to  raise.     You  desire  I  wo\ild  suffer 

lhen;i 

*  It  was  usual  with  these  Aifiatic  provinces,  to  consecrate 
temples  to  their  Roman  governors,  and  associate  ihem  vsith 
the  gods  in  the  same  common  ceremonies  of  religious  worship. 
Probably,  llierefore,  the  building  which  ihe  city  of  Apamea 
proposed  to  erect,  was  some  compliment  to  Appius  of  this 
sacred  kind.  The  very  ingenious  Monsieur  MongauU  has 
/ibewn,  in  a  learned  dissertation  which  he  read  before  the 
Royal  Academy  of  Belks  Leittes  at  Paris,  that  the  diviue 
JionoUrs  which  were  paid  to  the  Roman  Emperors,  were  <)nly 
9  CoDlUiuance  ot  the  same  infamous  prosliiution  which  bad 
hoen  practised  during  the  times  of  the  republic.  Pivt.  in  xit. 
\  Jlamin,  Memoires  de  litter  at,  vol.  i.  p.  369. 


them  to  proceed  immediately  upon  the  execu^ 
tion  of  that  design,  le^t  they  should  l>e  pre- 
vented by  the  winter ;  and  very  severely  reproach 
me  for  having  suspended  the  assessments  for 
that  purpose  till  I  should  be  able  to  inquire  into 
the  justice  of  raising  them.  This,  you  tell  me, 
ivas  in  some  sort  an  absolute  prohibition:  since 
the  winter  would  necessarily  be  set-in,  before 
I  could  return  out  of  Cilicia  in  order  to  examine 
into  that  affair.  Having  thus  stated  the  se- 
veral articles  of  your  charge,  I  will  now  shew 
you  that  they  are  altogether  unreasonabk  In 
the  first  place  then,  as  I  had  received  com- 
plaints on  the  part  of  those  who  thought  them- 
selves aggrieved  by  excessive  taxes,  where  \vas 
the  injustice,  if  I  forbade  these  subsidies  to  be 
levied  till  I  could  examine  into  the  merits  of 
the  case  ?  But  this,  it  seems,  I  could  not  be 
able  to  effect,  till  the  winter.  Yet  why  not? 
let  me  ask :  since  it  was  the  part  of  those  who 
made  these  complaints  to  wait  upon  me,  rather 
,thau  mine  to  attend  them.  But  you  will  ob- 
ject, perhaps,  to  the  reasonableness  of  iavinff 
these  people  under  the  difficulty  of  taking  so 
^oiiga  journey.  Yet  this  journey  you  yourself 
must!  necessarily  have  designed  they  shoukl 
tj^ke,  when  you  gave  them  y 0114;  Jetter  to,  fl^; 
liver  to  me.     And  dehver  it  they  accordingly 


i. 


J* 

T.I 


446 


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Book  V. 


Book  V. 


6t  CICERO, 


447 


did :  but  they  timed  it  so  absurdly,  that  thoC 
it  was  to  desire  they  might  be  permitted  to 
begin  their  work  during  the  summer,  they  did, 
not  bring  it  to  me  till  that  season  was  expired. 
I  must  acquaint  you,  however,  that  far  the 
greater  part  of  these  very  citizens  are  averse  to 
the  levying  this  tax  in  question :  nevertheless 
I  shall  take  such  measures,  for  that  purpose,  as 
I  imagine  will  prove  most  agreeable  to  your  in- 
clinations. And  thus  much  for  this  Apamean 
business.  ■-U'^Ui. 

I  am  informed,  by  Pausanias,  a  freedman  of 
Lentulus,  and  one  of  my  accensors*,  that  you 
complained  to  him  of  my  having  treated  you 
with  great  haughtiness  and  incivility  by  not 
coming  to  meet  you  in  your  approach  to  Ico- 
nium.  The  fact,  however,  is  this  :  I  received 
a  message  from  you  late  at  night,  acquainting 
me  that  you  proposed  to  give  me  an  interview 
in  that  city  before  the  next  morning :  but  your 
servant  could  not  inform  me  which  of  the  two 
roads  you  intended  to  take.  In  order,  there- 
fore,  that  I  might  be  ready  to  attend  you,:  I 
dispatched  your  friend  Varro,  together  with' 
Lepta,  the  captain  of  my  artillery,  directing- 
them  to  take  different  roads,   and  whichever 

shouW 

«  The  accensors  were  officers  who  attended  on  the  pro- 
consular magistrates  in  their  courts  of  justice. 


should  meet  you  first,  to  return  with  immediate 
notice.  Accordingly  Lepta  came  back  with 
great  expedition ;  and  assuring  me  that  you 
had  actually  passed  the  camp,  I  instantly  went 
to  Iconiuin.  What  followed  I  need  not  men- 
tion. And  now  is  it  probable,  that  I,  who  am 
cather  apt  to  be  more  assiduous  in  offices  of 
this  kind,  than  my  station  and  character  require, 
should  neglect  to  pay  the  accustomed  honours 
to  Appius  Claudius ;  to  one  dignified  with  the 
august  title  of  Imperator ;  and  what  is  still 
stronger,  to  my  friend.?  But  not  to  dwell  any 
longer  upon  this  article,  I  cannot  forbear  tak- 
ing notice  of  an  expression  you  made  use  of  to 
the  same  person.  *'  A  compliment  of  this 
'*  kind,  you  told  him,  had  mutually  passed  be- 
^fctween  you  and  Lentulus*;  and  did  Cicero 
*^.take  upon  himself  to  act  towards  a  person 
"/^of  your  quality  with  less  ceremony  ?''  But 
can  it  be  true,  that  eo  weak  an  expnession  should 
drop  from  a  man  of  your  improved  under- 
standing, and  knowledge  of  tlie  world :  I  will 
add  too,  (what  the  stoics  justly  rank  in  the 
number  of  social  virtues)  ofyoui*  refined  good 
breeding?  Can  you  possibly  believe  me  so 
m^aq,  a^  to  be  influenced  more  by  the  distinc- 
tions of  birth,  than  of  merit  ?  I  have  ever,  in- 
deed, 

♦  Lentulus  was  predecessor  (o  Appius  in  the  government 
ofCilicia  :  as  Appius  was  to  Cicero. 


44S 


Tm  LETTERS 


Book  V. 


Book  v.*  .       tf^  CICERO. 


44» 


deed,  held  the  founders  of  illustrious  families 
as  truly  great :  but  never  could  1  esteem  the 
splendid  names  they  transmitted  to  their  pos- 
terity, as  objects  of  my  admiration.  These 
were  my  sentiments  even  before  I  had  myself 
attained  what  the  world  considers  as  the  high- 
est honours.  But  now,  after  having  filled  the 
most  distinguished  posts  in  the  commonwealth 
with  a  character  that  leaves  nothing  more  for 
my  ambition  to  wish ;  though  I  am  far  from 
thinking  myself  superior  to  those  of  your  rank, 
I  hoped,  however,  that  I  might  be  deemed  their 
equal.  I  am  persuaded,  at  least,  that  I  have 
been  alvv  ays  regarded  as  such,  not  only  by  Len- 
tulus,  to  whom  I  yield  the  preference  to  my- 
self in  every  respect,  but  by  Pompey  likewise, 
whom  I  look  upon  as  the  greatest  man  the 
world  has  ever  produced.  But  if  you  differ  from 
them  in  this  opinion,  I  would  recommend  the 
writings  of  Athenodorus*  to  your  attentive  pe- 
rusal :  as  they  will  teach  you  to  form  a  more 
just  distinction  between  high  birth  and  true 
nobility^ 

But  not  to  deviate  farther  from  the  purpose 
of  my  letter :  I  beg  you  would  do  me  the-  jus- 
tice to  believe,  not  only  that  I  am  your  friend, 

but 

•  He  was  preceptor  to  Augustus  Cxsar.     Manut. 

*  See  rem.  1.  p.  101.  of  this  vol. 


but  that  I  am  most  affectionately  so ;  the  truth 
of  which  I  shall  endeavour  to  evince,  by  every 
means  in  my  power.  Nevertheless,  if  you  arc 
disposed  to  make  the  world  suspect  that  you 
have  less  reason  to  take  my  interest  under  your 
protection  during  my  absence,  than  I  had  to 
act  for  yours  in  the  same  circumstance,  I  wil^ 
linorly  spare  you  the  trouble  : 

There  wdnt  not  chiefs  in  such  a  cause  tofighly 
And  Jove  himself  shall  guard  a  monarches  rights. 

But,  notwithstanding  you  should  give  me  rea-* 
son  to  think  that  you  are  of  a  temper  too  apt 
to  take  offence,  you  will  not,  however,   extin- 
guish my  desire  of  exerting  my  best  services  ia 
your  behalf;  you  will  only  render  me  less  soli* 
citous  in  what  manner  you  may  receive  them. 
Thus  I  have^  opened  my  heart  to  you  with  a 
freedom  that  results  from  the  conscious  since* 
rity  of  my  friendship  towards  you ;  and  whichj 
as  it  was  founded  on  dispassionate  judgmwi^ 
I  shall  preserve  just  as  long  as  may  be  agreeable  - 
to  your  own  inclinations.     Farewel. 

LETTER 

^  Horn.  Pope's  translat.  These  lines  are  taken  from  the 
speech  of  Agamemnon  to  Achilles,  in  the  first  Iliad,  where 
the  latter  ilireatens  to  withdraw  his  forces  from  the  commva 
cause.  Cicero  seems  to  apply  them  in  particular  allusion  te 
his  mtereat  with  Pompey  ;  who,  at  this  time,  was  the  great 
idol  of  his  devotion,  and  the  political  Joye,  ftt  whode  shmwjw 
most  devoutly  bowed,  ^ 

Vol.  I.  G  g 


!<l 
I'l 


?" 

V 


i 


450 


The   letters 


Book  V. 


Book  V, 


OF  CICERO. 


451 


LETTER  VIIL 

[A.  U.  703.] 

To  Caius  Cass  I  us',  Proquaestor. 

My  own  inclinations  have  anticipated  your 
recom'Tiendation  :  I  have  long  since  received 
Marcus  Fabius  into  the  number  of  my  friends. 
He  has  extremely  endeared  himself  to  me,  in- 
deed, by  his  great  politeness  and  elegance  of 
manners ;  but  particularly  by  the  singular  af- 
fection I  have  observed  he  bears  towards  yoii. 

Accordingly, 

«  Me  aUended  Crassus  into  Syria,  as  his  quajstor  ;  who, 
being  killed  in  an  engagement  against  the  Parthians,  as  has 
been  related  in  rem.  7-  p.  128.  of  this  vol.  the  administration 
devolved  upon  Cassius.     He  seems,   when   this  letter  was 
written,  to  have  been  setting  out,  if  not  actually  upon  the 
road,  from  that  province.     Soon  after  his  return  to  Rome, 
the  civil  war  broke  out,  in  which  he  commanded  a  very  con- 
siderable fleet  on  the  side  of  Pompey  ;  but,  upon  the  defeat 
of  that  general  in  the  plains  of  Pharsalia,  he  surrendered 
both  himself  and  his  ships  to   the  conqueror.     See  rem.*  p. 
171.  vol.  ii.     It  is  unnecessary  to  mention  the  part  which 
Cassius  afterwards  acted  towards   his  benefactor,  as  every 
body  knows  that  he  was  the  principal  contriver  and  manager 
of  the  conspiracy  against  Caesar.     Plutarch  asserts,  that  he 
engaged  in  this  design  from  his  passionate  love  of  liberty,  but 
the  contemporaries  of  Cassius  thought  otherwise,  and  it  was 
generally  beheved,  in  Rome,  that  he  was  actuated,  upon  that 
occasion,  more  by  pique  that  patriotism.     It  is  probable,  in- 
deed, that  the  former  was  his  strongest,  if  not  his  single  mo- 
tive ;  for  his  oppressive  and  tyrannical  conduct,  during  his 
administration  of  the  province  of  Syria,  renders  it  not  Very 
reasonable  to  suppose  that  he  was  a  real  friend  to  the  natural 
rights  of  mankind.     Plut.  in  tit.  Brut,  Ctc.  Epist,  Fam.  viii. 
10.  see  let.  14.  book  iv.  p.  390.  of  this  vol. 


Accordingly,  though  your  letter  in  his  behalf  was 
HGt  without  effect,  yet  my  own  knowledge  of 
the  regard  he  entertains  for  you,  had  somewhat 
more;  you  may  be  assured,  therefore,  I  shall 
very  faithfully  confer  upon  him  the  good  offices 
you  request 

Many  reasons  concurred  to  make  me  wish 
you  could  have  given  me  an  interview.    In  the 
first  place,  I  was  desirous,  after  so  tedious  a 
separation,  to  see  a  friend  whom  I  have  long 
esteemed.     In  the  next  place,  I  should  have 
been  glad  to  have  expressed  those  congratula- 
tions in  person,  which  I  have  already  paid  you 
in  a  letter.     I  wanted,  likewise,  an  opportunity 
of  conferring  with  you  upon  our  mutual  affairs, 
as  well  as  of  confirming  a  friendship  founded  on 
many  reciprocal  good  offices,  though  interrupt 
ed,    indeed,   by  a  long  absence.     But,  since  I 
could  not  obtain  the  pleasure  of  a  nearer  con- 
ference, let  me  take  the  advantage,  at  least, 
of  this  more  distant  communication;  and  which, 
in  most  respects,  will  answer  the  same  purpose. 
There  is  one  or  two,  however,  I  must  except, 
as  it  can  neither  afford  me  a  satisfaction  equal 
to  that  of  seeing  you,  nor  a  mean  of  rendering 
you  so  sensible  of  the  joy  I  feel  in  your  late 
success.  But  though  I  have  already  expressed  my 
congmtulations  in  a  former  letter,  I  will  here 


\^\ 


Gg2 


aq-am 


45i 


The  letters 


Booi^  V. 


again  assure  you  that  I  very  sincerely  rejoice,^ 
not  only  in  the  illustrious  actions  you  have 
performed^  but  at  your  very  opportune  depar- 
ture, amidst  the  general  esteem  and  applauses 
of  th«  whole  province. 

And  now,  what  I  had  farther  to  say,  if  we 
had  met,  related  to  our  mutual  affairs:  a  point, 
however,  which  may  full  as  wxll  be  discussed  in 
this  manner.  With  regard  to  your  own,  when 
I  consider  your  interest  in  general,  I  cannot  but 

advise 

•Cassius,  after  the  death  of  Crassus,  and  the  total  defeat 
of  his  army,  conducted  back  the  remains  of  the  Roman  troops 
into  Syria,  and  shut  himself  up  in  Anliochia.     But,  upon 
the  approach  of  the  Parthians  towards  that  city,  he  sallied 
out;  and,  by  his  bravery  and  conHuct  having  repulsed  the 
enemy,  he  continued   harrassing  their  retreat  till  he  drove 
them  entirely  out  of  Syria.     It  is  upon  this  buccess  that  Ci- 
cero's congratulations  are   founded  ;   but  they  are  congratu- 
lations in  which  he  was  by  no  means  sincere.     For,  in  some 
letters  to  Atiicus,  written  about  this  time,  he  speaks  ot  Cas- 
sius  as  having  magnified  his  actions  to  the  senate   much  be- 
yond   ihe  truth ;  and  even  claims  a   share  with  him  in  the 
glory  of  repulsing  the  Parthians.     It  was  the  news,  he  says, 
of  his  being  upon  the  march  in  order  to  assist  Cassius,   that 
enimated   his  courage,  and  spread   such  terror  amimg  the 
enemy,  as  induced  them  to  retreat.     But  this  (as  the  very 
ingenious  French  translatorof  the  letters  to  Atticus,  observes) 
was  ascribing  to  himself  an  honour  to  which  he  had  certainly 
no  right.     For  Cicero  was  at  a  great  distance  from  Anliochia 
when  the  Parthians  retreated  from  that  city  ;  which  the  bra- 
very of  Cassius,  together  with  their  own  inexperience  in  th« 
nature  of  regular  sieges,  were  the  only  causes  of  their  aban- 
doning.    An  observation,  therefore,  of  Cicero's  own,  may 
serve,° perhaps,  as  a  proper  conclusion  to  this  remark  :  De- 
forme  est  dc  se-rpso  yrwdknre,  faho  prceiertim  ;  et  cum  irri- 
siont  audientiuTH  imitari  militevi  gluriosum.     Dio.  p.  134-.  Ad 
Att.  V.  20,  21.     Mong.  Traduct.  vol.  iii.  p.    148.  rem.  9, 
De  Offic.  i.  38. 


Book  V. 


OF  CICERO. 


453 


advise  you  to  hasten  to  Rome.     Wlien  I  left 
•the  city,  there  was  not  the  least  appearance  of 
any  designs  to  your  prejudice;  and,  I  am  per- 
^uaded  your  returning  thither,  while  the  suc- 
cess of  your  arms  is  fresh  upon  the  minds  of  the 
people,  will  ensure  you  a  reception  greatly  to 
your  honour.     The  reason  for  hastening  yau^ 
journey  will  hold  still  stronger,  if  you  ar€  con- 
vinced that  you  shall  be  able  to  defeat  those 
prosecutions  which  ypu  are  apprehensive,   it 
seems,  may  be  brought  against  some  of  your 
officers  :  as  nothing  will  place  your  character 
in  a  more  advantageous  light,  than  a  victory 
of  this  kind.     But,  if  you  imagine  the  charge 
can  be  made  good  against  them,  it  merits  your 
oonsideratioiu,  whether  your  aj^rival  in  Rome 
will  not  happen  in  a  conjuncture  very  unfa* 
vourable  for  such  a  circumstance.     Upon  the 
whole,  you  yourself  are  most  capable  of  deter- 
minisig  this  question,  as  you  are  the  best  judge 
of  your  own  strength.     If  you  think  you  shall 
triumph  over  your  adversaries,  it  is  a  circum- 
stance, undoubtedly,  that  will  raise  your  ge- 
neral credit ;  but  if  you  are  clear  that  the  re- 
verse will  prove  the  case,  you  will  certainly  be 
less  mortified  by  the  distant  reflections  of  the 
world,  than  if  you  were  placed  within  the  hear- 
ing of  their  malicious  censures, 

Gg3  As 


454 


The  letters 


Book  V- 


Book  V. 


OF  CICERO. 


455 


As  to  my  own  affairs,  I  must  repeat  the  re- 
quest of  my  last,  and  entreat  you  to  exert  your 
utmost  endeavours  that  my  continuance  here 
may  not  be  extended  beyond  the  period  hmited 
by  the  senate  and  the  people.  I  urge  this  re- 
quest, as  one  upon  which  all  my  hopes  depend  : 
and  entreat  you  to  act  in  it  with  a  proportion- 
able zeal.  You  will  find  Paulus"  extremely 
well  disposed  to  co-operate  with  you  upon  this 
occasion ;  as  also  both  Curio  and  Furnius". 

I  have  only  to  add  the  last  article  I  men- 
tioned, as  an  inducement  for  desiring  an  inter- 
view ;  I  mean,  in  order  to  renew  and  confirm 
the  pledges  of  our  mutual  friendship.  I  per- 
suade myself  it  will  not  be  necessary  to  employ 
many  words  for  that  purpose.  You  discovered, 
indeed,  an  early  disposition  to  be  thus  united 
with  me  ;  as,  on  my  part,  I  always  considered 
it  as  my  particular  honour.  1  found  it  too  my 
great  support,  in  the  season  of  my  misfor- 
tunes. Let  me  add,  in  farther  claim  to  its 
continuance,  that  I  have  contracted,  since 
your  absence,  a  great  intimacy  with  your  rela- 
tion Brutus".  I  promise  myself  much  satis- 
faction 

"  One  of  the  present  consul?. 

'*  Tribunes  of  the  people.    ** 

'^  Brulus  was  at  this  time  married  to  Junia,  the  lister  oi^ 
Cassius. 


faction  from  the  society  of  two  such  ingenious 
friends,  as  well  as  very  high  advantages  from 
your  united  services  :  suffer  me  not,  I  conjure 
you,  to  conceive  this  hope  in  vain.  In  the 
mean  time,  I  beg  to  hear  from  you  immedi- 
ately, as  I  desire,  likewise,  you  would  write 
to  me,  very  frequently,  when  you  return  to 
Rome.     Farewel. 


LETTER  IX, 

[A.  U.  703.] 

To  Marcus  CcELfus,  Curule-iEdile. 

The  very  worthy  and  learned  Marcus  Fa- 
bius'  is  a  person  with  whom  I  am  most  inti- 
mately connected.  He  strongly,  indeed,-  en- 
gages my  affection,  not  only  by  his  superior 
genius  and  erudition,  but  by  that  uncommon 
modesty  which  adorns  them.  I  entreat  you, 
therefore,  to  undertake  his  cause  with  the  same 
warmth  as  if  it  were  my  own.  I  know  you 
fine  orators  are  so  much  employed,  that  a  man 
must  have  cammitted  murder  at  least,  ere  he 

ca,u 

"  This  seems  to  be  the  person  mentioned  in  the  foregoing 
letter  ;  in  whose  behalf  Cassius  bad  written  to  Cicero.  The 
foHowing  epistle  is,  likewise,  in  favour  of  the  same  friend,  and 
upon  the  sam&  occasion. 

Gg4 


456 


The  letters 


Book  V. 


Uqok  V. 


Of  CICERO. 


457 


It 


caa  hope  that  his  affairs  are  of  significancy 
enough  to  claim  your  assistance.  In  the  pre- 
$^flt  instance,  however,  I  will  take  no  excuse : 
a&d  if  I  have  any  share  in  your  regard,  you 
will  give  up  all  other  business,  when  Fabiuf 
requires  your  services. 

The  severity  of  the  winter  has  prevented  my 
receiving  any  dispatches  from  Rome,  a  consi- 
derable time.  I  am  extremely  impatient,  there- 
fore, to  hear  what  is  going  forward  atnongst 
you,  and  particularly  what  my  friend  Coeliui^ 
is  doinsr.     FareweL 


LETTER  X. 

[A.  U.  70S.] 

ToCuRTius  Peduc^anus,  Praetor*. 

I  HAVE  long  enjoyed  an  intimacy  with  Mar- 
cus Fabius,  for  whom  I  sincerely  profess  the 
most  tender  regard.  I  do  not,  however,  desire 
to  influence  your  judgment  in  the  suit  which  he 
has  depending  before  you,  as  I  am  sure  you  will 
not  depart  from  those  rules  of  equity  which 
your  honour  obhges  you  to  observe,  and  which 

you 

*Thc  praetors  were  next  in  rank  and  power  to  the  con- 
suls, and  their  office  somewhat  resembled  that  of  our  chief 
justices.     See  rem.  14.  p.  363.  of  this  vol. 


ypu  pres<:ribed  to  yourself  when  you  first  en- 
tered upon  your  office^  My  only  request  is 
(and  \t  is  a  request  I  most  earnestly  make) 
that  you  would  allow  him  to  wait  upon  you, 
4nd  would  favour  his  claim  so  far  as  justice  is 
on  his  side.  In  a  word,  let  me  entreat  you  to 
shew  him  that  my  friendship  can  avail  him 
even  at  this  distance.     Farewel. 

LETTER  XI, 

^-  [A.  U.  7X)3.] 

To  Appius  Pulcher. 

I  HAVE  at  last  received  a  letter  from  you, 
written  in  a  spirit  worthy  of  yourself,  as  it  is 
conceived  in  terms  full  of  a  generous  and  can- 
did friendship.  It  should  seem,  indeed,  that 
the  very  view  of  Rome  had  an  immediate  ef- 
fect upon  your  temper,  and  restored  you  to 
the  agreeable  possession  of  your  usual  good 
humour  and  poHteness.  I  am  sure,  at  least, 
that  the  two  complaining  letters  you  wrote  to 
me  on  your  journey,  ere  you  had  left  Asia, 
were  such  as  I  could  not  re^ad  without  reluc- 
tance.    I  will  own  too,  that,  conscious  of  the 

inviolable 

?  The  several  praetors,  before  they  entered  upon  their  of- 
fice, drew  up  and  published  a  sort  of  formulary,  which  thijy 
intended  to  observe  in  their  respective  administrations  of  jus- 
tice.    Rosin,  Antiq,  Rom,  vii.  700. 


i 


45S 


The  letters 


Book  V. 


Book  V. 


OF  CICERO. 


459 


inviolable  attachment  which  I  have  ever  pre- 
served to  your  interests,  I  could  not  forbear 
answering  them  with  some  warmth.  The  let- 
ter, indeed,  which  you  delivered  to  my  frecd- 
man,  Philotimus,  left  me  no  room  to  doubt 
that  there  were  some  persons  in  this  province 
who  were  no  well-wishers  to  our  union.  But  I 
have  the  satisfaction  to  find,  that,  as  soon  as 
you  came  to  Rome,  or  rather  as  soon  as  you 
were  met  by  your  friends  and  family,  you  were 
convinced  of  that  warm  and  constant  testimo- 
ny I  gave  of  my  friendship  and  esteem  for  you 
upon  all  occasions  during  your  absence.  You 
will  easily  imagiue, ,  then,  with  how  much 
pleasure  I  read  your  assurances,  that  if  any  in-^ 
cident  should  arise  wherein  my  reputation  may 
be  concerned,  you  will  endeavour  to  make  me 
qji  equal  return.  And  tho'  you  doubt  whether 
you  shall  be  able  eftectually  to  do.  so,  most 
certainly  there  is  no  reason  to  question  it :  for 
there  is  nothing,  my  friend,  which  a  sincere 
^nd  zealous  affection  is  not  capable  of  perform- 


ing. 


Notwithstanding  I  was  well  persuaded,  in 
my  own  judgment,  and  had  received  frequent 
assurances,  likewise,  by  the  letters  of  my 
friends,  that  you  would  undoubtedly  be  ho- 
5iourcd  with  a  triumph ;  yet  it  afforded  me  a 

}  singula:; 


singular  pleasure  to  be  confirmed*  in  this  per- 
suasion by  your  own  hand.  Beheve  me,  how- 
ever, I  by  no  means  rejoice  in  it  from  a  selfish 
Epicurean  principle,  and  as  it  may  probably 
facilitate  my  own  pretensions  of  the  same  kind, 
biit  as  taking  a  sincere  and  disinterested  share 
in  every  increase  of  your  dignities.  I  entreat 
you,  then,  as  you  have  more  frequent  opportu- 
nities of  writing  into  this  province  than  any 
other  of  my  friends,  that  you  would  give  me 
immediate  notice  as  soon  as  you  shall  have  ob- 
tained the  decree,  which  you  have  so  much 
reason  to  expect,  and  which  I  so  unfeignedly 
wish  you.  If  the  tedious  resolutions  of  the 
lo?ig  bench,  as  our  friend  Pompey  calls  the  se- 
nate, should  delay  your  hopes  a  few  days, 
(and  more  than  a  few  days  they,  surely,  can- 
not delay  them)  be  confident,  however,  that 
they  will  at  length  distinguish  you  with  those 
honours  which  are  so  justly  your  due.  Again,, 
therefore,  I  conjure  you,  as  you  give  me  your 
affection,  or  would  preserve  viine,  to  let  me 
participate  in  the  joy  of  this  good  news  as 
early  as  possible. 

To  this  request  I  will  join  another,  and  re- 
mind you  of  executing  your  promise  of  sending 

me 


♦  When  Cicero  wrote  this  epistle  he  had  not  received  the 
letter  from  Ccelius,  wherein  he  gives  him  an  account  of  Ap- 
pius  having  dropped  his  petitioi*  for  a  triumph.  See  the  5tli 
letter  of  this  book. 


1 


4/SO 


The  letters 


JSOOK  V. 


Book  V. 


OF  CICERO. 


461 


njf  the  ^onipletiop  a^  your  treatise  on  »ugury\ 
I  ^sk  this,  not  only  as  being  desirous  of  in- 
forming Hiyself  in  the  rites  and  principles  of 
the  S9x:red  college,  but  as  I  receive  with  un- 
common  satisfax:tion  every  n^rlc  of  your  fa- 
vour. As  to  the  request  you  made  m^  on  your 
part,  of  returning  you  a  compl^nent  in  the 
*aRiekind,  it  is  a  point  I  mu&t  well  consider. 
For  it  would  ill  become  an  author  whom  you 
Ji^ve  so  often  applauded  for  th^  pains*  he  be- 
stows 

f  See  rem.  1.  p.  279-  of  thb  vol, 

•  **  Tis  strange  to  see  how  differently  the  vanity  of  man- 
**  kind  runs  in  different  times  and  seasons.  Tis  at  present 
^  Ijhe  boast  of  almost  every  eivterprisfr  in  the  Muses'  art, 
*^  that,  by  bis  genius  alone,  and  a  naturaV rapidity  of  style 
•*  and  thought,  he  is  able  to  carry  all  before  him  ;  that  he 
*^  jpJays  with  his  business,  does  things  in  passing,  at  a  ven- 
**  ture,  and  in  the  quickest  period  of  time.  In  the  days  of 
**  atric  elegance,  as  works  were  then  truly  of  another  form 
**"  and  turn,  so  workmea  were  of  Another  humour,  and  bad 
*'  their  vanity  of  a  quite  contrary  kind.  They  became  ra- 
**  Cbtr  affected  in  eodeavouring  to  discover  the  pains  they 
'^  had  takeo  to  be  correct.  They  were  gkd  to  insinuata 
**  how  laboriously,  and  with  what  expence  of  time,  they  had 
**  brought  the  smallest  work  of  theirs  (as  perhaps  a  singla 
•'  ode,  or  satire,  an  oratiwn,  or  panegyric)  to  its  perfection. 
**  When  they  bad  so  polished  their  piece,  and  rendered  it  so 
^  natural  and  easy,  l^at  it  seen^d  only  a  lucky  flight,  a  bit 
*•  of  thought,  or  flowing  vein  of  humour,  they  were  then 
•*  chiefly  concerned,  lest  it  should  in  reality  pass  for  $uch, 
^  at>d  ikeis  arti^ce  remain  undiscnvsred.  They  were  wil- 
**  )iqg  it  should  be  known  how  serious  their  play  was,  and 
^  how  elaborate  tb^ir  freedom  and  facility,  that  they  might 
^  ^y,  as  the  agreeable  and  polite  poet,  glancing  on  himself^ 
**  Ludentis  spcciem  dabit  et  torquebitur/' 

Shafts,  chaiact.  1.  233. 


sto^s  upon  his  compositions,  to  suffer  any 
ctiKie  and  indigested  performance  to  come 
forth  from  his  hands ;  especially  upon  an  occa- 
sion that  would  justly  expose  him  to  the  cen- 
sure, not  only  of  being  guilty  of  negligence, 
but  of  a  most  ungrateful  disrespect  Howe- 
ver, I  may  find  some  opportunity,  perhaps,  of 
satisfying  both  you  and  myself  upon  this  arti- 
cle. In  the  mean  time,  I  liope  you  will  en* 
deavour,  in  conformity  to  your  promise,  that 
a  pubhc  thanksgiving,  of  the  most  distin- 
guished  kind,  be  decreed,  as  soon  as  possible, 
on  account  of  my  late  victories ;  and  I  am  per- 
suaded you  will  act  with  that  zeal  which  is 
agreeable  to  your  sincerity,  and  to  the  friend- 
ship which  has  long  subsisted  between  us.  I 
was  somewhat  later  in  my  public  dispatches 
for  this  purpose,  than  I  wished ;  and,  as  they 
were  delayed  likewise  by  the  difficulty  of  na- 
vigation at  that  season,  they  did  not,  I  suppose, 
arrive  before  the  senate  was  prorogued.  It 
was  the  influence  which  your  advice  always 
has  upon  my  judgment,  that  induced  mc  to 
defer  them;  and  I  am  satisfied  it  was  perfectly 
right  not  to  acquaint  the  senate  of  my  being 
saluted  with  the  title  of  Imperafor^  till  I  had 
gained  still  fartlier  advantages  by  my  aims,  and 
entirely  completed  the  campaign,  I  confi- 
d«\Sly  rely,  therefore,  upon  the  assistance  you 

hav« 


4^2 


The  letters 


Book  V* 


have  promised  me,  and  recommend  to  your 
protection  whatever  else  concerns  either  my 
affairs  or  my  family.     Farew  el. 

LETTER  XIL 

[A.  U.  703.] 

To  Marcus  Ccelius. 

W^ouLD  you  imagine  that  I  should  ever  be 
at  a  loss  for  words  !  I  do  not  mean  of  that 
chosen  and  elegant  kind  which  are  the  privi- 
le^-e  of  vou  celebrated  orators,  but  those  of  or- 
dinary  and  common  use.  Yet,  believe  me,  I 
am  utterly  incapable  of  expressing  the  solici- 
tude 1  feel  concerning  the  resolutions  that  may 
be  taken  in  the  senate,  in  regard  to  the  pro- 
vinces. I  am  extremely  impatient,  indeed,  to 
return  to  my  friends  at  Rome,  among  which 
number  you  are  principally  in  my  thoughts.  I 
will  confess,  hkewise,  that  I  am  quite  satiated 
of  my  government.  For,  in  the  first  place,  I 
have  more  reason  to  apprehend  that  some  re- 
verse of  Fortune  may  deprive  me  of  the  glory 
I  have  here  acquired,  than  to  expect  I  shall  be 
able  to  raise  it  higher.  And,  in  the  next  place, 
I  cannot  but  look  upon  the  whole  business  of 
this  scene  as  much  inferior  to  my  strength, 
which  is  both  able  and  accustomed  to  support 

.  a  fer 


Book  V. 


OF  CICERO. 


463 


i  far  more  important  weight.  I  will  acknow- 
ledge, too,  that  I  am  uneasy  in  the  expectation 
of  a  very  terrible  war^  which  is  likely  to  be 
kindled  in  this  part  of  the  world,. and  which  I 
may  probably  escape,  if  I  should  obtain  my 
dismission  at  the  stated  time. 

I  do  not  forget  the  panthers  you  desired, 
and  have  given  my  orders  to  the  persons  usu- 
ally employed  in  hunting  them  :  but  these  ani- 
mals are  exceedingly  scarce  with  us.  They 
take  it  so  unkind,  you  must  know,  that  they 
should  be  the  only  creatures  in  my  province 
for  whom  any  snares  are  laid,  that  they  have 
withdrawn  themselves  from  my  government, 
and  are  marched  into  Caria.  However,  the 
huntsmen,  and  particularly  honest  Patischus, 
are  making  very  diligent  enquiry  after  their 
haunts  ;  and  all  the  game  they  can  meet  with 
shall  certainly  be  yours :  but  what  the  number 
will  prove  is  altogether  uncertain.  Be  well  as- 
sured the  honour  of  your  iEdileship  is  much 
my  care,  and  this  day  particularly  reminds  me 
of  it,  as  it  is  the  festival  of  the  Megalesian 
games.       ».,  ,||^...,j    ,■  «'i.^,|,i 

I  hope 

^  With  the  Parthians. 

*  The  Megalesian  games  were  under  the  conduct  of  the 
curule  -<Ediles,  as  well  as  those  called  the  Roman.  The 
learned  Manutius,  therefore,  conjectures  that  the  anniver- 
lary  of  the  former  reminded  Cicero  of  the  panthers  which 
C«liu8  requested,  in  order  to  grace  those  shews  he  was  to 

exhibit 


454 


The  letters 


BdoK  V. 


/  1 


* 


I  hope  you  will  send  me  a  minate  detail  of 
our  public  affairs,  as  I  have  an  entire  depen- 
dence on  the  accounts  which  are  transmitted 
to  me  by  your  hand.     FareweL 


.» •  • 


LETTER  XIIL 

[A.  U.  703.] 

To  Therm  US,  Propraetor. 

1  OUR  very  generous  treatment  of  Marcus 
Marcilius,  the  son  of  my  friend  and  interpre- 
ter^, is  a  most  obliging  instance,  among  many 
others,  of  the  regard  you  pay  to  my  recom- 
mendations. He  came  to  me  at  Laodicea,  and 
expressed  the  highest  gratitude  for  the  good 
offices  you  had  conferred  upon  him,  at  my  re- 
quest. As  you  see,  therefore,  that  your  favours 
are  not  bestowed  upon  those  who  are  insensible 
of  their  value,  I  hope  you  will  be  the  more  in- 
clined 

exhibit  at  the  latter,  which  were  celebrated  with  greater 
pomp  and  magnificence.  The  nature  of  the  Roman  gamed 
has  already  been  explained  in  rem.  7«  p*  354.  of  this 
vol.  The  Megalesian  games  were  instituted  in  honour  of 
the  mother  of  the  gods,  and  were  so  called  from  Megalesia^ 
(scil.  owaoy  nm  (MSyaXfis  Qias)  a  temple  in  Phrygia,  from 
whence  the  statue  and  worship  of  that  goddess  was  brought 
to  Rome.  This  festival  commenced  on  the  4th  of  April,  and 
continued  six  days. 

*  The  governors  of  provinces  were  prohibited  from  using 
any  other  language  than  the  Latin,  in  the  functions  of 
their  ministry,  for  which  reason  they  were  always  attended 
witk  interpreters.     Vol.  Max,  ii.  2. 


Book  V.  of  CICERO.  455 

flined  to  continue  them.  I  entreat  you  then  to 
interpose,  as  far  as  your  honour  will  permit,  in 
preventing  a  prosecution,  wherein  the  mother- 
in-law  of  this  young  man  is  likely  to  be  in- 
volved.  And  though  I  strongly  recommended 
MarciHus  to  you,  in  my  former  letter,  yet  it  is 
with  still  greater  warmth  that  I  do  so  in  this : 
as  I  have  since  received  very  singular,  and,  in- 
deed, almost  incredible  proofs  of  his  fathers 
probity  and  fidelity  during  the  many  months 
he  has  been  engaged  in  my  service,    FareweL 

LETTER  XIV. 

[A.  u.  ro3.] 

To  the  same. 

1  HE  report  of  a  very  considerable  war  being 
kindled  in  Syria,  is  confirmed  to  me  by  daily 
expresses.  I  take  the  liberty,  therefore,  in 
confidence  of  our  mutual  friendship,  to  press 
you  so  much  the  more  strongly  to  dismiss  my 
lieutenant  Anneius  as  soon  as  possible.  His 
military  abilities,  indeed,  will  render  his  advice 
and  assistance  of  singular  advantage  in  this  con- 
juncture, both  to  myself  and  to  the  republic. 
Nothing  could  have  induced  him  to  leave  me 
at  this  critical  season,  or,  in  truth,  have  pre- 
vailed with  me  to  consent  to  his  absence,  but 
Vol,  I.  H  h  an 


466 


The  letters 


Book  V. 


ail  affair  of  the  last  importance  to  his  interest. 
However,  as  I  purpose  to  go  into  Cilicia*  about 
the  beginning  of  May,  it  is  absolutely  necessary 
he  should  return  before  that  time. 

I  will  take  this  opportunity  of  most  earnestly 
«newing  the  request  I  made  to  you  in  person, 
and  which  I  afterwards  repeated  in  a  letter,  that 
you  would  employ  your  good  offices  in  settling 
his  contest  with  the  city  of  Sardis,  agreeably 
to  the  justice  of  his  cause,  and  the  dignity  of 
his  character.     I   had   the  pleasure,  when  I 
talked  with  you  upon  this  subject  at  Ephesus, 
to  find  you  perfectly  well  disposed  to  assist  him 
upon  his  own  account.    Let  me  add,  however, 
that  your  adjusting  this  affair  to  his  satisfac- 
tion, will  be  performing  the  most  acceptable 
service   likewise  to  myself.     I  conjure  you, 
therefore,  to  dispatch  it  with  all  possible  expe- 
dition.    Farewel.  ^_ 

LETTER 


*  -i .  f» 


»  Besides  the  province  of  Cilicia,  properly  so  called, 
there  were  three  other  adjoining  districts  annexed  to  Cic^ 
To's  government,  in  one  of  which  he  appears  to  have  been  at 
the  time  of  writing  this  letter. 


Book  V.         of  CICEEO. 


LETTER  XV. 


46r 


tA.U.703.] 

» 

.      To  Marcus  Ccelius,  Curule-iEdilc. 

Yo  u  ft  very  agreeable  letters  visit  me  but  sel- 
dom;   perhaps,   by  some  accident  or  other, 
Aey  lose  their  way.     How  full  was  the  last^ 
which  came  to  my  hands,  of  the  most  prudent 
and  obliging  advice !  I  had  determined,  indeed, 
to  act  in  the  manner  you  recommend :  but  it 
gives  an   additional  strength  to  one's  resolu- 
tions,  to  find  them  conformable  to  the  senti- 
ments of  so  faithful  and  so  judicious  a  friend. 
I  have  often  assured  you  of  my  extreme  affec- 
tion for  Appius  :  and  I  had  reason  to  believe, 
after  our  mutual  reconcilement,  that  he  enter- 
tained  the  sjlme  favourable  disposition  towards 
me.     For  he  distinguished  me  in  his  consulate 
with  great  marks  of  honour  and  amity :  and  ap- 
peared willing,  upon  all  occasions,  to  gratify 
my  requests  even  in  favour  of  others.     1  must 
appeal  to  you  (since  the  droll  Phania*  is,  I 
think,  no  more)  that  I  was  not  wanting  on  my 
part  in  a  suitable  return :  and,  indeed,  he  stood 
«o  much  the  higher  in  my  esteem,  as  I  was  sen- 
sible 

'  The  5th  letter  of  this  book. 

*  A  favourite  freed  man  of  Appius. 

Hh2 


468 


The  letters 


B60K  V. 


I 


sibleof  the  affection  he  had  conceived  for  you. 
Add  to  this,   that  I  am,  as  you  well  know, 
wholly  devoted  to  Pompey,  and  tenderly  at- 
tached also  to  Brutus'.    Can  I  then  want  a  rea- 
son of  uniting  myself  with  Appius,  thus  sup- 
ported as  he  is  by  the  most  powerful  friends 
and  alliances,  and  flourishing  in  every  other 
advantasre  that  can  be  derived  fiom  affluent 
possessions  in  conjunction  with  great  abilities* ! 
But,  besides  these  considerations,  I  must  men- 
tion, likewise,  the  connexion  that  subsists  be- 
tween us  as  members  of  the  same  sacred  col- 
lege, and  the  honour  he  has  publicly  paid  me 
in  his  learned  treatise  concerning  its  institu- 
tions. 

3  That  Cicero  was  wholly  devoted  to  Pompey,  cannot  b« 
doubled  :  but  that  he  was  sincere  in  this  declaration  with  re- 
spect to  Brutus,  may  well  be  questioned.  It  appears,  indeed, 
that  they  were  neither  of  them  perfectly  satisfied  with  each 
other  at  this  time  :  and  Cicero  complains  to  Atlictis  of  hav- 
ing received  some  very  haughty  and  disrespectful  letters  from 
Brutus,  even  when  the  latter  was  soliciting  his  good  offices  in 
favour  of  Appius.  Nullas  unquam  (says  be)  ad  me  litteras 
tnisit  Brutus,  tie  proxime  quidem  de  Appio,  in  qvibus  non  esset 
arrogans,  axoivo/yyjTov  aliquid. — Flane  parum  cogitat,  quid 
scribaty  out  ad  quern.  Ad  Att.  vi.  3.  vid.  etiam.  vi.  1.  v.  21. 
See  rem.  2.  p.  379  t)f  l^is  vol. 

*  These  were  the  true,  and  perhaps  the  only  reasons 
which  induced  Cicero  to  endeavour  to  be  upon  good  terms 
with  Appius.  For  that  he  had  a  real  affection  for  him,  as 
he  pretends  in  this  epistle,  is  by  no  means  probable.  On  the 
contrary,  in  a  letter  to  Attjcus,  he  speaks  of  his  disposition 
towards  Appius,  in  terms  of  much  lower  import ;  and  disco- 
vers, at  the  same  time,  the  principal  motive  that  engaged 
him  in  bis  interest.  Pro  Appio  nos  hie  omtiiafacietnus;  ho- 
neste  tametiy  sed  plane  libenter.  Nee  enim  ipsum  odimus ;  et 
Pompchu  mirificc  a  me  contendit.    Ad  Att.  vi.  2. 


Book  V.  of  CICERO. 


469 


tions.  I  mark  out  these  several  circumstances 
the  more  particularly,  as  your  letter  seemed  to 
intimate  a  doubt  in  what  manner  I  was  inclin- 
ed towards  him.  This  leads  me  to  suspect, 
that  some  idle  tale  or  other  has  been  reported  to 
the  disadvantage  of  my  sentiments  respecting 
Appius:  but  be  assured,  whatever  you  have 
heard  of  that  nature,  is  utterly  false.  I  must 
confess,  at  the  same  time,  that  his  maxims  and 
mine  in  the  administration  of  this  province, 
have  been  somewhat  different :  and  it  may  from 
thence,  perhaps,  have  been  suggested,  that  I 
acted  counter  to  his  measures,  more  from  a  spi- 
rit of  opposition,  than  from  any  real  disagree- 
ment of  principles.  But,  believe  me,  I  have 
never  said  or  done  the  least  thing  throughout 
the  whole  course  of  my  government,  with  a  view 
of  prejudicing  his  reputation.  And  now  that  my 
friend  Dolabella  has  so  rashly  attacked  him,  I 
am  exerting  all  my  good  offices  to  dissipate  the 
rising  storm  with  which  he  is  threatened. 

You  mentioned  something  of  a  lethargic  in- 
activity that  had  seized  the  republic.  I  rejoiced, 
no  doubt,  to  hear  that  you  were  in  a  state  of 
such  profound  tranquillity,  as  well  as  that  our 
spirited  friend^  was  so  much  infected  with  this 
general  indolence,  as  not  to  be  in  a  humour  of 

disturbing 

*  Curio. 

HhS 


470 


The  LETTERS 


Book  V. 


Book  V. 


OF  CICERO. 


4n 


1  h; 


"/l 


disturbing  it.  But  the  last  paragraph  of  your 
letter,  which  was  written,  I  observed,  with  your 
own  hand,  changed  the  scene,  and  somewhat, 
indeed,  diseomposed  me.  Is  Curio  really  then 
become  a  convert  to  Caesar  ?  But  extraordinary 
as  this  event  may  appear  to  others,  believe  me  it 
is  agreeable  to  what  I  always  suspected.  Good 
gods  !  ho\v^  do  I  long  to  laugh  with  you  at  the 
ridiculous  farce  which  is  acting  in  your  part  of 

the  world  ? 

I  have  finished  my  juridical  circuit :  and  not 
only  settled  the  finances  of  the  several  cities 
upon  a  more  advantageous  basis,  but  secured  to 
the  farmers  of  the  revenues  the  arrears  due  oiv 
their  former  agreements,  without  the  least  com- 
plaint from  any  of  the  parties  concerned.  In 
short,  I  h^ve  given  entire  satisfaction  to  all  or-- 
ders  and  degrees  of  men  in  this  province,  t 
propose,  therefore,  to  set  out  for  Cllicia*on  the 
7th  of  May  :  from  whence,  after  having  just 
looked  upon  the  troops  in  their  summer  canton- 
ment, and  settled  some  affairs  relating  to  the* 
4rmy,  I  intend,  agreeably  to  the  decree  of  th& 
senate  for  that  purpose,  to  set  forward  to  Rome. 
I  am  extremely  impatient,  indeed,  to  return  to 
my  friends  :  but  particularly  to  you,  whom  1 
much  wish  to  see  in  the  administration  of  youi 
^dileship.     Farewel. 


t\ii 


4iHi 


LETTER 


LETTER  XVI. 

[A.  u.  ro3.] 

^o  QtiNTus  Thermus,  Proprsetor. 
^^ « 
1 2^  is  with  great  pleasure  I  perceive  that  my 

services  to  Rhodo  and  others  of  your  friends, 
as  well  as  those  likewise  which  I  have  per* 
formed  to  yourself,  prove  acceptable  to  a  man 
of  your  grateful  disposition.  Be  assured  you 
will  %d  me  still  more  and  more  desirous  of  ad- 
vancing your  credit  and  reputation :  though  I 
naiuat  add,  that  the  lenity  and  justice  of  your 
government  seem  already  to  have  raised  them 
as  high  as  possible. 

The  more  I  reflect  upon  your  affairs  (and 
they  are  the  daily  subject  of  my  thoughts)  the 
more  I  am  confirmed  in  that  advice  I  commu-' 
nicated  to  you  by  Aristo.  I  am  well  persuaded, 
indeed,  that  you  will  draw  upon  yourself  very 
powerful  enemies,  if  you  should  put  any  slight 
upon  a  young  nobleman  of  your  quaestor's  rank 
and  interest.  And  a  slight  it  will  undoubtedly 
be,  if  you  should  not  at  your  departure  commit 
the  administration  of  the  prpince  to  his  hands: 
as  theie  is  no  other  person  to  whom  you  can 
trust  it,  of  superior  quality.  But,  abstracted  from 
93X  considerations  of  this  kind,  he  has  an  un- 

H  h  4  questionable 


*  See  rf  m.    »  p.  i66  of  ibis  vol 


472 


The  letters 


Book  V. 


questionable  right,  as  your  qu2estor,  to  be  pre- 
ferred to  any  of  your  lieutenants,  whose  blame- 
less and  worthy  conduct,  however,  I  must  at 
the  same  time  in  justice  acknowledge.  I  am 
perfectly  sensible  that  you  have  nothing  to  fear 
from  the  resentment  of  any  man.  I  could 
wish,  nevertheless,  that  you  would  not  incur  the 
displeasure,  and  especially  with  just  reason,  of 
three  such  distinguished  persons  as  your  quaes- 
tor and  his  brothers :  for  they  are  all  of  them 
men  of  some  eloquence,  as  well  as  great  spirit : 
to  which  I  must  add,  that  I  am  persuaded  they 
will  successively  be  tribunes  of  the  people^ 
during  the  three  next  following  years.  Now 
who  can  tell  what  turn  public  aifairs  may. 
take  ?  For  my  own  part,  I  think  tliere  is  much 
appearance  of  great  commotions  arising  in  the 
commonwealth.  I  should  be  sorry,  therefore, 
that  you  should  render  yourself  obnoxious  to  so 
formidable  a  power  as  the  tribunitial :  especi- 
ally since  you  may  easily  avoid  it,  without 
offending  any  person,  by  justly  preferring 
your  quaestor  to  your  lieutenants.  And  should 
his  conduct,  as  your  vicegerent  in  the  pro- 
vince, prove  worthy  of  his  glorious  ancestors, 

as 

•  Pighius,  with  great  probability  conjectures,  from  the 
circumstances  here  mentioned,  compared  with  other  passages 
in  Cicero's  writings,  that  Caius  Antonius,  second  brother  to 
Mark  Antony,  was  quaestor  to  Tkermus.  Pishii  annul,  anm, 
703. 


Book  V. 


OF  CICERO; 


473 


as  I  hope  and  believe,  it  will  reflect,  in  some 
degree,  an  honour  upon  yourself  But,  on  the 
contrary,  should  he  deviate  from  their  illus- 
trious  examples,  the  whole  discredit  will  fall 
singly  upon  his  own  character,  without  in- 
volving yours  in  any  part  of  the  reproach. 

I  am  this  moment  setting  out  for  Cilicia^r 
so  that  I  have  only  time  to  write  these  loose 
hints  just  as  they  occur.  I  thought  it  incum- 
bent upon  me,  however,  to  send  you  my  ge- 
neral sentiments  of  a  point  wherein  your  in- 
terest is  so  nearly  concerned.  May  the  gods 
give  success  to  whatever  you  shall  determine  ! 
But  if  my  advice  has  any  weight,  you  will 
avoid  raising  to  yourself  unnecessary  enemies, 
and  prudently  consult  your  future  repose, 
Farewel. 

LETTER 

»  See  rem.    »,  p,  466#  of  this  vol. 


474^ 


Thb.IXTTERS 


Book  V. 


LETTER  XVU. 

|A.  IT.  703.} 

To  C.  TiTius  RuFus,  Prajtor. 

Lucius  Custidius  is  not  only  of  the  same^ 
tribe^and  corporation*  with  myself,  but  is  like- 
MTise  my  particular  friend.  As  he  has  a  cause 
which  he  purposes  to  bring  before  you^  I  re- 
commend his  interest  to  your  protection,  but 
no  farther,  however,  than  i$  consistent  with 
your  honour  and  my  own  good  manners.  All 
I  request,  therefore,  is,  that  you  would  allow 
him  freely  to  wait  upon  you  as  often  as  he  shall 
hare  occasion ;  that  you  wowld  comply  with  hi^ 
desires,  as  far  as  they  shall  appear  equitable  i 
and,  in  a  word,  that  you  would  convince  him 
that  my  friendship  can  effectually  avail,  even 

at  this  distance.     Fareweli 

LETTER 

"^  Romulus  divided  bis  citizens  into  three  tribes,  each  of 
wbich  were  subdivided  into  ten  curiae,  or  wards.  These 
tribes  were,  in  after-times,  gradually  increased,  till  they 
amounted  to  the  number  of  thirty-five. 

*The  corporate  or  municipal  towns  were  those  which 
were  allowed  to  govern  themselves  by  their  own  law&  and 
constitutions,  and  at  the  same  time  were  honoured  with  the 
privileges  of  Roman  citizens.  Cicero  was  a  native  of  one  oi 
these  corporations,  called  Arpinum  :  situated  in  a  district  ot 
Jlaly,  which  now  makes  part  of  the  kingdom  of  Naples. 


Book  ¥/!         of  ClCEfia 


475 


LETTER  XVIIt 

[A.  U,  TOS.] 
ToSlLIUS, 

Afli^iLi.  you  pot  think  that  I  am  employed  in 
a  very  unnecessary  office,  when  I  take  upon 
m&  to  recommend  a  man  to  your  friendship, 
who  already,  I  know,  enjoys  that  privilege? 
Let  it  be  a  proof,  however,  that  I  am  with 
passion,  as  well  as  esteem,  devoted  to  his  in- 
t^test.  I  most  earnestly  entreat  you  then  to 
convince  Egnatius,  by  the  good  effects  which 
this  letter  shall  produce  in  his  favour,  both  of 
your  affection  for  me,  and  of  mine  for  him. 
And  be  assured  your  compliance  with  this  re- 
quest will  be  the  most  agreeable  of  all  the  many 
^nd  great  instances  I  have  received  of  your 
disposition  to  oblige  me. 

The  pleasing  hopes  I  entertained  of  public 
affairs  are  now  totally  vanished.  However, 
whilst  we  wish  things  were  better,  let  us  sup^. 
port  ourselves  with  the  trite  consolation,  that 
we  must  submit  to  what  cannot  be  remedied. 
But  thi^^  is  a  subject  I  will  reserve  to  our 
meeting.  In  the  mean  time,  continue  to  give 
me  your  friendship,  and  be  well  persuaded  of 

mine.     Farewel. 

LETTER 


47S 


The  letters 


Book  V. 


LETTER  XIX. 

[A.U.703.] 
To    PuJBLIUJ    CiESIUS. 

I  MOST  earnestly  recommend  to  your  favour 
my  very  intimate  friend  Publius  Messienus,  a 
Roman  knight,  who  is  distinguislied  by  every 
valuable  endowment,  I  entreat  you,  by  the 
double  ties  of  that  amity  which  I  enjoy  with 
you  and  your  father,  to  protect  him  both  in 
his  fame  and  his  fortunes.  Be  assured  you 
will  by  this  means  conciliate  the  affection  of  a 
man  highly  deserving  of  your  friendship,  as 
well  as  confer  a -most  acceptable  obhgatioa 
upon  myself.     Farewel, 


LETTER  XX. 

[A.  U.  703.] 

To  the  Magistrates  of  pRECELLiiiV 

If  my  connexions  w4th  Quintus  Hippius  were 
not  of  the  strongest  and  most  amicable  kind, 
I  should  not  depart  from  the  rule  I  have  laid 
down  to  myself,  of  not  troubling  you  witli  my 
jipplications.     lliis  maxim,  you  will  bear  mc 

witness, 

'  It  is  supposed  to  be  the  same  town  vrbich  is  now  called 
Capcraro  in  the  Campa^na  di  R&ma, 


Book  V. 


OF  CICERO. 


477 


witness,  I  have  hitherto  strictly  observed,  though 
I  was  ever  persuaded,  at  the  same  time,  that 
there  is  nothing  you  would  refuse  to  my  re- 
quest. However,  I  now  most  earnestly  entreat 
your  generosity  in  behalf  of  my  friend's  son, 
and  that  you  would  do  me  the  honour  to  shew 
so  much  regard  to  my  inclinations  as  to  en- 
franchise the  estate  he  has  purchased  of  your 
corporation.  I  shall  esteem  your  compliance 
with  this  request  as  a  very  singular  favour. 
Farewel. 

AN 


'*  *  i 


• « • 
» • » 


•  •  •  • 


•  • 
»  •  •  • •• 

•  •  •  » 

•  t  •  •• 


•  •  • 

•  •  • 
t  •  •  • 


e>       ■•    •        •    •    • 
t       •III** 

t       •    .     •  »    »        •  • 


■   I 


I     » 


•    *  •  »    »  *, 

•  •     • 

*  I   •    I 


•  •      •  •  •  • 

•      •    •  I 

••*    •  • 

•    •  •  ! 

» •  •  • 


•  * 


4 
I        . 


•    >l 


I  • 
*  * 
•      If 


•        I 


1      •  '  V  J 


I 


^j 


.;*  t  i  I 


I. 


m 


1 


AN 


INDEX, 

Referring  to  the  order  in  which  the  Letters 

of  this  Volume  stand  in  the 

Edition  of  GrcBvius. 


• « 
•  •  • 


«  • 
«  <  • 


:s- 


«  1 1 


0 


*-     " 


Letter  I. 

II. 

III. 

IV. 

V. 

VI. 

VII. 

VIII. 

IX. 

X. 

XI. 

XII. 

XIII. 

XIV. 

XV. 

XVI. 

XVII. 

XVIII. 

XIX. 

XX. 

XXI. 


Book  L 
Lib, 

-  V. 

-  ▼. 

-  T. 

-  V. 

-  V. 

-  xir. 

-  xiy. 

-  xiv. 

-  xiT. 

-  V. 

•  • 

-  Tll. 

-  1. 

•  •  • 

-  XUl. 

1. 

« 

1. 

-  1. 

-  1. 

-  1. 
1. 

-  V. 

-  T. 


Book  II. 


i 


Letter  I. 

IL 

IIL 

IV. 

V. 

VI. 

vn. 

VIII. 


—  Xlll. 

—  1. 

Til. 

1. 

VII. 

•  •  • 

Xlll. 

-  V. 

-  TU. 


m 


Ep. 

7 

I 

2 

5 

6 

4 

2 

1 

3 

4 
26 

1 

6 

2 

3 

4 

6 

5 

6 
12 

3 


.40 
7 

8 
1 

a 


Book  IL 


IX. 
X. 

XI. 

xn. 

XIII. 
XIV. 
XV. 
XVI. 
XVII. 
XVIII. 
XIX. 
XX. 
XXI. 
XXII. 
XXIIL 


Idb. 

TU. 


Til.  *. 
-  Til.  - 
■   Tll.    - 

-  tH.  ■ 

-Xlll.   - 

•  Tll.    - 

•  TIU   - 

1.  - 
XUl.  - 
XUl.  - 
XUl.  > 
Tl.  - 
XUl.    - 

1.  - 


Book  IIL 


Letter  L#r"    "•  " 

n.  -^  Til.  - 

TIL  —   iii.  - 

IV.  —  xiw.  - 

V.  —  ?ii.  - 

VI.  —     ii.  r 

VII.    —     Til.    - 

Vm.  —  xii.  - 

IX.  —   Tii.  - 

X.  —     ii.  - 

XL  —  Tii.  - 

XII.  —     ii.  - 

XIIL  --  xiii.  - 

XIV.  ~     ii.  - 


jiP      m 


\ 


EjK 

6 

7 

-  8 
.  17 

-  9 
.  60 

-  10 

-  16 
'    9 

-  42 
41 
49 
IS 
73 
10 


-  1 

-  11 

-  1 

-  2 

-  12 

-  2 

-  13 

-  20 

-  15 

-  3 

-  18 

-  4 

-  3 

-  6 
XV. 


INDEX 


Book  III. 

Ub. 
XV.—  vii.  . 

XVI.—      T.    - 

XVII.—    ii.  - 

XVIIL—    ▼.  - 

XIX. —  xiii.  - 

XX. —  vii.  - 

XXI. —  vii.  - 

XXII. —  vii.  - 

XXIII.—  iii.  - 

XXIV.—  iii.  - 

XXV. —  viii.  - 

XXVI.—  iii.  - 

XXVII.— xiii.  - 

XXVIII.—    ii. 

XXIX. — viii. 

XXX. — viii. 

XXXI. —  iii. 

XXXII. — viii. 

XXXIII. — viii. 

XXXIV.— viii. 

XXXV.—  XV. 

XXXVL—  XV. 

XXXVII.—  XV. 

XXXVIII—  XV. 

• 


,  Book  IV. 

L^er  I. —  XV.  - 

II. —  xiii.  - 

III.—  «  - 

IV.—  XV.  - 

V,-—  xiii.  - 

VI.—      XV.    - 

VII.—   viii. 

VIII—  xiii. 


14 

17 

6 

18 

75 

21 

2 

22 

2 

3 

1 

4 

1 

8 

2 

3 

5 

4 

5 

9 

9 

7 

8 

12 


2 

53 

6 

3 

50 

1 

8 

61 


Book  IV. 


IX.— 
X.— 

XL— 

XII.— 
XIII.- 
XIV.- 

XV.— 

XVI.— 

XVII.— 

XVIIL— 

XIX.— 

XX.- 


Ub. 

m  m 

11. 

XIII. 

•  •  • 

111. 

•  •  • 

XUl. 

•  • 

11. 

•  •  • 

Vlll. 

•  •  • 

XIU. 

•  ■ 

11. 

•  «  • 

XIII. 

•  • 

VII. 

■  •  « 

XIII. 

•  •  • 

XIU. 


Book  V. 

Letter  I. —  XV. 

II. XV. 

III.—  XV. 

IV.—  XV. 

V. —  viii. 

VI.—  viii. 

VIL—  iii. 

VIII.—  XV. 

IX. —  ii. 

X. —  XIII. 

XL —  iii. 

XII.—  ii. 

XIII. —  xiii. 

XIV. —  xiii. 

XV.—  ii. 

XVL—  ii. 

XVIL—  xiii. 

XVIIL—  xiii. 

XIX. —  xiii. 

XX. —  xiii. 


THE  ETYD  OF  THE  HEST  VOLUME. 


Ep. 

-  9 

-  62 

-  S 

-  63 

-  10 

-  10 

-  64 

-  7 

-  55 

-  32 

-  9 

-  65 


4 
5 

10 

13 

6 

7 

7 

14 

14 

59 

9 

11 

54 

57 

13 

18 

58 

47 

51 

76 


V 


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^rioted  bjf  J.  Wright,  St.  John's  Stuart. 


* 


X  ^t  . 


COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARIES 


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DEC  8    1936 


f  nr 


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U- 


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"  -J ' 

1  •' ' 


4 


Colnmbta  (Bnttiersitj) 


LIBRARY 


il 


THE 


LETTERS 


OF 


MARCUS  TULLIUS  CICERO 


TO 


SEVERAL  OF  HIS  FRIENDS. 


WITH  REMARKS 


BY 


WILLIAM  MELMOTH,  ESQ. 


IN   THREE   VOLUMES. 


-w~ ."Quo  fit  ut  omnis 

Votiva  pateat  veluti  dcscripta  tabella 
Vita  senis.  ifof. 


THE  SIXTH  EDITION. 


To  which  is  now  added 


A   GENERAL   INDEX, 


VOL.  II. 


LONDONi 

FRINTED    FOR    LACKINGTON,   ALLEN,   AND   CO.   LONGMAN   AND   CO, 

CUTHELL   AND    MARTIN,    VERNOR   AND   HOOD,   CADELL   AND 

DA  VIES,    DARTON    AND    HARVEY,    J.    WALKER,    R.    LEA, 

J    NUNN,  J.    ASPERNE,  E.  BOOKER,  W.  OTRIDGt 

AND  SON,  OGILVy  AND  SON,  AND  W.  J. 

*>.  AND   J.    RICHARDSON. 


1804. 


J 


(  1  ) 


I 


SOClF'T"^*    - 


* 


LETTERS 


OF 


MARCUS  TULLIUS  CICERO 


TO 


Printed  by  J.  Wright,  St.  John's  Square. 


SEVERAL  OF  HIS  FRIENDS. 


BOOK  VI. 


LETTER  L 

[A.U.703.]  ' 

To  ApPIUS  PuLCHER. 

When  I  first  received  an  account  of  the  ill- 
judged  prosecution  which  has  been  commenced 
against  you',  it  gave  me  great  concern :  and, 
indeed,  nothing  could  possibly  have  happened 
that  I  less  expected.  But  as  soon  as  I  had  re- 
covered from  my  surprise,  I  was  well  satisfied 
that  you  will  easily  disappoint  the  malice  of 
your  enemies :  for  I  have  the  highest  confidence 
in  your  own  judicious  conduct  on  this  occa- 
sion, as  well  as  a  very  great  one  in  that  of  your 

friendSt 

■  See  rem.  4.  p.  437.  yoL  1. 

Vol.  IL  B 

Ag28  84   ^0256 


s 


The  letters 


Book  VI. 


friends.     I  see  many  reasons,  indeed,  to  be- 
lieve,  that  the  envy  of  your  adversaries  will 
only  brighten  that  character  they  mean  to  sul- 
ly :  though  I  cannot  but  regret  that  they  should 
have  thus  snatched  from  you  an  honour  you  so 
justly  merit,  and  of  which  you  had  so  well- 
grounded  an  assurance ;  the  honour,  I  mean, 
of  a  triumph\     However,  you  will  shew  your 
judgment,  if  you  should  consider  this  pompous 
distinction  in  the  light  it  has  ever  appeared  to 
my  own  view ;  and,  at  the  same  time,  enjoy  a 
triumph  of  the  completcst  kind  in  the  confu- 
sion and  disappointment  of  your  enemies  :  as  I 
am  well  convinced  that  the  vigorous  and  pru- 
dent exertion  of  your  power  and  influence  will 
give  them  abundant  reason  to  repent  of  their 
violent  proceedings.     As  for  myself,  be  well 
assured  (and  I  call  every  god  to  witness  the 
sincerity  of  what  I  promise)  that  I  will  exert 
my  utmost  interest  in  support,  I  will  uot  say  of 
your  person,  which  I  hope  is  in  no  danger,  but 
of  your  dignities  and  honour;     To  this  end,  I 
shall  employ  my  best  good  offices  for  you  in  this 
province,  where  you  once  presided :  and  employ 
them  with  all  the  warmth  of  an  intercessor,  with 
all  the  assiduity  of  a  relation,  with  all  the  in- 
fluence of  a  man  who,  I  trust,  is  dear  to  these 
cities,  and  with  all  the  authority  of  one  who  is 

invested 

*  See  rem.  3.  p.  371.  vol.  1. 


Book  VI. 


OF  CICERO. 


invested  with  the  supreme  command.  In  a  word, 
I  hope  you  will  both  ask  and  expect  of  me,  every 
service  in  my  power :  and  believe  me,  I  shall  give 
you  greater  proofs  of  my  affection  than  you  are 
disposed,  perhaps,  to  imagine.  Notwithstanding 
therefore  that  the  letter  I  received  from  you  by  the 
hands  of  Quintus  Servilius  was  extremely  short; 
yet  I  could  not  but  think  it  much  too  long :  for 
it  was  doing  an  injury  to  the  sentiments  of  my 
heart,  to  suppose  you  had  any  occasion  to  solicit 
my  assistance.  I  am  sorry  you  should  have  an 
opportunity  of  experiencing,  by  an  incident  so 
little  agreeable  to  yoii,  the  rank  you  bear  in  my 
affection,  the  esteem  which  I  entertain  for  Pom- 
pey,  whom  I  justly  value  indeed  above  all  men, 
and  the  measure  of  my  unfeigned  regard  for 
Brutus:  circumstances,  I«should  hope,  of  which 
our  daily  intercourse  had  rendered  you  suffici- 
ently sensible.  However,  since  it  has  so  happen- 
ed, I  should  think  that  I  acted  a  most  unworthy, 
not  to  say  a  criminal  part,  if  I  were  to  omit  any 
article  wherein  my  services  can  avail  you. 

Pontinius  remembers  the  singular  instances  of 
friendship  he  has  received  from  you,  and  of  which 
I  myself  was  a  witness',  with  all  the  gratitude 

and 

'  Pontinius  was  praetor  in  the  consulate  of  Cicero,  and  at 
t^is  time  one  of  his  lieutenants  in  the  province.  He  distin- 
guished himself  in  the  affair  of  Caiiline  :  and  having  quelled 
the  insurrection  of  the  Allobroges,  who  took  up  arms  on  that 
occasion,  he  demanded  a  triumph.     But  he  met  with  so 

B  2  strong 


The  letters 


Book  Vt 


Book  VI.  of  CICERO. 


and  affection  to  which  you  have  so  undoubted 
a  right.  The  urgency  of  his  affairs  had  oblig* 
ed  him,  though  with  great  reluctance,  to  leave 
me.  Nevertheless,  having  been  informed  just 
as  he  was  going  to  embark  at  Ephesus,  that  his 
presence  in  this  province  might  be  of  advan- 
tage to  your  caused  he  immediately  returned 
back  to  Laodicea.  I  am  persuaded  you  will 
meet  with  numberless  such  instances  of  zeal 
upon  this  occasion :  can  I  doubt  then  that 
this  troublesome  affair  w  ill  prove,  in  the  con- 
clusion, greatly  to  your  credit  ? 

If  vou  should  be  able  to  brins:  on  an  election 
of  censors'^,  and  should  exercise  that  office  in 
the  manner  you  certainly  ought,  and  for  w^hich 

you 

strong  an  opposition  to  thh  claim,  am!  particularly  from 
Cato,  that  it  was  four  years  before  his  petition  was  granted. 
Appius  was  at  that  time  consul ;  by  whose  interest  it  chiefly 
vas,  that  Pontinius  at  length  succeeded  :  and  it  is  to  this^ 
circumstance  that  Cicero  set-ms  to  allude.  Liv,  Epit.  103. 
Dio.  xl.  yld  Att.  iv.  l6\ 

♦  Seerem.  6\p.  437.V0I.  1. 

*  The  ofl^ce  of  censor  was  the  most  honourable  post  in 
the  Roman  republic;  though  iis  authority  was  not  so  consi- 
derable as  thai  of  the  consul.  The  two  principal  branches  of 
Ills  duty  consisted  in  taking  a  general  survey  of  the  people, 
in  order  to  range  them  in  their  proper  classes  ;  and  in  watch- 
ing over  the  public  manners.  Appius,  together  with  Piso, 
whose  daughter  Caesar  had  married,  were  chosen  censors  soon 
after  the  date  of  this  leiter:  and  they  were  the  last  (as  Dr. 
Middletou  observes)  **  who  bore  thai  office  during  the  free- 
•*  dom  of  Che  republic."  If  the  republic,  indeed,  could  with 
any  propriety  be  said  to  have  enjoyed  freedom  at  this  period, 
when  all  was  faction  and  misrule.  Rosin,  de  Antiq,  Rom, 
699.  Life  of  Tuily,  ii.  210.  8ro.  <rrf.  See  rem.  4.  aud  the 
l^aisage  to  which  it  refers,  p.  6'g,  of  this  vol. 


you  are  so  perfectly  well  qualified ;  you  can 
never  want  that  authority  in  the  repubhc,  which 
will  afford,  at  once,  a  protection  both  to  yourself 
and  your  friends.  Let  me  entreat,  therefore,  your 
most  strenuous  endeavours  to  prevent  my  admi- 
nistration from  being  prolonged :  that,  after hav- 
ing  filled  up  the  measure  of  my  affectionate  ser- 
vices to  you  here,  I  may  have  the  satisfaction 
also  of  presenting  them  to  you  at  Rome. 

I  read,  with  pleasure,  though  by  no  means 
with  surprise,  the  account  you  gave  me  of  that 
general  zeal  which  all  orders  and  degrees  of  men 
have  shewn  in  your  cause  :  a  circumstance,  of 
which  I  had  likewise  been  informed  by  my  other 
friends.    It  affords  me  great  satisfaction  to  find, 
that  a  man  with  whom  I  have  the  honour  and 
pleasure  to  be  so  intimately  united,  is  thus  dis* 
tinguished  with  that  universal  approbation  he 
justly  deserves.    But  I  rejoice  in  this  upon  an- 
other consideration  likewise ;  as  it  is  a  proof 
that  there  still  remains  a  general  disposition  in 
Rome  to  support  the  cause  of  illustrious  merit : 
a  disposition  which  I  have  myself  also  experi'* 
enccd  upon  every  occasion,  as  the  honourable 
recompence  of  my  pains  and  vigils  in  the  public 
service.    But  I  am  astonished  that  Dolabella,  ^ 
young  man  whom  I  formerly  rescued  with  the 
utmost  difficulty  from  the  consequences  of  two 
capital  impeachments,  should  $o  ungratefully 

B  3  forget; 


)   -v 


I 


The  'LETTERS 


Book  VL 


forget  the  patron  to  whom  he  owes  all  that  he^ 
enjoys,  as  to  be  the  author  of  this  ill-considered 
prosecution  of  my  friend.  And  what  aggravates 
the  folly  of  his  conduct  is,  that  he  should  thus 
venture  to  attack  a  man  who  is  distinguished 
with  the  highest  honours,  and  supported  by  the 
inost  powerful  friendships ;  at  the  same  time, 
that  he  himself  (to  speak  of  him  in  the  softest 
terms)  is  greatly  deficient  in  both  these  respects^ 
I  had  received  an  account  from  our  friend  Coe- 
lius  before  your  letter  reached  my  hand,  of  the 
idle  and  ridiculous  report  he  has  propagated  : 
and  on  wlych  you  so  largely  expatiate.  There  is 
soHttleground,  however,  forwhatheasserts,  that 
be  assured,  I  would  much  sooner  break  off  all  for- 
merfriendship  with  a  man  who  had  thusdeclared 
himself  your  enemy,  than  be  prevailed  upon  ta 
engage  with  liim  in  any  new  connexions^ 

You 

•  Nothing  could  be  more  distant  from  Cicero^s  heart  than 
what  he  here  pretends.  For  there  is  the  strongest  evidence 
to  believe,  that  it  was  his  fixed  intention,  at  this  very  time,. 
to  euier  into  an  alliance  with  Dolabella  :  and,  in  fact,  Tullia 
was  married  to  him  soon  after  the  date  of  this  letter.  Cicero 
affirms,  I  must  acknowledge,  in  an  epistle  to  Atticus,  what  he 
likewise  asserts  in  a  subsequent  one  to  Appius,  "  that  this 
**  transaction  was  entirely  without  his  knowledge  :*'  but  he 
seems  to  have  dealt  as  insincerely  upon  this  occasion  with  his 
bosom  friend,  as  he  too  frequently  did  with  all  the  world  be- 
side. Accordingly,  he  assures  Atticus,  he  so  little  expected 
the  news  of  his  daughter's  match,  that  he  was  actually  in 
treaty  for  the  disposal  of  her  to  another  person.  But  if  the 
latter  part  of  this  assertion  were  true,  it  aggravates  his  dissi- 
mulation :  as  the  former  most  evidently  was  not.  For  not 
to  mcmioa  the  great  probability  there  is,  thw  he  left  a  com- 

mis^ioa 


Book  VI. 


OF  CICERO. 


You  have  not  the  least  reason  to  doubt  of  my 
zeal  to  serve  you :  of  which  I  have  given  many 
conspicuous  testimonies  in  this  province,  as  well 
as  at  Rome.  Your  letter,  nevertheless,  intimates 
some  sort  of  suspicion  of  the  contrary.  It  would 
be  improper  at  this  juncture  to  reproach  you  with 

hidulging 

mission  with  Coelius  when  he  set  out  for  the  province    relat- 
in<^  to  the  marriage  in  question,  [see  let.  5.  p.  437-  vol.  l.j  it 
apWrs  that  he  had  received  more  than  one  letter  from  him 
upon  this  subject,  before  he  wrote  the  last  mentioned  to  At- 
ticus :  and,  consequently,  that  he  could  not  hare  been  so  much 
a  stranaer  to  the  affair  as  he  chose  to  represent  himselt.    U- 
cero*s  a°nswer  to  the  letter  of  Coelius  concerning  this  treaty 
with  Dolabella,  is  extant :  and  it  cannot  be  dated  later  than 
the  beginning  of  May  in  the  present  year  ;  because  he  inen- 
tions  the  seventh  of  that  month  as  a  future  day,  on  which  he 
proposed  to  return  from  another  part  of  his  province  into  U- 
licia.     But  the  letter  to  Atticus  must  have  been  written  in 
the  latter  end  of  the  same  year,  because  he  takes  notice  in  it 
of  the  death  of  Hortensius.     Now  be  was  not  informed  ot 
that  event  till  he  came  to  Rhodes,  in  his  voyage  from  Gihcia: 
as  he  himself  tells  us,  in  the  introduction  of  hw  oratorical 
treatise  inscribed  to  Brutus.     If  Cicero  then  was  capable  of 
thus  disguising  the  truth  concerning  Dolabella,  to  the  near- 
est  and  most  valuable  of  his  friends  ;  it  is  no  wonder  he  should 
not  scruple  to  act  a  still  more  counterfeit  part  in  all  that  be 
says  of  him  to  Appius.     And  this  dissimulation  he  very  free- 
ly  acknowledges  to  Coelius;  who,  indeed,  was  in  the  whole 
secret  of  the  affair :  as  it  was  by  his  intervention  that  it 
seems  to  have  been  principally  conducted.    Accordingly,  Li- 
cero  taking  notice  to  Coelius  of  the  letter  now  before  us,  which 
he  tells  him  was  written  in  consequence  of  the  information  he 
had  received  from  him,  in  the  5th  of  the  foregoing  book  ;  he 
expresses  himself  in  the  following  remarkable  words  :  Q««£ 
si  mearn  (sc.  epistolam)  legos,  qucun  ego  turn  ex  tuis  litem  misi 
ad  Appium?    sed  quid  agasf-  «C  vivitur :  which  ^   plam 
English  amounts  to  this,  tbat  if  a  man  would  be  well  with 
the  world,  he  must  submit  to  the  lowest  and  most  contempti- 
ble hypocrisy.     And  it  must  be  owned  that  Cicero,  in   he 
present  instance,  as  well  as  in   most  others,  acted  up  to  the 
full  extent  of  his  maxim.     Ad  Att.  vi.  6.  Ep.  Fam.  vm.  & 
Ve  clar,  orator,  1.    -£>.  Fam,  ii.  15. 

3^ 


The  letters 


BoQK  vr. 


indulging  so  injurious  a  thought :  but  it  is  neces- 
sary I  should  convince  you,  that  it  is  altogether 
without  foundation.    Tell  nie  then,  wherein  did 
I  obstruct  the  deputation  which  was  intended 
to  be  sent  to  Rome  Avith  the  complimental  ad- 
dresses to  you  of  this  province?  Had  I  been 
your  avowed  enemy,  I  could  not  have  indulged 
my  spleen  by  a  more  important  piece  of  malice: 
and  most  certainly,  if  I  had  meant  to  act  with 
a  disguised   malevolence,    I   could  not   have 
chosen  an  occasion  that  would  have  rendered 
my  sentiments  more  notorious.    Were  I  as  per- 
fidious as  the  authors  of  these  unjust  insinua- 
tions, yet  surely  I  should  not  have  been  so  weak 
either  to  discover  my  enmity  where  I  designed 
to  conceal  it,  or  to  shew  a  strong  inclination  of 
injuring  you  by  instances  utterly  ineffectual. 
I   remember,    indeed,    that   some    complaints 
were  made  to  me,   concerning  the  excessive 
appointments   allowed   to  the   deputies   from 
this  province.     In  answer  to  which,  I  rather 
advised  than  directed  that  all  expences  of  this 
kind  should   be   regulated  by  the  Cornelian 
law^      But    far  was    I   from    insisting    even 
upon  this :  as  may  appear  by  the  pubhc  re- 
cords of  the  several  cities.     For  when  they 
afterwards  passed  their  accounts  before  me, 

I  suffered 

'  This  law  was  enacted,  it  is  probable,  in  order  to  re- 
9(fain  the  immoderate  suras  which  were  expended  in  these 
complimental  deputations.    Manutius. 


Book  Vr.         of  CICERO.  5 

I  suffered  them  to  charge  to  the  article  of  their 
deputations,  whatever  sum  they  thought  proper. 
Yet  what  falshoods  have  not  these  worthless  in- 
formers imposed  upon  you?  They  have  affirmed, 
it  seems,  not  only  that  I  absolutely  prohibited 
all  expences  of  this  kind,  but  even  obliged  the 
agents  of  those  deputies,  who  were  actually  set 
forward  in  their  way  to  Rome,  to  refund  the  ap- 
pointments that  were  lodged  in  their  hands,  and 
by  these  means  discouraged  several  others  from 
undertaking  the  same  commission.  I  might  here, 
with  great  justice,  complain  of  yourgiving  credit 
to  these  calumnies:  but  I  forbear,  as  I  said  be- 
fore, in  tenderness  to  your  present  disquietude, 
thinking  it  more  proper,  at  this  season,  to  vindi- 
cate my  o\vn  conduct  than  to  reproach  yours. 
I  will  only,  therefore,  remind  youofafew  reasons 
that  ought  to  have  secured  me  against  suffering 
in  your  opinion  from  these  groundless  imputa- 
tions. If  ever  then  you  experienced  the  probity  of 
my  heart,  or  observed  a  disposition  in  me  worthy 
of  those  sublime  contemplations  to  which  I  have 
devoted  myself  from  my  earliest  youth ;  if  ever 
you  discovered  by  my  conduct,  in  the  most  im- 
portant transactions,  that  I  was  neither  void  of 
spirit,  nor  destitute  of  abilities,  you  ought  to  have 
believed  me  incapable  of  acting  a  low  and  little 
part  towards  my  friends,  much  more  a  base  and 
^treacherous  one.  But  ifartifice  be  the  character 
3  after 


10 


The  letters 


Book  VL 


Book  VI. 


OF  CICERO, 


11 


after  all,  in  which  I  must  needs  be  represented, 
could  any  thing,  let  me  ask,  be  less  consistent 
with  such  a  temper,  than  either  to  slight  the 
friendship  of  aman  of  your  high  rank  and  credit, 
or  to  oppose  your  glory  in  an  obscure  and  re- 
mote province,  after  having  openly  supported  it 
in  view  of  the  whole  world  at  Rome  ?  Can  any 
thing  have  less  the  appearance  of  artifice  than  to 
discover  an  impotent  malevolence,  and  betray  to 
very  little  purpose  a  strong  propensity  of  doing 
an  injury.  But  what  possible  motive  could  in- 
duce me  to  cherish  so  implacable  a  spirit  toward 
you,  who  was  far  from  shewing  yourself  my  ene- 
my (and  I  speak  it  upon  the  information  of  my 
own  brother)  even  at  a  time  when  you  were  al- 
most under  an  indispensible  obligation  of  appear- 
ing so*  ?  And  after  our  reconciliation  had  beea 
effected  agreeably  to  our  mutual  desires  for  that 
purpose,  did  you  once,  throughout  the  whole 
period  of  your  consulate,  make  a  single  request 
to  me  in  vain?  or  which  of  the  commands  that 
you  left  with  me  when  I  attended  you  to  Puteo-- 
te',  did  I  not  execute  with  a  zeal  and  assiduity 

even 

•  This  alludes  to  the  services  which  Cicero  received  from 
Appius  io  his  recal  from  banishment.  **'  For  Appius  (ab  Mr. 
**  Ross  observes)  was  at  that  lime  praetor :  and  though  he, 
**  at  first,  supported  his  brother  Clodius,  and  opposed  the  re- 
*'  peal  of  his  law,  yet  he  afterwards  deserted  him,  and  joined 
*•  with  the  friends  of  Cicero."     Cic.  pro  Rom.  33. 

*  A  maritime  city  in  Campania,  in  the  kingdom  of  Naples^ 
BOW  called  PozzuoU.    When  the  proconswls  set  out  for  their 

governments, 


even  beyond  your  expectations  !    But  were  I 
really  the  artful  man  I  am  represented,  and  if  it  * 
be  the  characteristic  of  thaj  disposition  to  act 
entirely  with  a  view  to  interest,  nothing  surely 
could  be  more  conducive  to  mine,  than  the 
friendship  of  one,   from  whose  rank  and  abili- 
ties, from  whose  power,  family,  and  alliances,  I 
might  hope  to  derive  the  highest  honours  and 
advantages  :  considerations,  I  will  own,  that 
rendered  me  ambitious  of  your  friendship,  not 
from  any  low  unworthy  cunning,  but  from  those 
principlesof  prudence  which  Wisdom  will  surely 
justify.    But  these  were  not  the  only  considera- 
tions that  attached  me  to  your  interest ;  I  was 
drawn  by  others  of  an  higher  and  more  prevail- 
ing influence  with  me  :  by  a  simihtude  of  taste 
and  studies,  by  the  pleasing  habitudes  of  familiar 
intercourse,  and  by  the  same  common  researches 
into  the  most  concealed  and  unfrequented  paths 
of  philosophy.     To  these  inducements  of  a  pri- 
vate kind,  I  may  add  those  of  a  more  popular 
and  public  nature.     For  after  having  rendered 
our  mutual  reconcilement  conspicuous  to  the 
whole  world,  I  could  not  even  undesignedly  act 
counter  to  your  interest,  without  incurring  a 
suspicion  of  my  sincerity.  Let  me  mention  also 
those  obligations  which  result  from  my  being 

associated 

governments,  they  were  usually  escorted  by  their  friends  t^ 
{loine  distance  from  Rome. 


ii 


\ 


IS 


The  letters 


Book  VI, 


Book  VL 


OF  CICERO. 


13 


f 


associated  with  you  in  the  college  of  augurs : 
oblisrations  which  our  ancestors  esteemed  of  so 
sacred  a  nature,  that  they  not  only  held  it  im- 
pious to  violate  them,  but  would  not  even  suffer 
a  candidate  to  be  elected  into  this  society,  who 
was  known  to  be  at  variance  with  any  of  its  mem- 
bers. Butabstractedly  from  these  numerous  and 
powerful  motives,  there  is  one,  which  of  itself 
might  be  sufficient  to  evince  the  disposition  ii> 
M^hich  I  stand  towards  you :  for  tell  me,  did  ever 
any  man  possess,  or  had  reason  to  possess,  so  high 
an  esteem  for  another,  as  that  which  you  know  I 
entertain  for  the  illustrious'°father-in-lawofyour 
daughter?  If  personal  obligations,  indeed,  can 
givehimi  a  title  to  these  sentiments,  do  I  not  owe 
to  Pompey  the  enjoyment  of  my  country,  my  fa- 
mily, my  dignities,  and  evei^  my  very  self*?  If 

friendship 

*•  Pompey. 

*  Cicero  by  no  means  thought  himself  so  much  obliged  ta 
Pompey  as  he  here  pretends :  and  all  these  extravagant  pro- 
fessions were  a  mere  artifice  (and  a  thin  one  it  must  be  owned) 
to  make  Pompey  believe  that  he  had  forgotten  the  ill  usage  he 
had  formerly  received  from  him.  Vid.  Ad  Att,  ix.  13.  The 
truth  of  it  is,  Cicero  had  just  the  same  sort  of  obligation  to 
Pompey  for  the  enjoyments  he  mentions,  as  he  would  have 
had  to  a  highwayman,  who,  after  having  taken  his  purse„ 
should  have  restored  it  again :  for  if  Pompey  had  not  acted 
a  treacherous  and  dishonest  part  in  the  a^air  of  Clodius,  to 
which  our  author  here  alludes,  Cicero  would  never  have  beea 
deprived  of  his  country ,  his  family^  and  his  dignities.  But  ijf 
Pompey  restored  him  to  tfiese^  he  could  noi  restore  him  to 
himself:  for,  as  the  elegant  Mongault,  in  his  remarks  on  tha 
epistles  to  Atticus,  justly  observes,  if  he  rose  after  his  fall,  he 
always  appeared,  however^  tg  be  SQmewhat  stunped  by  th^ 


friendship  may  be  supposed  to  have  any  effect, 
is  there  an  instance  amongst  all  our  consulars,  of  a 
more  intimate  union  than  his  and  mine  ?  If  con- 
fidence can  create  affection,  what  has  he  not 
committed  to  my  care,  or  communicated  to  my 
«ecresy  ?  Whenever  he  was  absent  from  Rome, 
was  there  any  other  man  whom  he  preferred  to  be 
the  advocate  of  his  interest  in  the  senate?  And 
what  honour  is  there  which  he  lias  not  endeavour* 
ed  to  confer  upon  me,  in  the  most  distinguished 
manner  ?  In  fine,  with  how  much  temper  did  he 
suffer  my  zeal  in  the  cause  of  Milo,  no  twithstand- 
ing  the  latter  had  upon  some  occasions  joined  iu 
the  opposition  to  his  measures  ?  And  how  gene- 
rously did  he  protect  me  by  his  counsel,  his  autho- 
rity, and  even  his  arms,  from  the  insults  and  the 
dangers  to  which  I  exposed  myself  in  that"  de- 
fence? 

'*  If  Dion  Cassius  may  be  credited  in  what  he  relates  con- 
cerning the  circumstances  which  attended  Milo's  trial,  Cicero 
bad  as  little  reason  to  acknowledge  his  obligations  to  Pompey 
in  the  present  instance,  as  in  that  mentioned  in  the  preceding 
remark.  For  Pompey  being  apprehensive  that  Miio*s  party 
might  attempt  some  violent  measures  in  order  to  obstruct  the 
course  of  justice,  surrounded  the  court  with  his  troops,  which 
so  intimidated  Cicero,  that  it  utterly  disconcerted  his  elo- 
quence, and  he  made  a  very  lanquid  defence  of  his  friend. 
Accordingly  the  oration  which  Cicero  published,  and  which 
is  still  extant,  was  not  spoken,  as  Dion  assures  us,  at  the  trial, 
but  was  the  after-produce  of  his  more  composed  thoughts. 
But  whether  the  historian's  assertion  is  to  be  corrected  by 
Cicero,  or  Cicero's  to  be  discredited  by  the  historian,  is  a  point 
I  shall  not  venture  to  decide.  Though  I  must  in  justice  add, 
that  Asconius,  a  much  earlier  writer  than  Dion  Cassius,  and 
one  who  was  a  greater  admirer  of  Cicero,  accounts  in  a  dif- 
ierent  manner  for  the  disorder  which  seized  the  Roman  ora- 
tor 


14 


The  letters 


Book  VI. 


I 


fence?  And  I  cannot  but  here  observe,  that  far 
from  being  disposed,  as  you  have  shewn  yourself 
in  this  affair  of  the  deputies,  to  listen  to  the  little 
idle  tales  that  might  be  propagated  to  my  disad- 
vantagebyany  paltry  provincial,he  noblyscorned 
to  give  attention  to  themahcious  reports,  which 
were dealtabouttomy  prejudice  by  themost  con- 
siderable persons  in  Rome'*.  Upon  the  whole 
then,  as  you  are  united,  not  only  by  alliance,  but 
by  affection,  to  my  illustrious  friend,  what  are 
thesentiments,  do  you  imagine,  that  I  ought  to 
bear  towards  you  ?  The  truth  of  it  is,  were  I 
your  professed  enemy,  as  I  am  most  sincerely  the 
reverse,  yet  after  the  letter  which  I  lately  received 
fromPompey,  I  should  think  myself  obliged  to 
sacrifice  my  resentment  to  his  request,  and  be 
wholly  governed  by  the  inclinations  of  a  man  to 
whom  I  am  thus  greatly  indebted.  But  I  have 
said  enough,  and  perhaps  more  than  was  necessa- 
ry, upon  this  subject :  let  me  now  therefore  give 
you  a  detail  both  of  what  I  have  effected,  and 
am  still  attempting  for  your  interest''.  ♦    *    ♦ 


This 

tor  upon  this  occasion.  For  he  ascribes  it  to  the  clamours 
with  which  he  was  insulted  by  the  party  against  Milo,  when 
lie  rose  up  to  speak  in  his  defence.  Dion,  xl.  p,  145,  146» 
Aifon.  argument,  in  Milan, 

'*  Milo  was  suspected,  or  at  least  his  adversaries  pretended 
to  suspect  him,  of  having  a  design  against  Pompey's  life:  and 
perhaps  Cicero's  enemies  endeavoured  to  persuade  Pompey, 
that  our  author  was  privy  to  that  design.  Orat,  proMiion,  24. 

'^  The  particular  instances  of  Cicero's  services  to  Appius 

art 


Book  VI. 


OF  CICERO. 


\S 


This,  my  friend,  is  what  I  have  performed,  or 
am  endeavouring  to  perform,  in  support  of  your 
character,  I  will  rather  say,  than  in  defence  of  your 
person.  But  I  expect  every  day  to  hear  that  you 
are,chosen  censor :  thedutiesof  which  office,  as 
they  require  the  highest  fortitude  and  abilities  to 
execute,  so,  I  am  sure,  they  far  better  deserve 
your  attention  than  any  services  I  am  capable  of 
rendering  to  you  in  this  province.     FareweL  * 

LETTER  11. 

[A.  u.  ro3.] 

To  PaPIRIUS  P.ETUS'. 

1  ou  R  le|;ter  has  rendered  me  a  most  complete 
general.  I  protest  I  did  not  imagine  you  were 
so  wonderfully  skilled  in  the  art  military.  But 
I  perceive  you  are  an  absolute  adept,  and  deep- 
ly studied  in  the  tactics  of  king  Pyrrhus*  and 
his  minister  Cineas.     I  have  some  thoughts, 

therefore^ 

are  omitted  in  the  original :  and,  probably,  were  so  by 
the  first  editor  of  these  letters,  as  not  being  thought  proper, 
perhaps,  for  public  inspection. 

'  Lucius  Papirius  Psetus  appears  to  have  been  a  person 
of  great  wit  and  humour,  and  in  close  friendship  with  Cice- 
ro. **  He  was  an  Epicurean :  and  in  pursuance  of  the  plan 
**  of  life  recommended  by  the  principles  of  that  sect,  seems 
**  to  have  sacrificed  his  ambition  to  his  ease.  He  had  sent 
**  som«  military  instructions  by  way  of  raillery  to  Cicero : 
'*  who  returns  an  answer  to  this- letter  in  the  same  jocose 
**  manner."     Mr.  Ross, 

*  Pyrrhus,  king  of  Epirus,  who  flourished  about  300 
years  before  the  date  of  this  letter,  was  esteemed  by  the  an- 
cients, as  one  of  the  greatest  soldiers  that  ever  appeared  in 
the  world.    His  whole  thoughts  and  application  were  turned 

to 


16 


The  letters 


Book  VL 


lit 


therefore,  of  following  your  most  curious  pre- 
cepts :  and,  indeed,  of  improving  upon  them. 
For  as  I  am  assured  that  the  best  armament 
against  the  Parthian  cavalry  is  a  good  fleet,  I 
am  designing  to  equip  myself  accordingly.  Se- 
liously,  you  cannot  imagine  >vhat  an  expert 
commander  you  have  undertaken  to  tutor: 
for  after  having  worn  out  Xenophon's  life  of 
Cyrus,  with  reading  it  at  Rome,  I  have  now 
fairly  practised  it  out  in  the  province. — But  I 
hope  soon  to  joke  with  you  in  person.  In  the 
mean  time,  attend  with  submission  due  to  my 
high  behests.  You  are  not  ignorant,  I  suppose, 
of  the  particular  intimacy  that  subsists  between 
Marcus  Fabius  and  mvself.  I  value  him,  in- 
deed,  extremely,  not  only  for  the  singular  inte* 
grity  and  modesty  of  his  heart,  but  as  he  is  a 
most  excellent  second  to  me  in  those  contests 
wherein  I  am  sometimes  engaged  with  certain 
jovial  Epicurean  companions  of  yours.  He  late- 
ly joined  meat  Laodicea;  where  I  am  very 
desirous  of  detaining  him  :  but  he  received  an 
unexpected  letter,  which  has  given  him  great 
uneasiness.  The  purport  of  it  is,  that  his  bro- 
ther has  advertised  his  intentions  of  selling  an 

estate 

to  the  art  of  war :  upon  which  subject  he  published  some 
treatises,  that  were  extant  in  Plutarch's  time.  Cineas  was 
one  of  the  generals  who  commanded  under  this  heroic  prince  ; 
and  who,  as  it  should  bcem  from  this  passage,  had  likewise 
distinguished  himself  by  bis  military  writings.  PitU.  in  vit^ 
Pj/rrhi, 


Book  VI. 


OF  CICERO. 


17 


i 


estate  atHerculaneum^  in  which  they  are  both 
equally  interested.  This  news  exceedingly 
alarms  my  friend,  and  as  his  brother's  under- 
standing is  not  extremely  strong,  he  is  inchned 
to  think  he  has  been  instigated  by  some  of  their 
common  enemies,  to  take  this  very  extraordi- 
nary measure.  Let  me  then  entreat  you,  my 
dear  Paetus,  if  you  have  any  friendship  for  me, 
to  ease  Fabius  of  the  trouble  of  this  affair,  by 
receiving  the  whole  burthen  of  it  upon  your- 
self We  shall  have  occasion  for  your  autho- 
rity, your  advice,  and  your  interest;  and  I 
hope  you  will  exert  them  all,  in  order  to  pre- 
vent these  two  brothers  from  the  disgrace  of 
appearing  as  adversaries  in  a  court  of  justice. 
I  must  not  forget  to  tell  you,  that  the  persons 
whom  Fabius  suspects  to  be  the  maUcious  au- 
thors of  this  advice  to  his  brother,  are  Mato  and 
Pollio.  To  say  all  in  one  word,  I  shall  think 
myself  inexpressibly  obliged,  if  you  ease  my 
friend  of  this  troublesome  affair ;  a  favour,  he 
persuades  me,  entirely  in  your  power.     Fare- 

wel. 

LETTER 

'  The  famous  city  near  Naples,  which  was  swallowed  up 
by  an  earthquake  in  the  reign  of  Vespasian  ;  and  which  is 
now  furnishing  the  literary  world  with  so  many  invaluable 
treasures  of  anticjuiry. 


Vol.  II. 


'1 


IS 


The  letters 


LETTER  IlL 


Book  VI. 


Book  VL 


oi^  CICERO. 


1!^ 


[A.  U.  703.] 

To  CcELics  Caldus*,  Quaestor  elect 

When  1  received  the  very  acceptable  news  of 
your  being  elected  my  qusestor,  I  was  well  per- 
suaded, that  the  longer  you  continued  with  me 
in  this  province,  the  more  I  should  have  occa- 
sion to  be  satisfied  with  that  choice.  It  is  of 
importance  to  the  public  relation,  which  has 
thus  arisen  between  us,  that  it  should  be  im- 
proved by  a  nearer  intercourse.  But,  having 
received  no  account  either  from  yourself  or  any 
other  of  my  friends,  of  your  being  set  forward 
on  your  way  hither,  I  began  to  be  apprehen- 
sive (what  I  still  fear)  that  I  should  leave  this 
province  before  your  arrival.  I  was  favoured, 
'tis  true,  with  a  most  obliging  and  polite  letter 
from  you,  on  the  22d  of  June,  whilst  I  was 
encamped  in  Cilicia ;  and  it  afforded  me  a  very 

pleasing 

♦  He  was  a  young  man  of  a  noble  family,  and  this  seems 
to  have  been  the  whole  of  his  merit.  For,  notwithstanding 
Cicero  addrest^es  him  in  this  leCter,  as  one  of  whose  talents 
and  virtues  he  had  conceived  a  favourable  opinion,  it  is  cer- 
tain his  real  sentiments  of  him  were  far  dift'ercnt.  This  ap- 
pears from  an  epistle  to  Atticus,  where  both  fhe  morals  and 
understanding  of  Caldus  are  mentioned  in  terms  greatly  to  his 
disadvantage.  Nos proiincict  prteficimus  Ccclium :  puerum  w- 
gvieSy  ^  fort asie  fat uuMy  4*  w^wi  gravem^  Sr  non  contifientem, 
Assentior :  Jieri  non  potuit  aliter.  Ad  Alt.  vi;  6.  See  tb« 
13th  letter  ef  this  book. 

1 


pleasing  instance  both  of  your  abilities  and 
friendly  disposition;  But  it  was  without  any 
date,  nor  did  it  mention  when  I  might  expect 
you.  The  person,  likewise,  that  delivered  it, 
not  having  received  it  iitimediately  from  your 
own  hands,  could  give  me  no  informatioa 
either  when,  or  from  what  plac^  it  was  written. 
Nevertheless,  I  thought  proper  to  dispatch  my 
couriers  and  lictors  with  thiis  express ;  arid  if  it' 
teaches  you  time  etiougli,  you  will  gteatly' 
oblige  m^  by  meeting  itt€  in  Ciliicia  as  soon  as" 
possible. 

The  strong  letters  I  received  iti  ybiir  behalf^ 
from  your  relations,  Curius  and  Virgiliu^,  had 
all  the  influence  which  is  due  to  the^  recommen- 
dations of  such  very  intiriiate  and  very  wortliy 
friends ;  but  your  own  letter  had  still  a  greater. 
Believe  me,  there  is  no  liian  whoni  I  should* 
have  rather  wished  for  my  qusestor;  andlshalt 
endeavour  to  shew  tTie  world^  by  distidguish- 
i'ng  you  with  every  honour  in  my  power,  tliat 
I  pay  all  the  regard  which  is  so  justly  due  to 
your  ovvn  personal  merit,  as  well  as  to  that  of* 
your  illustrious  ancestors.  But  this  I  shall  tlie 
more  easily  be  enabled  to  effect,  if  you  should 
meet  me  in  Cilicia ;  a  circumstance  in  which 
not  only  the  public  interest  and  mine,  but  par- 
ticularly your  own,  is,  I  think,  nearly  cou- 
cerried.     Farewel. 

C2  LETTER 


20 


The  letters 


Book  VI. 


Book  VI. 


OF  CICERO. 


21 


s  . 


LETTER  IV. 

[A.  U.  703.] 

To  Marcus  Ca:Lius,  Curule-iEdile* 

1am  extremely  anxious  concerning  affairs  at 
Rome,  as  I  hear  there  have  been  great  distur- 
bances in  the  general  assemblies  of  the  people^, 
and  that  the  festival  of  Minerva^  was  celebrated 
in  a  most  riotous  manner.  But  my  intelligence 
goes  no  lower  than  that  period,  and  I  am  alto- 
gether uninformed  of  any  thing  which  has 
since  passed.  Yet  nothing  mortifies  me  more 
than  being  prevented  the  pleasure  of  laughing 
with  you  at  several  ridiculous  incidents  which 
attended,  I  am  told,  these  public  tumults;  but 
they  are  of  such  a  delicate  nature,  that  I  dare 
not  mention  them  in  a  letter.  1  am  a  good  deal 
uneasy,  likewise,  at  not  having  received  any  ac- 
count of  these  commotions  from  yourself.  For 
which  reason,  notwithstanding  I  shall  be  set 
out  for  Italy  before  this  reaches  your  hand,  yet 

I  hope 

'  Manutius  conjectures  that  this  alludes  to  the  distur- 
bances which  some  of  the  tribunes  occasioned  at  Rome,  in 
opposing  the  attempts  of  the  Pompcian  party  to  divest  Csesar 
of  his  government  in  Gaul.  At  the  head  of  these  tribunes, 
Curio,  who  had  lately  changed  sides,  now  chose  to  distin- 
guish himself.     Vid,  AdAtt,  vi.  2. 

^  This  festival  was  celebrated  on  the  19th  of  March,  and 
continued  five  days. 


I  hope  I  shall  meet  a  letter  from  you  upon  the 
road,  that  I  may  not  arrive  an  utter  stranger 
to  the  state  of  public  affairs ;  as  I  am  sure  no 
man  is  more  capable  of  instructing  me  concern- 
ing them  than  yourself. 

Your  agent,  the  worthy  Diogenes,  together 
with  your  freed-man  Philo',  parted  from  me  at 
Pessinus^,  in  order  to  proceed  on  their  journey 
to  the  king  of  ^  Galatia;  though,  with  little 
hopes  of  succeeding  at  a  court  neither  very  able 
nor  very  willing  to  comply  with  the  purposes 
of  their  embassy. 

Rome,  my  friend,  Rome  alone,  is  the  object 
that  merits  your  attention ;  and  may  you  ever 
live  within  the  splendour  of  that  illustrious 
scene  !  All  foreign  employments  (and  it  was 
my  sentiments  from  my  first  entrance  into  the 
world)  are  below  the  ambition  of  those  who 
have  talents  to  distinguish  themselves  on  that 
more  conspicuous  theatre.  And  would  to  God, 
as  I  was  ever  well  convinced  of  this  truth,  that 
I  had  always  acted  accordingly  !  Be  assured 
the  pleasure  of  a  single  walk  with  you,   would 

/        afford 

^Ccelius  mentions  these  persons  in  a  former  letter,  as  be- 
ing employed  by  him  to  execute  some  commission  in  this 
part  of  the  world  ;  but  the  nature  of  the  business  with  which 
they  were  charged,  docs  not  appear.     Vid.  Ep,  Fam,  viii.  8, 

">  A  city  in  Phrygia,  within  the  jurisdiction  of  Qicero's 
government, 

'  Deioiarus. 

C3 


\^. 


32 


Thi:  LETTEHS 


Book  VL 


Book  VI. 


OF  CICERO. 


23 


j 


afford  me  more  8atis(fa<;Uon  than  all  the  advan- 
%2kge&  I  can  derive  from  my  government.  I 
hope,  indeed,  I  shall  receive  the  appkuse  of 
having  conducted  myself,  throughout  my  ad- 
ministration, with  an  untainted  integrity; 
bovvever,  I  should  have  merited  as  much  ho- 
nour by  refusing  the  government  of  this  pro- 
vince, as  by  having  thus  preserved  it  from  the 
bands  of  our  enemies.  "  But  where  then,*^ 
you  ;i¥Ul  ask,  perhaps,  "  bad  been  the  hopes 
''of  a  triumph?"  Believe  me,  1  should  have 
deemed  that  loss  well  compensated,  by  escap- 
ing so  long  and  so  tedious  a  separation  from 
all  that  I  hold  most  valuable,  But  I  hope  I 
shall  now  soon  be  with  you.  In  the  mean  time^ 
let  me  meet  a  letter  from  you,  worthy  of  your 
political  penetiation'.     FareweL 

LETTER 

•  In  the  original  it  is  only  sftid,  mihi  tniite  epistolas  U 
liignas.  But  it  seems  evident  vhat  Cicero  had  in  his 
thoughts,  by  a  passage  a  litile  higher  in  this  letter  :  obvm 
mihi  leltm  sint  litierx  tua,  qiujs  me  trudiaut  de  omni  repMica, 
And  our  author  frequently  speaks  of  Ccelius  as  one  of  that 
sort  of  discerning  poliiiciaas,  who,  in  the  language  of  Shakes- 
ptjare, 

can  look  into  the  seeds  of  time^ 

And  saif  which  grain  will  growy  and  which  m^  not, 

Macbeth, 


LETTER  V. 

[A.  u.  ro8,] 

ToAppius  Pulcher. 

Whilst  I  lay  encamped  on  the  banks  of  the 
Pyramus',  I  received  two  letters  from  you,  and 
both  at  the  same  time,  which  Quintus  Servilius 
forwarded  to  me  from  Tarsus.     One  of  them 
was  dated  on  the  5th  of  April,  but  the  other, 
which  seemed  to  have  been  written  later,  was 
without  any  date.     I  will  answer  the  former, 
therefore,  in  the  first  place,  wherein  you  give 
me  an  account  of  your  having  been  acquitted 
of  the  impeachment  exhibited  against  you  for 
maUadministration   in  this    province.     I  had 
before  been  apprised  of  many  circumstances  of 
this  event  by  various  letters  and  expresses,  as 
well  as  by  general  report;   as,  indeed,  there 
never  was  any  occurrence  more  particularly 
known.     Not  that  it  was  in  the  least  unexpect- 
ed, but  because  the  world  is  usually  very  mi- 
nute in  its  accounts  of  all  that  concerns  the  ho- 
nour of  so  distinguished   a  character.     But, 
notwithstanding  your  letter  was  thus  in  some 
measure  anticipated,  yet  it  heightened  my  sa- 
tisfaction to  receive  the  same  good  news  from 
your  own  hand.     My  information  was  by  this 
means  not  only  more  full  than  what  I  had 

kamt 

*  A  river  in  Cilicia.. 

C4 


S4 


The  letters 


Book  VI. 


Book  Vt 


OF  cicERO; 


S5 


•I 
f 


learnt  from  common  fame,  but  it  brought  you 
nearer  to  my  imagination,  and  rendered  you  in 
some  sort  present  to  those  sentiments  of  joy 
which  arose  upon  this  occasion  in  my  heart. 
Accordingly,  I  embraced  you  in  my  thoughts, 
and  kissed  the  letter  that  gave  me  so  much 
reason  to  rejoice,  upon  my  own  account,  as 
well  as  upon  yours.  I  say  upon  my  own  ac- 
count, because  I  look  upon  those  honours  which 
are  thus  paid  by  the  general  voice  of  my  coun- 
try, to  virtue,  industry,  and  genius,  as  paid  to 
myself;  being  too  much  disposed,  perhaps,  to 
imagine  that  these  are  qualities  to  which  my 
own  character  is  no  stranger.  But  though  I 
am  by  no  means  surprised  that  this  trial  should 
have  ended  so  much  to  your  credit,  yet  I  can- 
not forbear  being  astonished  at  that  mean  and 
unworthy  spirit  which  induced  your  enemies* 
to  engage  in  this  prosecution. 

But  you  will  tell  me,  perhaps,  that  I  am 
premature  in  my  congratulations;  for,  while 
there  is  a  charge  still  subsisting  against  you, 
what  imports  it,  you  will  possibly  ask,  of 
which  impeachment  you  are  first  acquitted  ? 
And  I  must  confess  it  is  a  point  of  no  con- 
eequence  with  respect  to  your  character ;  for 

you 

»  It  may  b«  unnecessary,  perhaps,  to  remind  the  reader 
that  this  al.uHes  to  Dolabella,  whose  fiiendhhip  and  alliance 
Cicero  was  at  ihis  time  courting. 


vou  are  not  only  perfectly  innocent  of  both  ac- 
cusations, but  are  so  far  from  having  commit*- 
ted  any  action  injurious  to  the  honour  of  the 
republic,  that  you  have  greatly  contributed  to 
raise  and  extend  its  glory\  However,  there  is 
this  advantage  gained  by  your  present  victory, 
that  the  principal  difficulty  of  the  whole  con- 
test is  now  over.  For,  by  the  terms  in  which 
Sylla's  law  is  drawn  up,  concerning  offences 
against  the  state,  and  upon  which  your  first 
prosecution  was  founded,  it  is  easy  for  any  man 
to  give  a  colour  to  the  most  groundless  charge. 
Whereas  an  information  of  bribery  turns  upon  a 
fact  in  its  own  nature  notorious,  as  lib  man  can 
be  guilty  of  this  crime,  unobserved  by  the  pub- 
lic; 

'  Cicero  himself  will  furnish  the  most  proper  comment 
upon  this  passage.  For,  in  a  letter  to  Atticus,  written  not 
many  months  before  the  present,  he  describes  the  conduct 
of  Appius,  in  Cilicia,  in  terms  which  shew  that  he  was  far 
from  being  unjustly  arraigned  by  Dolabella.  He  represents 
him  as  having  spread  desolation  through  the  province  by 
fire  and  sword  ;  as  having  left  nothing  behind  him  which  he 
could  possibly  carry  away,  and  as  having  suffered  hi$  officers 
to  commit  all  kinds  of  violences  which  lust  and  avarice 
could  suggest :  *'  And  I  am  going,"  says  he,  **  this  very 
**  morning,  to  repeal  several  of  his  iniquitous  edicts."  Ap- 
pius, cum  6$  a^ai^effs^j-  provinciam  curarit,  sanguinem  mist' 
rity  quidquid  potuit  detraxerii,  mihi  tradiderit  eiiectam,  SfC,  -^ 
Quid  dicam  de  illius  protfectis,  comitibus^  legatis  ?  etiam  de  ra- 
pinisy  de  libidinibus,  de  contumeliis  /— Eo  ipsedk,  quo  hcec  ante 
lucem  scribebam,  cogitabam  ejus  multa  inique  constituta  S^  acta 
iollere.  It  is  pleasant  to  observe,  upon  some  occasions,  the 
different  colours. in  which  the  same  character  is  painted  by 
different  hands  :  but  one  has  not  so  frequently  the  opportu- 
nity of  hearing  the  same  conduct  thus  ahubed  and  thus  ap^ 
plauded  by  the  same  man,  and  almost;  too,  in  the  same 
breath.    Ad  Att,  vi*  1« 


I 


«s 


The   letters 


Book  VL 


lie ;  and  consequently  either  the  prosecutor,  or 
the  person  accused,  must  evidently,  and  beyond 
aU  power  of  artifice,  appear  infamous.  But 
whoever  entertained  even  the  shghte&t  suspi- 
cions of  your  having  obtained  the  high  digni- 
ties through  which  you  have  passed,  by  illegal 
methods  ?  How  do  I  regret  that  I  could  not 
he  present  at  tliese  prosecutions,  that  I  might 
have  exposed  them  to  all  the  ridicule  they  so 
justly  deserve ! 

You  mentioned  t\v  o  circumstances  which  at- 
^nded  your  trial,  that  afforded  me  particular 
satisfaction.  The  one  is,  that  general  zeal  which 
was  expressed  by  the  whole  republic  in  your 
behalf:  the  other,  that  generous  and  friendly 
part  which  both  Pompey  and  Brutus  have  act- 
ed towards  you  in  this  conjuncture.  With  re- 
gard to  the  first,  it  would  undoubtedly  have 
been  the  interest  of  the  commonwealth,  even  in 
the  most  flourishing  periods  of  heroic  virtue, 
to  have  distinguished  a  citizen  of  your  exalted 
merit ;  but  it  is  more  especially  so  in  the  pre- 
sent age,  when  there  are  so  few  of  the  same  pa- 
triot character,  to  whom  she  can  look  up  for 
protection.  And  as  to  the  latter,  I  sincerely 
rejoice  that  your  two  relations,  and  my  very 
particular  friends,  have  thus  warmly  and  zea- 
lously exerted  themselves  in  your  cause.  The 
truth  of  it  is,  I  look  upon  Pompey  as  the  most 

considerable 


m 


Book  VI.         of  CICERO. 


87 


considerable  man  that  any  age  or  nation  has 
ever  produced"^ :  and  Brutus,  I  am  persuaded, 
will  soon  rise  to  the  same  honourable  pre-emi- 
nence .  above  his  fellow  citizens  in  general, 
which  now  distinguishes  him  among  our  youth 
in  particular. 

With  regard  to  those  witnesses  who  were 
suborned  to  give  evidence  against  you,  it  shall 

be 

♦  In  the  last  remark  I  took  occasion  to  contrast  Cfcer* 
with  himself,  in  respect  to  his  sentiments  and  bis  professions 
of  Appius.     The  present  passage  affords  an  opportunity  oC 
shewing  him  in  the  same  opposition  with  regard  to  Pompty. 
The  author>  then,  of  this  encomium,  has  elsewhere  said  o£ 
the  hero  of  his  present  penegyric,  that  "  he  was  artful  and 
**  ungenteel  in  his  common  intercourse  ;  and  as  to  his  poli- 
"  tical  conduct,  that  was  altogether  void  of  every  thing  great 
**  or  disinterested,  and  utterly  unworthy  of  a  man  who  meant 
**  well  to  the  liberty  of  his  country/'     Nihil  comcy  nihil  sim* 
plex,  nihil  ev  roif    dkirtnois  honestum,  nihil  illustre,  nihil  fortCf 
nViil  liherum.  This  character,  'tis  true,  wasdrawn  several  years 
before  the  date  of  the  present  letter ;  and  different  sentiments 
of  the  same  man,  at  different  times,  are  perfectly  reconcile- 
able,  no  doubt,  with  truth  and  sincerity.     But  there  is  ex- 
tant a  letter  to  Atticus,  written  after  this  to  Appius,  and  at 
the  distance  too  of  not  many  months,  wherein  Cicero  ex- 
presses the  same  contemptible  opinion  of  Pompey.     Ego  ho^ 
minem  azjoKiTMoratrov  (says  he)  omnium  jam  ante  cognorum, 
nunc  vero  etiam  a.'i^xTrf/ixMrarty*,     And  in  another  still  more 
recent  letter  to  Atticus,  he  asserts,  that  Pompey's  political 
conduct  had  been  full  of  mistakes  during  the  last  ten  years  : 
Ut  enim  alia  decern  annorum  peccata  omittam,  &c.     The  truth 
of  it  is,  Cicero  seldom  continues  long  in  the  same  sentiments^ 
or  at  least  the  same  language  of  Pompey  ;  and  if  he  raises  a 
trophy  to  his  fame  in  one  letter,  we  may  be  almost  sure  of  see- 
ing it  reversed  in  another.     If  our  author's  judgment  and 
penetration  were  less  unquestionable,  these  variations  from 
himself  might  be  imputed  to  a  more  favourable  cause  than 
can  now,  perhaps,  be  reasonably  assigned.    Jid  Att,  i.  1% 
\iii.  16.  vii.  13. 


> 


£8 


The  letters 


Book  VI. 


* 


be  my  care,  when  I  pass  through  Asia,  (if 
Flaccus  has  not  already  prevented  me)  to 
bring  them  to  condign  punishment.  And  now 
let  me  turn  to  your  second  letter. 

1  iTceived  great  pleasure  from  the  judicious 
sketch  you  communicated  to  me  of  public  af- 
fairs.    It  appears  that  the  dangers  of  the  com- 
monwealth are  much  less  considerable,  as  weH 
as  her  resources  much  more  powerful,  than  I 
imagined,  since  the  principal  strength  of  Rome 
is  united  (as  you  inform  me)  under  Pompey. 
It    afforded   me    much    satisfaction,    at   the 
same   time,    to  remark    that    spirit  of  patri- 
otism which  animates  vour  letter:  and  I  am 
infinitely  obliged  to  you,  likewise,  that  you 
should  suspend  your  own  more  important  oc- 
cupations,  in  order  to  teach  me  what  judg- 
ment to  form  of  our  political  situation.     As  to 
your  treatise  upon  augury*,   I  beg  you  would 
reserve  it  to  a  season  when  we  shall  both  of 
u»  be  more  disengaged.     When  I  reminded 
you  of  that   design,   I   imagined   you  were 
who+Iy  unemployed,  and  waiting  in  the  suburbs 
of  Home  the  determination  of  your  petitiom. 
Bflt  'I  shall  now  expect  your  orations*^  in  its 

stead ; 

^  See  vol.  !.  p.  279. 1.  I.  &  note  1.  k  p.  450. 1.  1. 
*  For  a  triumph. 


Appius.niamtamed  some  rank  in  the  republic 
tor,  and  was  weJl  skilled  likewise  in  the  laws  awl  an 


as  ao  ora- 

ntiquities  oi 

Lis 


Book  VL 


OF  CICERO. 


29 


stead ;  and  hope,  agreeably  to  your  promise, 
that  you  will  send  me  such  of  those  perform- 
ances as  have  received  your  last  hand. 

TuUus,  whom  you  charged,  it  seems,  with  a 
commission  to  me,  is  not  yet  arrived  ;  nor  have 
I  any  other  of  your  friends  with  me,  except 
those  of  my  own  train;  every  one  of  whom  I" 
may  with  strict  propriety  call  yours.  u; 

I  do  not  well  know  what  particular  letters 
you  mean  by  those  which  you  call  my  angry 
ones.  I  have  written  twice,  'tis  true,  in  order 
fully  to  justify  myself  against  your  suspicions, 
as  well  as  tenderly  to  reprove  you,  for  too  has- 
tily crediting  reports  to  my  disadvantage :  and 
I  thought  I  acted  in  this  agreeably  to  the 
strictest  friendship  :  but  since  you  seem  to  be 
displeased  with  what  I  said,  I  shall  not  take 
the  same  liberty  for  the  future.  However,  if  * 
these  letters  were  not,  as  you  tell  me,  marked 
with  my  usual  vein  of  eloquence,  I  desire  you 
would  consider  them  as  none  of  mine.  For,  at  i* 
Aristarchus^  insisted  that  every  verse  in  Homer 

his  country.  The  orations  which  Cicero  enquires  after  Tfere- 
probably  those  which  Appiiis  spoke  in  defence  of  himself  on 
these  trials.     Be  Clar,  Orat.  Spf. 

"^  A  celebrated  critic,  who  flourished  at  Alexandria  \7^ 
years  before  Christ.  He  is  said  to  have  left  two  sons  be* 
bind  him,  both  of  them  fools ;  but  they  will  not,  perhaps, 
be  thought  to  have  degenerated  very  greatly  from  their  fa* 
ther,  if  what  is  reported  of  him  be  true,  that  he  wrote  above 
a  thousand  commentaries  upon  different  authors.  Miar  si 
iam  multa  supcrvacua  legisset  f 


4' 


sa 


The  letters         Book  Vt 


Book  VI.         <)f  CICERO. 


31 


was  spurious,  which  he  did  not  approve,  I  de- 
sire you  would  in  the  same  manner  look  upon 
every  line  which  you  think  unrhetorical,  as  not 
the  produce  of  my  pen.  You  see  I  am  in  a 
humour  to  be  jocose.  Farewel :  and  if  you  are 
(as  I  sincerely  hope)  in  the  possession  of  the 
censorial  office,  reflect  often  on  the  virtues  of 
your  illustrious  ancestor*. 

LETTER  VL 

[A.  U.  703.] 

From  Marcus  Ccelius. 

\Ve  met  with  a  difficulty  that  greatly  embar- 
rassed our  schemes  for  procuring  you  a  thanks- 
giving; but  a  difficulty,  however,  which  we 
w  ere  not  long  in  surmounting.  For  Curio,  not* 
withstanding  he  is  much  in  your  interest,  de- 
clared that,  as  all  his  attempts  for  convening  a 
general  assembly  of  the  people  had  been  ob- 
structed'', he  would  by  no  means  suffer  the  se- 
nate 

•  The  commentators  suppose  that  Cicero  alludes  to  Ap^ 
pius  Claudius  Coecus,  who  was  censor  in  the  year  of  Rome 
442.  He  distinguished  himself  in  his  office  by  two  works  of 
great  utility  to  the  public  ;  for  he  made  that  famous  road 
called  the  Via  Appia,  part  of  which  subsists  to  this  day ; 
and  was  the  first,  likewise,  that  supplied  the  city  of  Rome 
with  water,  by  conveying  the  river  Anio  through  an  aque- 
duct of  eleven  miles  in  length.     Lip.  ix.  29. 

'  Paulus,  one  of  the  present  consuls,  not  having  yet  sa- 
crificed his  integrity  to  his  interest,  very  warmly  opposed 
the  attempts  of  Curio,  who  was  endeavouring  to  procure 
certain  laws  from  the  people  in  favour  of  Caesar's  present  de- 
signs.    Curio,  in  revenge,  would  not  suffer  any  business  to 

proceed 


nate  to  pass  any  decree  of  tke  kind  in  question. 
If  he  were  to  depart,  he  said,  from  this  resolu- 
tion, it  would  look  like  giving  up  the  advah* 
tages  he  had  gained  by  the  indiscreet  zeal  o€ 
the  consul  Paulus,  and  heshouldbs considcredr 
as  deserting  tlie  cause  of  the  public.     In  order, 
therefore,  effectually  to  remove  this  objection, 
we  entered  into  an  agreement  with  him,  that  if 
he  would  suffer  the  decree  for  your  thanksgiv- 
ing to  pass,  no  other  thanksgiving  should  be 
proclaimed  during  the  remainder  of  this  year,  to 
which  the  consuls  likewise  consented.  Your  ac- 
knowledgments are  accordingly  due  to  them 
both,   but  particularly  to.  Paulus;  for  he  caine 
wholly  and  readily  into  our  proposal,  in  tJie 
most  obliging  manner;  whereas  Marcellus  some- 
what lessened  the  merit  of  his  compliance,  by 
telling  us,  that  ''  the  affair  of  these  thanksgiv- 
**  ings  was  an  article  upon  whicli  he  laid  no  sort 
"  of  stress."  After  havingthus  adjusted  matters 
with  Curio,  we  were  infonned  that  Hirrus  in- 
tended to  defeat  our  measures,  by  lengthening 
out  the  debates',   when  the  question  should 

come 

proceed  in  the  senate ;  a  power  with  which  he  was  invested 
as  tribune  of  the  people. 

'  A  very  singular  custom  prevailed  in  the  Roman  senate, 
with  regard  to  their  method  of  debating ;  for  when  a  senator 
was  required  to  deliver  his  sentiments  on  the  point  in  ques- 
tion, he  was  at  liberty  to  harangue  on  any  other  subject  as 
long  as  he  thought  proper.  This  method  was  frequently 
employed  to  postpone  a  decree  by  those  of  an  opposite  party, 
when  they  found  the  majority  was  likely  to  be  against  ihem. 


32 


The  letters        Book  VL 


come  before  the  senate.  Our  next  business, 
therefore,  was  to  make  our  applications  on  that 
side ;  which  we  so  successfully  did,  that  we  not 
only  prevailed  with  him  to  drop  this  design, 
but  when  the  question  was  moved  concerning 
the  number  of  the  enemies  forces,  and  he  might 
easily  have  prevented  the  decree,  by  requiring 
a  list  of  the  slain*,  he  sat  entirely  silent.  In- 
deed the  single  opposition  he  gave  to  us,  was 
by  voting  with  Cato ;  who,  though  he  would 
not  assent  to  this  motion,  spoke  of  your  con- 
duct, however,  in  very  honourable  terms.  I 
must  not  forget  to  mention  Favonius,  likewise, 
as  a  third  in  this  party.  You  will  distribute 
your  thanks,  therefore,  as  they  are  respectively 
due^ — to  the  three  last,  for  not  preventing  this 
decree,  when  it  was  both  in  their  inclination 
and  their  power  to  have  done  so ;  and  to  Cu-> 
rio,  .for  making  an  exception  in  your  favour  to 
the  general  rule  he  had  laid  down  to  himself. 
Fumius  and  Lentulus  laboured  in  this  affair, 
as  they  ought,  with  as  much  zeal  as  if  it  had 
been  their  own,  and  went  about  with  me  in  all 
my  applications  to  solicit  votes.  It  is  but  jus- 
tice to  Balbus  Cornelius',  to  name  him  too  in 

the 

'  The  number  of  slain  necessary  to  entitle  a  general  to 
the  honour  of  a  triumph,  was  5000 ;  but,  as  a  public  thanks- 
giving was  a  distinction  of  an  inferior  nature,  perhaps  a  less 
number  might  be  suflicient.     Val.  Max,  ii.  8. 

'  I  have  already  had  occasion  to  observe,  that  Balbus 

acted 


r: 


Book  VI. 


OF  CICERO. 


33 


the  catalogue  of  your  active  friends.  He  ex- 
erted himself,  in  truth,  with  great  spirit  in 
gaining  over  Curio :  to  whom  he  warmly  re- 
monstrated, that  if  he  continued  to  obstruct  the 
senate  in  this  article,  it  would  affect  the  inte- 
rest of  Caesar*,  and  consequently  render  his  own 
sincerity  suspicious^  Among  those  who  voted 
in  your  favour,  there  were  some  that,  in  their 
hearts,  nevertheless,  were  by  no  means  well- 
wishers  to  the  decree.  In  this  number  were  the 
Domitii  and  the  Scipios  :  in  allusion  to  which. 
Curio  made  them  a  very  smart  reply,  when  they 
affected  to  be  extremely  importunate  with  him 
to  withdraw  his  protest.  **  I  am  the  more  in- 
*'  clined,  said  he,  to  do  so,  as  I  am  sure  it  would 
**  be  a  terrible  disappointment  to  some  who 
"  have  voted  on  the  other  side." 

As  to  political  affairs,  the  efforts  of  all  parties 
are  at  present  directed  to  a  single  point ;  and  the 
general  contest  still  is  in  relation  to  the  pro- 
vinces. Pompey  seems  to  unite  in  earnest  with 
the  senate,  that  the  13th^  of  November  may  be 

limited 

acted  as  a  kind  of  superinteadant  of  Caesar's  political  afiaim 
at  Rome. 

♦  As  Cicero's  popular  talents  could  not  but  render  him  of 
service  to  any  party  he  should  espouse ;  he  was  at  this  time 
courted  both  by  Pompey  and  Caesar. 

5  That  is,  with  respect  to  Caesar :  in  whose  interest  Cu* 
rio  had  lately  declared  himself. 

*  The  commencement  of  Cssar's  government  in  Gaul 
cannot  be  dated  bioher  than  the  year  of  Rope  695 ;  for  it  is 

Vol.  II.  D  unanimously 


r 


94 


Th»  letters 


Book  VL 


^ 


limited  for  Caesar's  resigning  his  government 
Curio,  on  the  contrary,  is  determined  to  oppose 
this  lo  the  utmost :  and  accordingly  has  relin- 
quished all  his  other  schemes,  in  order  to  apply 
his  whole  strength  to  the  affair  in  question.  As 
to  our  party ^,  you  well  know  their  irresolution : 
aj^d,  consecjuently,  will  readily  believe  me  when 
J  tell  you,  they  have  not  the  spirit  to  push 
thgir  opposition  to  the  last  extremity.  The 
whole  mystery  of  the  scene,  in  short,  is  this : 

Pompey, 

unanimously  agreed  by  all  ihe  aocient  historians,  tbathewas 
consul  ill  the  year  by*.    This  government  was  at  first  granted 
to  him  for  five  years,  and  afterwards  enlarged  for  five  more. 
Agreeably  to  this  computation,  therefore,  the  legal  period  of 
his  administration  could  not  expire  till  the  year  705;  yet 
•Cicero,  in  a  letter  to  Atticus,  written  in  the  very  beginning 
of  the  year  704,  speaks  of  it  as  absolutely  completed.  Cassar, 
on  the  contrary,  in  the  harangue  which  he  made  to  his  ar- 
my, just  before  his  march  into  Italy,  in  th«  commencement 
of  the  same  year,  expressly  says,  that  they  had  served  under 
him  nine  years :  and  it  appears,  by  what  he  mentions  soon  af- 
terwards, that  there  wanted  six  months  to  complete  his  de- 
cennial period  when  he  was  recalled  from  his  government. 
The  historians,  likewise,  are  neither  agreed  with  themselves, 
7)or  with  each  other,  in  their  account  of  the  continuance  of 
Cesar's  administration  in  Gaul.     For  Suetonius  in  one  place 
taltiit  nine  years,  and  in  another  ten  :  whereas,  Dion  Cassi- 
ua  expressly  says  it  was  but  eight.     As  the  decision  of  this 
difficulty  would  prove  very  little  entertaining  to  the  genera- 
lity of  English  readers,  it  is  only  marked  out  for  the  consider- 
ation of  those,  who  may  think  the  solution  worth  their  inqui- 
ry.    Vid,  Ad  Att.  vii.  9.  Cats.  Bel,  CiviL  i.  7.  9.     Suet,  in 
Jul.  25.  69,  Dio.  xliv.  p.  0^3. 

'  This  party  was  what  they  called  the  opiimates,  and 
which,  in  modern  language,  might  be  termed  the  **  country 
parly."  They  wanted  not  only  spirit,  but- unanimity,  to  act 
to  any  effectual  purpose :  noti  cnim  bani,  ut  putanty  consenti" 
wu,  says  Cicero,  in  a  letter  lo  Atticus,  vii.  5. 


Book  VL 


Of  CICERO. 


35 


Pompey,  that  he  may  not  seem  to  oppose  Ca- 
¥dl^,  or  to  aim  at  any  thing  but  what  the  latter 
shall  think  perfectly  equitable,  represents  Cnrio 
as  acting  in  this  affair  merely  upbn  his  own  aiu 
thority,  and  with  no  other  view  than  to  create 
disturbances.  It  is  certain,  at  the  same  tfmi^ 
that  Pompey  is  much  averse  to  Caesar's  being 
elected  consul,  before  he  shdl  have  delivered 
up  his  government,  together  with  the  command 
of  the  army :  and,  indeed,  he  seems  to  be  ex- 
tremely apprehensive  of  the  consequences,  if  it 
should  prove  otherwise.  In  the  mean  while,  lie  is 
severely  attacked  by  Curio :  who  is  perpetually 
reproaching  him  with  deviatingfrom  the  princi- 
ples upon  which  he  acted  in  his  second  consul- 
ship. Take  my  word  for  it,  notwithstanding  al J 
the  difficulties  they  may  throw  in  Curio's  way> 
Caesar  will  never  want  a  friend  to  rise  up  in  his 
cause :  and  if  the  whole  tnrns,  as  they  seem  to 
fear,  upon  his  procuring  some  tribune  to  inter- 
pose his  negative  to  their  decrees,  1  will  ven- 
ture to  pronounce  that  he  may  remain  in  Gaul 
as  long  as  he  shall  think  proper. 

You  will  find  the  several  opinions  of  the  sena- 
tors in  relation  to  this  affair,  in  the  newspaper 
which  I  herewith  send  to  you,  1  leave  you  to 
select  such  articles  as  you  may  think  worthy  of 
notice:  for  though  I  have  omitted  all  the  idle 

D  2  stories 


36 


The  letters 


Book  VI. 


k 


stories  of  such  a  man  being  hissed^  at  the  public 
games,  of  another  being  buried  with  great  fu- 
neral pomp,  together  with  various  impertinen- 
cies  of  the  same  uninteresting  kind  ;  it  still  a- 
bounds  with  many  paragraphs  of  little  moment. 
However,  I  chose  to  err  on  the  right  side:  and 
had  rather  hazard  informing  you  of  what  you 
may  not,  perhaps,  desire  to  hear,  than  pass  over 
any  thing  material. 

I  am  glad  to  find  that  your  care  has  not  been 
wanting  to  procure  me  satisfaction  from  Sitti- 
us :  and  since  you  suspect  that  affair  is  not  iu 
very  safe  hands,  I  entreat  you  to  take  it  alto- 

eether  into  your  own.     Farewel. 

LETTER 

'  It  was  usual  with  the  populace,  vrhom  any  person,  who 
had  incurred  their  displeasure,  entered  the  places  of  public 
cntertainmeiits,  to  express  their  resentments  by  a  general 
hiss.  An  instance  of  this  kind  which  happened  with  regard 
to  the  celebrated  Hortensius,  is  mentioned  in  the  29th  letter 
of  the  third  book.     Vol.  1.  p.  294. 


RooK  VL 


OF  CICERO. 


tr 


LETTER  VIL 

[A.  U.  703.] 

To  Caninius  Sallustius',  Proqusestor. 

1  OUR  courier  delivered  both  your  letters  to 
me  at  Taurus,  on  the  17th  of  July :  which  I  will 
answer,  as  you  seem  to  desire,  according  to 
their  respective  dates. 

I  have  heard  no  news  of  my  successor,  and, 
indeed,  I  am  inclined  to  beheve,  that  none  will 
be  appointed.  Nevertheless,  I  see  no  occasion 
for  my  continuance  in  this  province  after  the 
expiration  of  my  year*:  especially  now  that  all 
our  fears  are  over  with  respect  to  the  Parthi- 
ans.  I  do  not  propose  to  stay  at  any  place  in 
my  return ;  though,  perhaps,  I  may  visit 
Rhodes,  in  order  to  shew  that  city  to  my  son 
and  nephew^ :  but  of  this  I  am  not  yet  deter- 
mined. 

'  Nothing  more  is  known  of  this  person  than  what  may 
be  collected  from  the  present  letter:  by  which  it  appears 
that  he  was  quatstor  to  Bibulus  in  Syria. 

*  That  period  was  now  within  a  few  days  of  expiring; 
for  the  letter  before  us  could  not  have  been  written  sooner 
than  the  17th  of  July,  and  Cicero's  administration  ended 
on  the  last  day  of  the  same  month  ;  computing  it  from  the 
time  he  entered  his  province.     Vid,  Ep,  Fam.  xv.  2. 

'  "  The  island  of  Rhodes  is  situated  in  the  Mediterra- 
**  nean.  not  far  from  the  coast  of  Lycia  and  Caria.  It  had 
"  a  city  of  the  same  name,  which  was  at  this  time  much  ce- 
**  lebrated  and  resorted  to,  on  account  of  its  schools  of  el o- 
"  quence  and  philosophy.  Cicero  himself,  in  the  course  of  his 
**  travels,  resided  some  time  here,  and  applied  himself  to  the 
**  study  of  oratory  under  the  direction  of  Molo :  who  was 
•*  both  an  experienced  pleader  and  fine  writer."   Mr»  iios$, 

D3 


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The  letters 


Book  VL 


mined.  The  truth  is,  I  am  desirdus  of  reach- 
ix\^  Rome  as  soon  as  possible :  however,  I  shall 
regulate  my  journey  according  to  the  posture 
of  public  affairs.  But  I  am  afraid  it  will  be 
impossible  for  your  successor  to  be  so  expedi- 
tious, as  to  give  you  an  opportunity  of  joining 

me  in  Asia. 

As  to  what  you  mention  concerning  your  ac- 
counts, it  may  save  you,  I  confess,  some  trouble, 
to  make  use  of  the  dispensation  which  Bibulus^ 
it  seems,  is  willing  to  grant.  But  I  think  you 
can  scarce  neglect  delivering  them  in,  without 
violating  the  Julian  law*:  and  though  Bibulus 
may  have  his  particular  reasons*  for  not  paying 
obedience  to  that  ordinance,  I  cannot  but 
strongly  advise  your  observing  its  injunctions. 

I  find  you  agree  with  some  others  of  my 

friends,  in  thinking  that  I  ought  not  to  have 

'  drawn  the  troops  out  of  Apamea :  and  I  am 

sorry 

*  Julius  Cxsar  procured  a  law  in  his  first  consulate,  by 
irbich  it  was  enacted  that  ihc  several  magistrates  in  the  pro- 
truces  should  deposite  a  copy  of  their  respective  accounts  in 
the  two  principal  cities  of  their  governmenr.    Figh.  Annate 

i.  352. 

5  Bibulus,  in  the  year  of  Rome  6^4,  was  elected  joint 
consul  wiih  Casar,  by  whom  he  was  treated  with  great 
eontempl  and  indignity  for  endeavouring  to  withstand  the 
▼iolent  measures  of  his  administration.  [See  rem.  10.  p. 
l63.  vol.  1.]  It  is  probable,  therefore,  that  Bibulus,  in 
wsentment  of  these  injuries,  refused  to  acknowledge  the 
validity  of  the  law  mentioned  in  the  preceding  note:  as  not 
having  been  passed,  perhaps,  with  all  the  necessary  foi» 
malitiec. 


Book  VI- 


dF  CICERO. 


sorry  I  should  have  giv«i  occasion,  by  that 
step,  to  the  malicious  censures  of  my  enemies. 
But  you  are  singular  in  doubting  whether  the 
Parthians  had  at  that  time  actually  repassed 
the  Euphrates,  It  was  in  fuH  confidence  of  a 
fact  so  universally  confirmed,  that  I  evacuated 
the  several  garrisons  of  those  brave  and  nnme* 
rous  troops  with  which  I  had  filled  them. 

It  is  by  no  means  reasonable  that  I  should 
transmit  my  quasstor's  accounts  to  you :  noi^ 
indeed,  are  they  yet  settled.    I  intend,  how- 
ever, to  deposite  a  copy  of  them  at  Apamea.  In 
answer  to  what  you  mention  concerning  the 
booty  we  took  from  the  Parthians  in  t^f^iswar^ 
let  me  assure  you,  that  no  man  shall  toucn  any 
part  of  it,  except  the  city  qusestars  <^]i  behalf 
,,of  the  public.     I  purpose  to  leave  the  money 
at  Laodicea  which  shall  arise  from  the  sale  of 
..those  spoils,  and  to  take  security  for  its  being 
^r  paid  in  Rome :  in  order  to  avoid  the  hazard 
both  to  myself  and  the  commonwealth  of  con-^ 
veying  it  in  specie.    As  ta  your  reqtiest  con- 
cerning the  100,000  drachmas*;  it  is  not  in  my 
power  to  comply  with  it.     For  the  chests  of 
money  taken  in  war,  fall  under  the  direction 
of  the  prsefects,   in  the  same  manner  as  all 
i  qitk^r  plunder :  and  the  particular  share  that  be- 
longs 

*  About  30001.  of  OUT  money.. 

D  4 


I 


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Book  VI. 


Book  VL 


OF  CICERO. 


4f 


longs  to  myself,  is  in  the  hands  of  the  quaestor; 
In  return  to  your  question,  what  my  thoughts 
are  concerning  the  legions,  which  liave  received 
orders  to  march  into  Syria,  I  always  doubted  of 
their  arrival.  But  I  am  now  fully  persuaded,  if 
it  should  be  known  at  Rome  that  every  thing 
is  quiet  ^in  your  province,  before  those  forces 
enter  Syria,  that  they  will  certainly  be  counter- 
manded. And  as  the  senate  has  appointed 
your  successor,  Marius,  to  conduct  those 
troops,  I  imagine  it  will  be  a  considerable  time 
before  you  see  him.  Thus  far  in  reply  to  your 
first  letter :  I  am  now  to  take  notice  of  your 
second. 

I  want  no  inclination  to  recommend  you,  as 
you  desire,  in  the  strongest  manner  to  Bibulus. 
But  I  must  take  this  opportunity  of  chiding  you 
a  little,  for  having  never  acquainted  me  of  the 
ill,  though  unmerited  terms  on  which  I  stand 
with  him^  You  are,  indeed,  the  only  one  of  my 
friends  among  his  officers,  who  omitted  to  inform 
me,  that  when  the  city  of  Antiochia  was  in  a  ge- 
neral consternation  from  the  late  invasion  of  the 
i  Parthians 

^  Notwithstanding  Cicero  represents  the  disgust  which 
Bibulus  had  conceived  agkinst  him,  to  have  been  altogether 
ivithoit  foundation  ;  yet,  (as  Manutius  justly  observes  upon 
this  passage)  he  had  great  reason  to  be  offended  :  for  Cicero 
Iiad  been  a  principal  promoter  of  those  excessive  honours 
which  had  been  paid  to  Caesar.    See  note  5  above. 


Parthians,  and  their  great  hopes  depended  lipoit 
me  and  my  army,  that  Bibulus  often  declared, 
he  would  suffer  the  last  extremity  rather  than  be 
obliged  to  my  assistance.  However,  I  was  not 
offended  at  your  silence,  as  I  imputed  it  to  that' 
particular  and  powerful  connexion  in  which- 
you  stood  related  to  him  as  his  quaestor,  though- 
I  was  not  ignorant,  at  the  same  time,  of  the 
manner  in  which  he  treated  you.  But  his  un- 
fiiendly  disposition  appeared  likewise  in  another 
instance:  for  though  he'dispatched  a  courier  to 
Thermus  with  an  account  of  the  irruption  of  the 
Parthians,  he  did  not  think  proper  to  communi-^ 
cate  any  intelligence  of  that  kind  to  me ;  not- 
withstanding he  well  knew  that  I  was  particu- 
larly concerned  in  the  consequence  of  that  in* 
vasions.  The  single  letter  I  received  from  him, 
was  to  desire  my  interest  when  his  son  was  so^ 
liciting  the  office  of  augur :  to  which,  in  com- 
pliance with  those  sentiments  I  ever  bore'to- 
Avards  him,  and  in  tenderness  to  the  affliction 
under  which  he  then  laboured^,  I  endeavoured 
to  return  him  the  most  civil  and  friendly  answer 

I  was 

■  Cicero's  province  being  contiguous  to  that  of  Syria. 
.  ^T^'^  ^^  his  sons  had  lately  been  murdered  at  Alexan- 
dHa  by  some  Roman  soldiers.  Seneca  mentions  the  beha- 
viour of  Bibulus,  upon  this  occasion,  as  an  example  of  philo- 
sophical magnanimity ;  for  the  very  next  day  after  be  had 
received  this  afflicting  news,  he  had  the  resolution  to  appear 
in  the  public  exercise  of  his  proconsular  ofHce.  Fal.  Max. 
iv.  I,  Senec.  consul,  ad  marc,  14. 


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The  letters 


Book  VI. 


Book  VI. 


OF  CICERO. 


m 


'      ! 


1  iras  capable.  If  this  behaviour  proceeded 
from  a  general  moroseness  of  temper  (which  I 
confess,  I  never  took  to  be  his  disppsition)  I 
have  the  less  reason  to  complain  :  but  if  it  arose 
from  any  particular  coolness  to  myself,  my  re- 
commendations can.  nothing  avail  you.  I  am 
inclined  to  suspect  the  latter,  from  the  whole 
tenor. of  his  conduct  towards  me.  For  in  hi& 
late  dispatches  to  the  senate,  he  is  pleased  ta 
usurp  the  entire  credit  of  an  affair,  in  which  I 
was  jointly  concerned  with  him  :  and  assures 
that  venerable  assembly  that  "  he  had  taken 
"  proper  care  to  settle  the  exchange'''  in  such  a 
"  manner  as  would  be  most  advantageous  to 
"  the  public.''  He  mentions,  at  the  same  time, 
as  his  own  act,  what  was  solely  and  absolutely 
mine :  and  says,  that  "  in  aider  to  ease  the 
"  people  of  the  burthen  of  maintaining  the 
^*  Lombard  troops",  he  forbore  to  demand 
"  them."  On  the  other  hand,  he  thought  proper 
to  give  me  part  in  an  action  which  belongs  al-^ 
too-ether  to  himself:  and  names  me  in  the  letter 
\  am  speaking  of,  as  *'  joining  in  his  applica- 
"  tion  for  a  larger  allowance  of  corn  for  the  use 
''  of  the  auxiliary  troops."  To  point  out  another 
instance,  also,  which  betrays  the  meanest  and 

most 

"•  Of  tbe  public  money  which  was  to  be  remitted  from 
Cilicia  and  Syria,  to  the  treasury  at  Rome. 

**  Which  were  raibcd  ia  order  to  b€  sent  against  th€  Par-» 

|ki<'lQS. 


most  contemptible  malevolence :  Ariobarzanes 
having  been  particularly  recommended  by  the 
senate  to  my  protection",  and  it  being  by  my 
means  they  were  prevailed  upon  to  acknow* 
ledge  his  regal  title,  Bibulus  constantly  speaks 
of  him,  throughout  his  letter,  under  the  de- 
grading appellation  of  "  the  son  of  the  late 
king."  My  recommendation,  therefore,  to  a 
person  thus  ill-disposed  towards  me,  would 
only  render  him  so  much  the  more  disinclined 
to  serve  you.  Nevertheless,  I  herewith  enclose 
a  letter,  which  I  have  written  to  him,  in  com- 
pliance with  your  request :  and  I  leave  it  ta 
your  own  discretion  to  make  whdX  use  of  it 
you  shall  think  proper.     Farewel. 

LETTER  VIII. 


,«.  •  i 


[A.  U.  703.] 

Marcus  Ccelius,  to  Cicero. 

1  CONGRATULALE  you ou  your alliance'  with 
so  worthy  a  man  as  Dolabella :  for  such  I  sin- 
cerely think  him.  His  former  conduct,  it  is 
true,  has  not  been  altogether  for  his  own  ad- 
vantage. But  time  has  now  worn  out  those 
•little  indiscretions  of  his  youth  :  at  least  if  any 
of  them  should  still  remain,  the  authority  and 

advantage 

'•  See  let.  1.  book  4. 

"  See  rem.  6\  on  the  first  letter  of  this  book. 


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Book  VI. 


OP  CICERO. 


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.  I 


■[ 


advantage  of  your  advice  and  friendship,  to- 
gether with  the  good  sense  of  Tullia,  will  soon, 
I  am  confident,  reclaim  him.  He  is  by  no 
means,  indeed,  obstinate  in  his  errors :  and  it  is 
not  from  any  incapacity  of  discerning  better, 
whenever  he  deviates  from  the  right  path.  To 
say  all  in  one  word,  I  infinitely  love  him. 

Do  you  know,  my  dear  Cicero,  what  a  vic- 
tory Curio  has  lately  obtained  in  relation  to 
the  provinces  ?  The  senate,  in  pursuance  of  a 
former  order,  having  assembled  to  consider  of 
the  obstruction  which  some  of  the  tribunes 
had  given  to  their  decree*,  Marcus  Marcellus 
moved,  that  application  might  be  made  to  those 
magistrates  to  withdraw  their  protest :  but  it 
was  carried  in  the  negative  by  a  considerable 
majority.  Pompey  is  at  present  in  such  delicate 
circumstances,  that  he  will  scarce  find  any 
measures,  I  believe,  perfectly  to  his  satisfac- 
tion. The  senate,  however,  seem  to  intend, 
by  the  resolution  I  just  now  mentioned',  that 
Caesar  shall  be  admitted  as  a  candidate  for  the 
consulship,  notwithstanding  he  should  refuse 

to 

*  Thii  dfcree,  together  with  the  protest  of  the  tribunes 
here  mentioned,  is  inseried  at  large  in  the  7th  letter  of  the 
4th  book.     P.  353.  vol.  1. 

'  Cicero  speaks  of  this  resolution  in  a  letter  to  Atticus, 
and  produces  n  as  a  proof  that  the  intentions  of  the  senate 
were  not  true  to  the  interest  of  the  commomvcalih.  For  had 
the  Motion  of  J^larceiIo<  beeiv  vigorously  supported,  Curio's 
op^siiion,  he  says,  would  have  been  in  vaii),  and  Caesar  niUbt 
necessarily  Lave  resigned  his  command.     Ad  Att,  vii.  % 


to  resign  his  government.  What  effect  this 
may  have  upon  Pompey,  you  shall  know  as; 
soon  as  I  can  discover*.  In  the  mean  time,  if 
imports  you  wealthy  veterans  to  consider  what 
methods  to  pursue,  in  case  the  latter  should  • 
appear  either  unable,  or  unwilling  to  support/ 
the  republic. 

Hortensius^  lies  at  the  point  of  death.  Far€- 
weL 

LETTEil 

♦  There  is  evidently  some  error  in  the  Latin  text:  which, 
nins  thus,  Quemadmodum  hoc  laturus  Pompems  sit,  cum  cog^ 
noscat,  quidnaffi  reipublicce  futurum  iii,  si  aut  noti  cttret,  vos 
senesy  &c.  I  have  ventured,  though  unsupported  by  any.ot* 
the  manuscripts  or  commentators,  to  read  this  passage  in  the 
following  manner;  Quemadmodum  hoc  Pompeius  laturus  sit; 
cum  coonoscam,  te  certiorem  faciam.  Quidnam  reip. futurum 
sit,  si  aut  non  possit,  aut  non  curet,  vos,  ^c. 

5  Hortensius  would  have  been  considered  as  the  noblest  • 
orator  that  ever  shined  in  the  Roman  Forum,  if  Cicero  had 
not  risen  with   superior  lustre.     There  was  a  peculiar  elo*  * 
quence  in   his  manner,  as  well  as  in  his  expression:  and  it 
was  difficult  to  determine  whether  his  audience   beheld   the 
grace  of  his  action,  or  listened  to  the  charms  of  his  rhetofic,  ' 
with  greater  admiration  and  pleasure.     Cicero  often  cele- 
brates him  for  the  prodigious  strength  of  his  memory:  of 
which  the  elder  Seneca    has  recorded    a   remarkaWe  in^tj 
stance.     He  undertook,  it  seems,  as  a  proof  of  its  force,  tp  . 
attend   a  whole  day  at  a  public  auction,  and  give  an  exact 
account  of  every  thing  that  was  put  up  to  sale,  of  the  .price 
at  which  it  was  sold,  and  of  the  name  of  every  particular  pur- 
chaser :  and  this  he  accordingly  executed  without  failing  in 
a  single  article.     Cicero  received  the  news  of  his  death  with 
real  concern  :  for  though   there  was  a  perpetual  emulation, 
there  was  a  mutual  friendship  nevertheless  between  them.  , 
This  harmony,  so  unusual  with  those  who  contend  together 
for  the  same  prize,  was  greatly  owing  to  the  good  offices  of  ' 
Atticus ;  who  seems,  indeed,  upon  all  occasions,  (and  it  is  th« 
most  amkble  part  of  his  very  singular  character)  to  have  em* 

ploye4 


R) 


» 


The  letters 


Book  VL 


LETTER  IX. 

[A.  U.  703.] 

To  Appiius  Pulcher. 

That  I  may  answer  your  letter  in  due  form, 
let  me  pay  my  congratulations  to  you  in  the 
first  place,  and  then  turn  to  what  concerns 

myself. 

Be  assured,  the  account  you  gave  me  con- 
cerning the  event  of  your  trial  on  the  informa- 
tion for  bribery*,  afforded  me  great  pleasure. 
Not  because  you  wxre  acquitted ;  for  I  never 
entertained  the  least  doubt  of  the  contrary ;  but 
to  find  that  there  was  not  a  single  judge  who 
dared  throw  in  a  negative  upon  your  innocence, 
even  under  all  the  secresy  and  safety  which  the 
method  of  balloting  would  have  secured  to 
his  malice.  This  is  a  circumstance  altogether 
extraordinary  :  a  circumstance,  indeed,  so  little 
agreeable  to  the  general  principles  and  pur- 
poses of  the  present  depraved  generation,  that 
the  more  I  reflect  on  your  high  rank,  on  your 
public  and  private  virtues,  and  on  the  distin- 

^  guished 

ployed  the  remarkable  influence  be  enjoyed  witb  all  parties, 
in  reconciling  differences  and  cementing  friendships.  Hor- 
tensius  was  about  six  years  older  than  Cicero  :  and  died  in ' 
the  6dd  year  of  his  age.  Val.  Max,  viii.  10.  Cic.  de  dor, 
QraL  301.  Sencc.  cmtroniers,  i.  imprccm.  Ad  Att.  vi.  6.  viii. 
^  Com,  Nep.  in  Vii,  Att,  5. 
•  See  rem.  4  on  let.  5.  book  5. 

1  :- 


Book  VL 


PF  CICERO. 


m 


guished  honours  to  which  they  have  exalted 
you,  the  more  I  consider  it  with  astonishment* 
I  can  truly  say,  no  occurrence  has  happened 
for  a  considerable  time  that  surprised  me  more. 
And  now,  let  me  entreat  you  to  imagiae 
yourself,  for  a  moment,  in  my  situation  with 
respect  to  the  affair  you  mentioned\-  and  if  you 
should  then  find  that  you  are  under  no  difficul- 
ties, I  will  not  desire  you  to  excuse  mine.  You 
will  allow  me  to  join  in  your  own  good-natured 
wishes,  that  an  alliance  which  was  conducted 
without  my  knowledge,  may  prove  happy  both 
to  me  and  to  my  daughter,  I  will  venture  to 
hope  too,  that  something  may  be  derived  not  al- 
together unfavourable  to  my  wishes«,  even  from 
the  paiticular  conjuncture  whei-ein  this  trans- 
action has  happened:  though  I  must  add,  tJiat 
nothing  encourages  me  in  this  hope  so  much 
as  the  sentiments  I  entertain  of  your  candour 
and  good  sense.  What  farther  to  say  I  know 
not.  On  the  one  hand,  it  would  not  become 
me  to  speak  with  more  despondency  of  an  af- 
fair, to  which  you  have  kindly  given  your  fa- 
vourable presages :  on  the  other,  there  are  some 

lights 

1?  The  marriage  of  Cicero's  daughter  with  Dolabella, 
What  Cicero  seems  to  intimate  in  this  passage  is,  that 
be  might,  probably,  be  enabled,   by  the  influence  which  his 
alliance  would  give  him  with  Dolabella,  to  infuse  into  hini^ 
more  favourable  disposition  towards  Appius, 


48 


The  letters 


Book  VL 


Book  VI. 


OF  CICERO. 


4^ 


lights  in  which  I  cannot  view  it  without  unea- 
siness. I  am  apprehensive,  indeed,  lest  you 
should  not  be  sufficiently  persuaded,  that  this 
treaty  was  managed  without  my  privity' :  as,  in 
truth,  it  was  by  some  of  my  friends,  to  whom  I 
gave  a  general  commission  to  act  in  my  absence 
as  they  should  judge  proper,  without  referring 
themselves,  at  this  great  distance,  tome.  But 
if  you  ask  what  measures  I  would  have  taken, 
had  I  been  present  ?  I  will  freely  own,  I  should 
have  approved  of  the  match'° :  though,  as  to 
the  time  of  consummating  it,  I  should  cer- 
tainly have  done  nothing  either  without  your 
advice,  or  contrary  to  your  inclination. 

You  have  already  discovered,  I  dare  say,  how 
terribly  I  am  perplexed  between  apologizing  for 
a  step  which  I  am  obliged  to  defend,  and  avoid- 
ing, at  the  same  time,  saying  any  thing  that  may 
cive  you  offence.  Have  so  much  charity,  there- 
fore, I  beseech  you,  as  to  ease  me  of  this  em- 
barrassment :  for,  in  fair  truth,  I  never  pleaded 

a  more 

»  See  rem.  6.  on  let.  1.  of  this  book. 

'®  Cicero  bad  surely  forgonen  what  he  said  to  Appius  in 
ft  former  letter.  For  taking  notice  of  the  report -which  Dola- 
bella  had  spread  concerning  ihib  match,  he  affirms  there  wa» 
JO  little  of  truth  in  it,  that  he  would  much  sooner  renounce 
all  former  correspondence  with  Dolaheila,  than  enier  into 
a  new  connexion  with  a  man  %vho  had  declared  himself  the 
enemy  of  Appius.  Ego  cttins  cum  eo,  qui  tttas  mmicitias 
svtcrpisi^ty  teterem  amjimctioiiem  diremmem^  quam  mvam 
conciliasscm.  Jip.  Faro.  iii.  10.  S€e  th^  fifst  leUer  of  thii 
book. 


a  more  difficult  cause.  Of  this,  however,  be 
well  persuaded,  that,  had  I  not,  ere  I  was  in- 
formed of  this  alliance,  completed  my  good  of- 
fices in  your  service,  it  would  have  induced  me 
to  defend  your  reputation,  not,  indeed,  with 
more  zeal  (for  that  would  have  been  impossi- 
ble) but  certainly  with  so  much  the  more  con- 
spicuous and  significant  testimonies  of  my 
friendship. 

The  first  notice  that  was  given  me  of  this 
marriage,  was  by  a  letter  which  I  received  on 
the  3d  of  August,  upon  my  arrival  at  Sida;  at 
which  city  I  touched  in  my  voyage  from  the 
province.    Your  friend  Servilius,  who  was  then 
with  me,  seemed  a  good  deal  concerned  at  the 
news  ;  but  I  assured  him,  that  the  only  effect 
it  would  have,  with  respect  to  myself^  would 
be  to  give  an  additional  strength  to  my  future 
services  in  your  behalf.     To  be  short,  though 
it  cannot  increase  my  affection  for  you,  it  has 
increased  my  endeavours  of  rendering  that  af- 
fection more  evident ;  and  as  our  former  dis* 
union  made  me  so  much  the  more  cautious  to 
avoid  affwding  the  least  suspicion  that  my  re- 
concilement with  you  was  not  thoroughly  sin- 
cere; so  this  alliance  will  heighten  my  care  not 
to  give  the  world  reason  to  think  that  it  has  in 
any  degree  impaired  the  strength  of  that  per- 
fect friendship  I  bear  you,     Farewel. 
Vol.  II.  E  LETTER 


so 


The  letters       Book  VL 


LETTER  X.      • 

[A.  U.  703.1 

To  Marcus  Cato'. 

J^RAlSEfrom  thy  lips  Uis  mine  with  pride  to  boast: 
Jfe  best  can  give  it  who  deserves  it  most  : 

as  Hector,  I  think,  says  to  the  venerable  Pri- 
am, in  one  of  Naevius's  plays.  Honourable,  in- 
deed, is  that  approbation  which  is  bestowed  by 
.those  who  have  themselves  been  the  constant 
object  of  universal  applause.  Accordingly,  I 
esteem  the  encomiums  you  conferred  upon  me 
in  the  senate,  together  with  your  congratula- 
tory letter,  as  a  distinction  of  the  highest  and 
most  illustrious  kind*.    Nothing  could  be  more 

agreeable 

i    J*  X^is  letter  is  an  answer  to  the  second  in  ihe  preceding 
book,  p.  430.  vol.  1. 

*  Cicero  was  al  this  time  \yell  pleased  wi4h  the  part 
which  Cato  h^d  acted  towards  him  :  for  he  teUs  Atlicus, 
what  he  likewise  says  in  this  letter,  that  **  he  looked  upon 
^'  the  uppUuses  which  the  former  had  conferred  upon  him, 
**  ii\  the  senate*,  as  preferable  to  all  the  triumphs  in  the 
•*  world.**  But  he  soon  changed  his  language  :  and,  in  his 
subsequent  letters  to  Atticus,  he  expresses  himself  with  great 
warmth  and  indignation  against  Cato's  behaviour  in  this 
very  article.  Cato,  it  seems,  had  granted  to  Bibulus  what 
he  refused  to  Cicero,  and  voted  that  a  general  thanksgiving 
should  be  appointed,  for  the  success  of  the  former  in  Syria. 
This  was  a  prefereince  which  Cicero  could  not  digest,  and  he 
complains  of  it  to  Atlicus  in  terms  to  the  following  purposju. 
"  Cato,"  says  he,  "  has  given  me  his  applauses,  which  I 

dk 


Book  VI. 


OF  CICERO. 


5\ 


agreeable  to  my  wishes,  as  nothing  could  be 
more  glorious  for  my  reputation,  than  your 
having  thus  freely  given  to  friendship,  what- 
ever you  could  strictly  give  to  truth.  Were 
Rome  entirely  composed  of  Catos,  or  could  it 
produce  many  (as  it  is  surprising  it  can  furnish 
even  one)  of  that  venerable  character,  my  de- 
sires would  be  amply  satisfied,  and  I  should 
prefer  your  single  approbation  to  all  the  laurels 
and  all  the  triumphal  cars  in  the  universe.  In 
my  own  judgment,  indeed,  and  according  to 

the 

**  did  not  desire,  but  refused  me  his  SHffrage,  though  I  ear- 
''  nestly  requested  it.     Yet  this  un^raicful   man  has   voted 
"  that  a  thanksgiving  shall  be  appointed  for  twenty  days,  in 
**  honour  of  Bibulus.     Pardon  me  for  saying  it ;  but  I  nei- 
ther can,  nor  will  forgive  so  injurious  a  treatment."     Ci- 
cero ascribes  this  conduct  of  Cato  to  envy  ;  and  his  ingenir 
aus  translator,  Monsieur  Mongaulr,  imputes  it  to  partiality. 
On  the  contrary,  I  am  persuaded  it  flowed  neither  from  the 
one  nor  the  other,  but  was  the  pure  result  of  that  impartial 
justice  which  seems  upon  all  occurrences  to  have  invariably 
determined   his  actions.     For  Cicero  had  undoubtedly  no 
cl'iim   to   the   honour  he  demanded  :   and   for  this  reason, 
among  others,  because  the  number  of  the  slain  on  the  side 
of  the  enemy  was  not  so  great  as  the  laws  in  these  cases  re- 
quired.    [Vid.  Ep.  Fam.  viii.  11.]     But  it  is  probable  that 
the  claim  of  Bibulus  was  supported  by  all  the  le^al  requi- 
sites.    For  though   the   Parthians  were  driven  out  of  Syria 
before  his  arrival   in  the   province;  yet  Cassius,   by  whose 
bravery  they  were  repulsed,  acted  under  the  auspices  of  Bi- 
bulus :  sub  ejiis  auspicia  res  gcstcc  erant,  as  they  expressed 
it.     Now  the  success  of  the  lieutenant,  or  other  subordinate 
officer,  was  always  imputed  to  the  general,  notwithstanding 
he  were  not  actually  present ;   as   being   supposed  to  arise 
trom  the  effect  of  these  auspicia^  or  sacred  rites,  which  he 
previously  performed  ere  he  set  out  on  his  intended  expedi- 
tion.    Ad  4tt,  vii.  1.  2.  3.     Rosin,  Jntiq*  Rom.  96$, 

E2 


i 


52 


Thi  letters 


Book  VL 


the  refined  estimate  of  true  philosophy,  the  ho- 
nours you  paid  me  in  the  senate,  and  which 
have  been  transmitted  to  me  by  my  friends,  is 
undoubtedly  the  most  significant  distinction  I 
can  possibly  receive.    I  acquainted  you,  in  my 
former  letter,  with  the  particular  motives  which 
induced  me  to  be  desirous  (for  I  will  not  call 
it  ambitious)  of  a  triumph:  and  if  the  reasons 
I  there  assigned  will  not,  in  your  opinion,  jus- 
tify a  warm  pursuit  of  that  honour,  they  must 
prove,  at  least,  that  I  ought  not  to  refuse  it,  if 
the  senate  should  make  me  the  offer :  and  I 
hope  that  assembly,   in  consideration  of  my 
services  in  this  province,  will  not  think  me  un- 
deserving of  a  reward  so  usually  conferred.    If 
I  should  not  be  disappointed  in  this  hope,  riiy 
only  request  is,  (what,  indeed,  you  kindly  pro- 
mise) that,  as  you  have  paid  me  the  honours 
you  thought  most  to  my  glory,  you  would  re- 
joice in  my  obtaining  those  which  are  most  to 
my  inclination.     And  this  disposition  you  have 
already  veiy  sincerely  shewn,  not  only  by  your 
letter,  but  by  having  signed  the  decree  that  has 
passed  in  my  favour :  for  decrees  of  this  kind, 
I  know,  are  usually  subscribed  by  those  wjio 
are  most  in  the  interest  of  the  person  to  whose 
honour  they  are  voted.    I  will  only  add,  that  I 
hope  to  see  you  very  shortly :  and  may  I  find 
the  republic  in  a  happier  situation  than  I  have 
reason  to  fear !     FareweL  LETTER 


Book  VL 


OF  CICERO. 


IS 


LETTER  XL 

[A.U.r03.] 

To  Caius  Marcellus,  Consul 

I  AM  informed,  by  the  letters  of  all  my  friends, 
what,  indeed,  I  was  suflSciently  sensible  of  by 
the  effects,  that  you  have  exerted  the  same  ge^ 
nerous  zeal  in  promoting  my  honours^,  now 
that  you  are  consul,  which  you  always  disco- 
vered, in  conjunction  with  your  whole  family, 
in  every  preceding  station  of  your  life.  There 
is  no  good  oflSce,  therefore,  which  you  have 
not  a  full  right  to  claim  at  my  hands,  as  there 
is  none  which  I  shall  not  at  all  times  be  most 
warmly  and  joyfully  ready  to  return.  It  is  a 
point  of  much  injportance  from  whom  one  re- 
ceives an  obligation ;  but  believe  me  there  is 
not  a  man  in  the  world  I  would  rather  choose 
to  be  obliged  to  than  yourself.  For,  not  to 
mention  that  I  have  been  attached  to  you  by 
a  similitude  of  studies,  and  by  the  many  gene- 
rous services  I  have  received  both  from  your- 
self and  your  father  :  there  is  an  additional  in- 
ducement, which,  in  my  estimation,  is,  of  all 
others,  the  most  engaging :  I  mean  the  manner 

in 

'  This  alludes  to  the  good  offices  of  Marcellus,  in  rela- 
iion  to  the  general  thanksgiving  which  had  lately  been  vpted 
for  the  success  of  Cicero's  arms  in  Cilicia.  See  the  6th  let-* 
ter  of  this  book,  p.  30. 

E3 


54 


The  letters 


Book  VI. 


in  which  you  act,  and  have  ever  acted,  in  the 
administration  of  public  affairs.  As  nothing, 
then,  is  more  dear  to  me  than  the  common- 
wealth, can  I  scruple  to  be  as  much  indebted 
to  you  in  my  own  particular,  as  I  am  in  com- 
mon with  every  friend  to  the  republic  ?  And 
may  your  patriot  labours  be  attended,  as  I  trust 
they  will,  with  all  the  success  they  deserve. 

If  the  Etesian  winds*,  which  usually  begin 
to  blow  about  this  season  of  the  year,  should 
not  retard  my  voyage,  I  hope  to  see  you  very 
speedily.     Farewel. 


LETTER  XII. 

[A.  U.  703.] 
To  ApPIUS  PULCHER. 

When  the  question  concerning  the  military 
honours  to  be  paid  to  your  arms'  was  formerly 
debated  in  the  senate,  I  supported  the  cause 
of  jour  glory  with  as  much  warmth  and  zeal, 
as  if  I  had  foreseen  that  I  should  one  day  have 
occasion  for  your  good  offices  of  the  same 
kind  to  myself     Truth  obliges  me,  however,  to 

acknowledge 

♦  Periodical  winth,  which  constantly  blow  the  same  way 
during  a  certain  number  of  months  every  year. 

*  In  Cilicia,  probably;  in  which  province  Appius,  as  the 
reader  has  been  iRformed,  was  predecessor  to  Cicero,  This 
letter  is  upon  the  samv  subject  with  the  preceding. 


Book  VE 


of'GICERO, 


65 


Jtcknowledge,  that  you  have  returned  much 
more  than  you  received.  All  my  letters,  indeed, 
from  Rome  agree  in  assuring  me,  that  you.»ot 
only  supported  my  interest  by  the  authority^Off 
your  eloquence,  and  the  credit  of /^your  vote, 
{which  was  as  much  as  I  could  inr  reason  d^ 
sire  from  a  man  of  your  rank  and  character) 
but  that,  by  contributing  your  advice,  by  as- 
sisting at  the  meetings  which  were  held  upon 
my  account,  by  your  personal  applications, 
and,  in  short,  by  your  assiduity  in  general,  you 
rendered  the  good  offices  of  the  rest  of  my 
friends  altogether  superfluous.  These  are  cir- 
cumstances far  more  to  ray  credit  than  the  ho- 
nour itself  for  which  you  thus  generously  la- 
boured. The  latter,  indeed,  has  frequently 
heen  obtained  by  those  who  had  done  nothing 
to  deserve  it;  but  no  man  was  ever  supported 
with  so  much  zeal  by  an  advocate  thus  illustri- 
ous, without  merit  to  justify  his  claim.  But 
the  great  benefit  that  I  propose  to  myself  by 
jour  friendship,  arises  entirely  from  the  advan- 
tages which  naturally  flow  from  an  intercourse 
of  this  kind :  as  nothinor  in  truth,  can  be  at- 
tended  with  greater,  especially  bietween  two 
persons,  who,  like  you  and  me,  are  united  by 
the  same  common  pursuits ;  for  I  profess  to  act 
with  you  upon  the  same  political  principles  in 

E4  which 


56 


The  letters 


Book  VI. 


which  our  sentiments  are  perfectly  agreed,  as 
well  as  to  be  joined  with  you  in  an  equal  at- 
tachment to  the  same  arts  and  sciences  which 
we  mutually  cultivate.  I  sincerely  wish  that 
fortune  had  as  strongly  connected  us  in  every 
other  respect,  and  that  you  could  think  of  all 
who  belong  to  me^  with  the  same  friendly 
sentiments  I  entertain  for  those  who  stand  re- 
lated to  you.  '  But  I  do  not  despair  that  even 
this  may  be  effected.  It  is  a  point,  however, 
in  which  you  are  no  way  concerned,  and  which 
it  is  my  part  alone  to  manage.  In  the  mean 
time,  I  beg  you  would  be  persuaded,  as  you 
will  most  certainly  experience,  that  this  alli- 
ance has,  if  possible,  rather  augmented  than 
diminished  the  warmth  of  my  zeal  for  your 
service. 

But,  as  I  hope  I  am  now  writing  to  a  censor^ 
I  must  have  the  modesty  to  shorten  my  letter, 
that  I  may  not  be  guilty  of  a  breach  of  respect 
to  a  magistrate  who  is  the  great  superintendant 
of  good  manners.     Farewel. 

LETTER 

*  This  alludes  to  Dolabella,  whose  conduct  to  Appius 
has  been  so  often  mentioned  in  these  remarks. 
^  See  rem.  5.  on  th^  first  letter  of  this  book. 


Book  VL 


OF  CICERO. 


57 


LETTER  XIIL 

[A.  U.  703.] 

To  Marcus  Ccelius,  Curule-^dile. 

W  OTHIN'G  could  be  more  judicious,  nor  more 
carefully  conducted,  than  your  management  of 
Curio  in  relation  to  the  thanksgiving".  Indeed, 
the  circumstances  of  that  whole  affair,  have 
proved  entirely  conformable  to  my  wishes ;  not 
Only  as  it  passed  the  senate  with  so  much  ex- 
pedition, but  as  our  mutual  competitor,  the 
angry  Hirrus,  expressed  his  assent  to  those  di- 
vine encomiums  with  which  Cato  honoured 
my  actions.  I  am  inclined  to  flatter  myself 
therefore,  that  this  will  lead  to  a  triumph;  and 
I  desire  you  would  be  prepared  accordingly. 

It  is  with  great  pleasure  I  find  that  Dolabella 
enjoys  the  happiness  of  your  esteem  and  friend- 
ship. I  was  at  no  loss  to  guess  the  circum- 
stance to  which  you  alluded,  when  you  men- 
tioned your  hopes  that  the  prudence  of  my 
daughter  Tullia  would  temper  his  conduct 
But  what  would  you  have  said  had  you  seen 
the  letter  I  wrote*  to  Appius,  immediately  after 

I  received 

'  See  the  sixth  letter  of  the  present  book,  to  which  this 
is  an  answer. 

*  The  letter  to  which  Cicero  alludes  is  the  first  of  the  pre- 
sent book. 


58 


The  letters         Book  VI. 


I  received  yours  upon  that  subject  ?  Yet  thus 
we  must  act,  my  friend,  if  we  would  live  in 
the  world*.  I  hope  the  gods  will  give  success 
to  this  match,  and  that  I  shall  have  reason  to 
be  well  satisfied  with  my  son-in-law;  I  am 
sure,  at  least,  your  amicable  offices  will  ex- 
tremely contribute  to  that  end. 

The  dark  prospect  of  public  affairs  fills  me 
with  great  disquietude.  I  am  well- inclined 
towards  Curio ;  it  is  my  wish  that  Caesar's 
achievements  may  meet  with  the  honourable 
rewards  they  deserve ;  and  I  would  wiUingly 
sacrifice  my  Hfe  in  support  of  Pompey ;  still, 
however,  none  of  my  affections  are  superior  to  « 
that  which  I  feel  for  my  country.  But,  I  per- 
ceive, you  do  not  take  any  great  part  in  her 
contests;  being  divided,  I  suppose,  between  the 
different  obligations  of  a  patriot  and  a  friends: 

Upon  my  departure  from  the  province,  I  left 
the  administration  in  the  hands  of  Caldus'.  You 
will  be  surprised,  perhaps,  that  I  should  com- 
mit so  great  a  trust  to  so  young  a  man.  But 
you  will  remember  that  he  was  my  quaestor; 
that  he  is  a  youth  of  a  noble  family,  and  that 
I  am  justified  in  my  choice  by  a  practice  almost 
universal.     Besides,  I  had  no  other  person  near 

me 

*  See  rem.  6.  on  let.  1.  of  this  book. 

'  The  person  to  whom  the  third  letter  of  this  boqk  ifi  ad- 
dressed. /.  "V.  . 


Book  VI. 


or  CICERO. 


59 


me  of  superior  rank ;  for  Pontinius  had  long 
before  quitted  the  province,  and  as  to  my  bro- 
ther, I  could  by  no  means  have  prevailed  upon 
him  to  accept  tlie  employment.  Indeed,  if  I 
had  placed  the  administration  in  his  hands,  the 
malicious  part  of  tlie  world  would  probably 
have  said,  that,  instead  of  resigning  my  go- 
vernment in  obedience  to  the  decree  of  the  se- 
nate, I  still  continued  it  in  the  person  of  one 
who  may  justly  be  considered  as  my  second 
self.  They  might,  perhaps,  have  added,  too, 
that  the  intentions  of  the  senate  were,  that  those 
only  should  command  in  the  provinces  who  had 
never  enjoyed  a  government  before* ;  whereas 
my  brother  had  actually  presided  in  Asia* 
during  three  whole  years.  The  method  I 
have  taken,  therefore,  secures  me  from  all 
censure;  whereas,  if  I  had  substituted  my  bro- 
ther, there  is  no  abuse  I  should  not  have  had 
reason  to  expect.  In  fine,  I  was  induced,  I 
will  not  say  to  court,  but  at  least  to  avoid  dis- 
obliging a  young  man  of  Caldus's  quality,  not 
only  by  my  own  inclination,  but  by  the  exam- 
ple also  of  our  two  great  potentates^ ;  who,  in 

.  ?i  the 

*  The  particular  decree  to  which  Cicero  alludes,  may  he 
found  among  those  which  are  inserted  ifi  the  seventh  letter  of 
the  fourth  book.     It  stands  the  last. 

*  He  was  elected  governor  of  Asia  Minor,  in  the  year  of 
Rome  dp?. 

*  Cxsar  and  Pompey. 


€0 


The  letters         Book  VL 


Book  V"I. 


OF  CICERO. 


61 


the  same  manner,  and  for  the  same  reason, 
distinguished  their  respective  quiestors,  Cassius 
and  Antonius^.  Upon  the  whole,  my  friend,  I 
expect  that  you  approve  of  my  choice ;  for  it 
is  now  out  of  my  power  to  recal  it. 

The  hint  you  dropped  concerning  Ocella,  was 
so  extremely  obscure',  that  I  could  make  no- 
thing of  it,  and  I  find  no  mention  of  it  in  youf 
newspaper. 

You  are  become  so  wonderfully  celebrated, 
that  the  fame  of  your  conduct  in  relation  to 
Matrinius,  has  travelled  beyond  Mount  Taurus. 

If  I  should  not  be  delayed  by  the  Etesian 
winds,  I  hope  to  embrace  you  and  the  rest.of 
ray  friends  very  soon.     Farewel. 

LETTER 

^  Quintus  Cassius,  brother  to  the  celebrated  Caius  Cas- 
bius.  was  quaestor  to  Pompey,  in  Spain  ;  as  Mark  Antony 
served  under  Cssar  in  the  same  quality,  when  he  prei^ided  as 
propraetor  in  that  province. 

•  See  the  sixth  letter  of  the  fifth  book,  vol.  1.  p.  442. 


J  i.' : 


.Uu 


LETTER  XIV. 

'  [A.  U;  703.]  ^ 

Marcus  Ccelius  to  Cicero. 

I  AM  ashamed  to  own  how  much  occasion  I 
have  to  complain  of  Appius.  This  ungrateful 
man  singled  me  out  as  the  object  of  his  secret 
spleen,  for  no  other  reason  but  because  he  has 
received  greater  obligations  from  me  than  his 
harrow  spirit  would  suffer  him  to  return.  How- 
ever, he  could  not  carry  on  his  malicious  pur- 
poses with  so  much  concealment,  as  to  pre- 
vent my  receiving  an  intimation  of  them  ;  and, 
indeed,  Thad  myself  observed,  that  he  cer- 
tainly did  not  mean  me  well.  Accordingly,  I 
found  that  he  had  been  tampering  with  his  col- 
league' to  my  prejudice ;  as  he  soon  afterwards 
openly  avowed  his  injurious  designs  to  some 
others  of  his  friends.  I  discovered,  also,  that 
he  had  entered  into  some  consultations  of 
the  same  kind  with  Lucius  Domitius ;  who  is 
lately,  I  must  inform  you,  become  my  most 
bitter  enemy.  In  short,  I  perceived  that  he 
was  endeavouring  to  recommend  himself  to 
Pompey,  by  his  ill  offices  to  me.  Nevertheless, 
I  could  not  submit  to  enter  into  any  personal 

remonstrances, 

■  Lucius  Calphurnius  Piso,  tbe  father-in-law  of  Caesar, 
was  colleague  with  Appius  in  the  censorial  office. 


09 


The  letters 


Book  VI. 


Book  VI: 


OF  CICERO. 


69 


remonstrances,  or  intercessions,  with  a  man 
whom  I  had  reason  to  consider  as  indebted  to 
me  even  for  his  life.  I  contented  myself,  there- 
fore, with  complaining  to  some  of  our  common 
friends,  who  had  been  witnesses  to  the  obliga- 
tions he  had  received  at  my  hands.  But,  as 
this  method,  I  found,  was  to  no  purpose,  and 
that  he  would  not  deign  to  give  me  the  least  sa- 
tisfaction; I  determined  to  apply  to  his  col- 
league. I  rather  chose,  indeed,  to  ask  a  favour 
of  the  latter,  (notwithstanding  I  was  sensible 
that  my  connexions  with  you*  had  rendered  him 
far  from  being  my  friend)  than  undergo  the 
mortification  of  engaging  in  a  personal  confi- 
dence with  so  ridiculous  and  contemptible  a 
mortal  as  Appius.  This  step  extremely  exas- 
perated him,  and  he  was  no  sooner  apprised  of 
it,  than  he  warmly  complained  that  I  was  seek- 
ing a  pvetcncc  to  quarrel  with  him  merely  in 
resentment,  he  said,  for  his  not  having  fully 
gratified  my  avaricious  expectations.  Soon 
after  this,  he  openly  endeavoured  to  procure 
Servius  to  exhibit  articles  of  impeachment 
ajirainst  me,  and  entered  into  several  consulta- 
tions  with  Domitius  for  that  purpose.     But> 

whcu 

•  An  enniitv  had  subsisted  between  Piso  and  Cicero,  ever 
•rncc  ihe  consulate  of  the  former,  who  concurred  with  CU)- 
Ui us  in 'those  viuleut  measures  which  terminated  in  Citcro's 
exile.     See  rem.  2.  p.  37.  and  rem.  fl.  o.  174.  vol.  li'    • 

I 


when  they  perceived  that  they  could  not  succeed 
in  their  intended  charge,  they  dropped  this  de- 
sign, and  resolved  to  encourage  a  prosecution 
of  another  kind ;  though,  at  the  same  time,  they 
well  knew  that  there  was  not  the  least  shadow 
of  evidence  to  support  their  accusation.  How* 
ever,  towards  the  close  of  my  Circensian  games', 
these  shameless  confederates  caused  me  to  be 
indicted  on  the  Scantinian  law*.  But  Pola, 
whom  they  had  spirited  up  to  be  the  informer, 
had  scarce  entered  his  action,  when  I  lodged  an 
information  against  ourworthy  censor*  himself, 
for  the  very  same  crime.  And  nothing,  in  truth, 
could  have  been  more  happily  concerted.  For 
this  retaliation  was  so  universally  applauded, 

and 

^  Circensian  games  is  a  general  name  for  those  shews  of 
various  kinds,  which  were  exhibited  at  different  seasons  to 
the  people  in  the  Circus ;  a  place  in  Rome  set  apart  for  those 
purposes.  But  the  particular  games  alluded  to  in  this  pas- 
fcage,  are  most  probably  (as  Manuiius,  with  great  reason, 
conjectures)  those  which  fhey  called  the  Roman,  For  these 
were  exhibited  by  the  aediles  in  September;  and  this  letter 
seems  to  have  been  written  some  time  in  that  or  the  follow- 
ing month.  The  nature  of  these  games  has  been  explained 
in  a  former  note. 

^  The  author  of  this  law  was  Marcus  Scantinius,  who  was 
tribune  of  the  people  in  the  year  of  Rome  601.  It  prohi- 
bited that  horrid  and  unnatural  commerce,  which,  in  af- 
ter-ages of  more  confirmed  and  shameless  corruption,  be- 
came so  general  as  to  be  openly  avowed  even  by  those  who 
affected,  in  other  respects,  a  decency  of  character.  Horace 
and  Pliny  the  consul  are  both  instances  of  this  kind,  and  af- 
ford a  very  remarkable  evidence,  that  the  best  dispositions 
are  not  proof  against  fashionable  vices,  how  detestable  soever, 
without  a  much  stronger  counterpoise  than  a  mere  mor^l 
sense  can  supply. 

*  Appius. 


64 


The  letters         Book  VL 


and  by  the  better  sort  too  among  the  people, 
that  the  general  satisfaction  they  have  express- 
ed, has  mortified  Appias  even  more  than  the 
disgrace  of  the  information  itself,  1  have  charged 
kim,  likewise,  with  appropriating  a  little  chapel 
to  his  private  use,  which  belongs  to  the  public^ 

It  is  almost  six  weeks  since  1  delivered  my 
former  letter  to  the  slave,  who  now  brings  you 
both;  and  I  am  extremely  vexed  at  the  fellow's 
delay. — I  think  I  have  no  farther  news  to  send 
you,  except  that  Domitius^  is  in  great  pain  for 
the  success  of  his  approaching  election. 

As  I  earnestly  wish  to  see  you,  I  expect  your 
arrival  with  much  impatience.  I  will  only  add 
my  request,  that  you  would  shew  the  world  you 
are  as  sensible  of  the  injuries  done  to  me,  as  I 
have  ever  warmly  resented  those  which  have 
at  any  time  been  offered  to  yourself.     Farewell 

LETTER 

•  Manutiufy  id  his  remark  upon  this  place,  produces  a 
passage  from  Livy,  by  which  be  proves,  that  it  was  the  busi- 
acss  of  the  censors  to  take  care  that  ihese  public  chapels 
should  not  be  shut  up  by  private  persons  from  the  general  and 
common  use  to  which  they  were  originally  erected.  Coeiius, 
therefore,  informed  against  his  adversary  for  having  practised 
4iflnelf  what  it  was  incumbent  upon  him,  by  the  duties  of 
-4is  office,  to  punish  in  others.     Kirf.  Manut,  m  loc, 

^  This  person,  it  is  probable,  is  the  same  who  is  mentioned 
•MtMre  in  this  letter.  The  commentators  sappote  that  the 
election,  of  which  Ccelius  speaks,  was  for  a  member  of  the 
augural  college,  in  the  room  ol  Hortensius,  lately  deceased. 
For  it  is  said,  in  the  next  letter,  that  Mark  Antony  waa  his 
competitor;  and  it  appears,  from  Mirtius,  that  the  former  was 
>€hoatn  augur  about  this  tjme.     litrt.  de  bd,  GallL  vii.  50. 


Book  VI. 


OF  CICERO. 


65 


LETTER  XV. 

[A.U.703.] 

From  the  same. 

r 

If  you  had  taken  the  king  of  Parthia  himself 
prisoner,   and  sacked  his  metropolis,  it  would 
not  make  you  amends  for '^y our  absence  from 
these  diverting  scenes.   You  have  lost,  indeed, 
a  subject  of  inexhaustible  mirth,  by  pot  being 
a  spectator  of  the  very  ridiculous  figure  which 
the  luckless  Domitius  displayed,  when  he  lately 
found   himself  disappointed  of  his  election*. 
The  assembly  of  the  people  was  exceedingly 
numerous  upon  this  occasion:  but  the  fo^ce  of 
party  bore  down  all  before  it^,  and  even  carried 
away  many  of  the  friends  of  Domitius  from  his 
interest     This  circumstance  he  imputes  to  my 
management  :  and  as  he  considers  the  prefe- 
rence which  has  been  thus  given  to  his  com- 
petitor, as  a  real  injury  done  to  himself,  he  ho- 
nours me  with  the  same  marks  of  his  displea- 
sure, with  which  he  distinguishes  the  most  in-^ 

timatQ 

*  See  the  last  note  of  the  preceding  letter, 

*  Mark  Antony  was  supported  by  all  the  interest  and  ere-* 
dit  of  Cxsar :  who  exerted  himself  very  strenuously  upon 
this  occabion,  by  going  in  person  to  the  several  municipal 
towns  of  Italy  that  lay  nearest  to  his  province  of  Gaul,  in  or- 
der  to  engage  them  in  favour  of  his  friend.  For  these  cities 
being  admitted  to  the  freedom  of  Rome,  had  a  right  of  VOt* 
ing  at  elections.    Hirt,  de  bell.  Gall,  viii.  50. 

Vol.  II.  F 


64 


The  letters         Book  VL 


and  by  the  better  sort  too  among  the  people, 
that  the  general  satisfaction  they  have  express- 
ed, has  mortified  Appias  e\en  more  than  the 
disgrace  of  the  infonnation  itself,  I  have  charged 
liim,  likewise,  with  appropriating  a  Uttle  chapel 
to  his  private  use,  which  belongs  to  the  puWic^ 

It  is  almost  six  weeks  since  1  delivered  my 
former  letter  to  the  slave,  who  now  brings  you 
both:  and  I  am  extremelv  vexed  at  the  fellow's 
delay. — I  think  I  have  no  farther  news  to  send 
you,  except  that  Domitius^  is  in  great  pain  for 
the  success  of  his  approaching  election. 

As  I  earnestly  wish  to  see  you,  I  expect  your 
arrival  with  much  impatience.  I  will  only  add 
my  request,  that  you  would  shew  the  world  you 
areas  sensible  of  the  injuries  done  to  me,  as  1 
have  ever  warmly  resented  those  which  have 
at  any  time  been  offered  to  yourself.     Farewell 

LETTER 

•  ManutiuSy  io  his  remark  upon  this  place,  produces  a 
fMtlge  from  Livy,  by  wliich  be  proves,  that  it  was  the  busi> 
iie»$  of  the  censors  to  take  care  that  ihese  public  chapels 
should  Dot  be  shut  up  by  private  persons  from  the  genera!  and 
comiaoD  use  to  which  they  were  originally  erected.  Coelius, 
tiMrefore,  informed  against  his  adversary  for  having  practised 
4iflMeif  what  it  was  incumbent  upon  him,  by  the  duties  oC 
■^ts  office,  to  punish  in  others.     Vid.  Mimut.  in  ioc, 

?  This  person,  it  is  probable,  is  the  same  who  is  mentioned 
before  id  this  letter.  The  commentators  suppose  that  the 
ekction,  of  which  Cc&lius  speaks,  was  for  a  member  of  the 
augural  college,  in  the  room  ol  Hortensius,  lately  deceased. 
For  it  is  said,  in  the  De.xt  letter,  that  Mark  Antoay  was  his 
competitor;  and  it  appears,  from  Hirtius,  that  the  former  was 
chosen  augar  about  this  tjme.     Jiirt.  de  htL  GallL  vii.  50. 


Book  VI. 


OF  CICERO. 


65 


LETTER  XV. 

[A.U.703.] 

From  the  same. 

i  ■ 

If  you  had  taken  the  king  of  Parthia  himself 
prisoner,  and  sacked  his  metropoHs,  it  would 
not  make  you  amends  for  ^y our  absence  from 
these  diverting  scenes.  You  have  lost,  indeed, 
a  subject  of  inexhaustible  mirth,  by  ^ot  being 
a  spectator  of  the  very  ridiculous  figure  which 
the  luckless  Domitius  displayed,  when  he  lately 
found  himself  disappointed  of  his  election*. 
The  a.ssembly  of  the  people  was  exceedingly 
numerous  upon  this  occasion:  but  the  foj-ce  of 
party  bore  down  all  before  it^,  and  even  carried 
away  many  of  the  friends  of  Domitius  from  his 
interest  This  circumstance  he  imputes  to  my 
management  :  and  as  he  considers  the  prefe^ 
rence  which  has  been  thus  given  to  his  com- 
petitor, as  a  real  injury  done  to  himself,  he  ho^ 
nours  me  with  the  same  marks  of  his  displea- 
sure, with  >\Jiich  he  distinguishes  the  most  in-« 

timatQ 

*  See  the  last  note  of  the  preceding  letter, 

*  Majrk  Antony  was  supported  by  all  the  interest  and  cre- 
dit of  Csesar :  who  exerted  himself  very  strenuously  upon  _ 
this  occasion,  by  going  in  person  to  the  several  municipal 
towns  of  Italy  that  lay  nearest  to  his  province  of  Gaul,  in  or-* 
der  to  engage  them  in  favour  of  his  friend.  For  these  cities 
being  admitted  to  the  freedom  of  Rome,  had  a  right  of  VQt* 
ing  at  elections.    Hirt,  de  bell.  Gall,  viii.  50. 

Vol.  II.  F 


4 


6& 


The  letters 


BodK  VL 


Book  VL 


OF  CICERO. 


er 


timate  of  his  friends.  He  is  at  present,  indeed, 
a  very  diverting  spectacle  of  indignant  wrath  : 
which  he  inipotently  discharges,  in  the  first 
place  against  myself,  for  promoting  the  elec- 
tion of  Mark  Antony,  and  in  the  next  against 
the  people,  ifor  expressing  so  much  satisfaction 
in  his  repulse. 

Under  this  article  of  news  relating  to  Do- 
niitius,  I  must  not  forget  to  mention,  that  his 
son  has  commenced  a  prosecution  against  Sa- 
turninus :  a  man,  it  must  be  owned,  whose  con- 
duct, in  the  former  part  of  his  life,  has  rendered 
him  extremely  odious.  The  public  is  waiting 
with  great  impatience  for  the  event  of  this  trial : 
but  since  the  infamous  Peducseus  has  been  ac- 
quitted, there  is  a  fair  prospect  that  Saturninus 
will  not  meet  with  more  incxoriable  judges. 

As  to  political  aifairs ;  I  have  often  mentioned 
to  you,  that  I  imagined  the  public  trahquilhty 
could  iaot  possibly  be  preserved  beyond  the  pre- 
sent year:  aii3  the  nearer  we  approach  tb  those 
contentions  which  must  inevitably  arise,  the 
niore'evidient  this  danger  a|)peats.  For  Potn- 
pey  is  determined  most  strenuously  to  oppose 
Char's  being  consul,  unless  he  resigns  his  com- 
mand :  and  Cxsar,  on  the  contrary,  is  per- 
^kded  that  he  cannot  be  safe  upon  those 
terms'.     He  has  offered,  however,  to  throw  up 

his 

•  Caesar  had  acted  in  a  very  arbitrary  and  illegal  manner 

during 


i 


commission,  provided  Pompey  will  do  the  same. 
And  thus  their  very  suspicious  friendship  an<J 
alliance  will  probably  end  at  last  in  an  open 
war.  For  my  own  part,  I  shall  be  extremely 
perplexed  in  what  manner  to  act  in  that  con- 
juncture :  and  I  doubt  you  will  likewise  find 
yourself  under  the  same  embarrassment.  On 
the  one  hand,  I  have  an  interest  and  connexion 
with  Pompey 's  party :  and  on  the  other,  it  is 
Ca3sar's  cause  alone,  and  not  his  friends,  that  I 
dislike.  You  are  sensible,  I  dare  say,  that  so 
long  as  the  dissentions  of  our  country  are  con- 
fined within  the  limits  of  debate,  we  ought 
ever  to  join  with  the  more  righteous  side ;  but 
that  as  80on  as  the  sword  is  drawn,  the  strong- 
est party  is  always  the  best*.  With  respect  to 
our  present  divisions,  I  foresee  that  the  senate, 
together  with  the  whole  order  of  judges*,  will 

declare 

during  his  first  consulate :  he  apprehended,  therefore,  and 
with  just  reason,  that  if  h«  should  divest  himself  of  his 
command,  and  return  to  Rome  in  a  private  character,  his 
enemies  would  immediately  arraign  him  for  his  mal-admi- 
nistration.     £>io,  p.  148. 

*  It  were  to  be  wished  that  every  man  who  embraces  this 
maxim,  were  as  little  scrupulous  of  acknowledging  it,  as  the 
author  of  this  letter :  for  of  all  noxious  creatures,  a  knave 
without  a  mask  is  by  far  the  least  dangerous. 

*  The  expression  in  the  original  is,  quiqueres  judkant : 
which  Dr.  Middleton   has  translated,  and  all  who  judge  of 
things.     But  this  explanation  is  contrary  to  the  concurrent 
sentiments  of  the  best  commentators,  who  agree  that  qtd  res 

Judkant  is  a  circumlocution  ioTJudkes.  The  phrase,  it  must 
be  owned,  is  singular :  and  so  is  the  style  of  CoeHus  in  gene* 

F  ?  neraU 


68 


The  letters 


Book  VL 


declare  in  favour  of  Pompey :  and  that  all  those 
of  desperate  fortunes,  or  who  are  obnoxious  to 
the  laws,  will  list  themselves  under  the  banners 
of  Caesar.  As  to  their  armies;  I  am  persuaded 
there  will  be  a  great  inequality.  But  I  hope 
we  shall  have  time  enough  to  consider  the 
strength  of  their  respective  forces,  and  to  de- 
clare  ourselves  accordingly. 

I  had  almost  forgotten  to  mention  a  piece  of 
news,  much  too  remarkable  to  be  omitted.  You 
must  know  that  our  worthy  censor  Appius  is 
become  the  very  prodigy  of  reformers,  and  is 
most  outrageously  active  in  restraining  our  ex- 
travagancies in  pictures  and  statues,  in  limit- 
ing the  number  of  our  acres,  and  abolishing 
usurious  contracts*.  The  man  imagines,  I  sup- 
pose 

ral.  But  what  principally  confirms  the  sense  liere  adopted 
is,  that  it  is  most  aj^reeable  both  to  credibility  and  to  fact. 
For  it  is  by  no  means  probable  that  every  man  of  judgment 
was  an  enemy  to  Cxsar  :  and  it  is  most  certain  that  the  whole 
order  of  judges  were  friends  to  Pompey.  lid.  Ad  Att,  viii. 
1().     Life  ofCk.  ii.  212.  Svo.  ed. 

^  It  IS  probable  that  Appius  had  himself  as  remarkably 
transgressed  the  rules  of  moderation  in  this  last  article,  as  he 
undoubtedly  had  in  the  other  two  :  for  avarice  is  an  atten- 
dant that  seldom  fails  of  accompanying  luxury.  It  is  certain^ 
at  least,  that  his  own  possebsions  were  far  above  mediocrity: 
for  Cicero  frequently  speaks  of  him  in  the  preceding  letters 
as  a  man  who,  by  his  wealth  as  well  as  by  his  alliances  and 
abilities,  was  of  great  weight  in  the  republic.  And  as  to  his 
extravagance  of  the  virtuoso  kind,  it  appears  that  when  h& 
intended  to  offer  himself  a^  a  candidate  for  the  otliceof  aedile, 
he  plundered  all  the  temples  of  Greece,  as  well  as  oiber  less 
»acred  repositories,  in  ordci  to  make  a  collection  of  pictures 

and 


Book  VI. 


OF  CICERO. 


69 


s 


pose,  that  the  censorship  is  a  kind  of  specific 
for  discharging  the  stains  of  a  blemished  repu- 
tation^     But  I  have  a  notion  he  will  find  him- 
self mistaken  :  for  the  more  pains  he  takes  of 
this  sort  to  cle^r  his  character,  the  more  visibly 
the  spots  wi41  appear.— In  the  name  of  all  the 
gods,  my  dear  Cicero,  hasten  hither  to  enjoy 
the  diverting  spectacle  of  Appius  sitting  in 
judgment  on  extravagance,  and  Drusus*  on  de- 
bauchery !  It  is  a  sight,  believe  me,  well  worth 
your  expedition. 

Curio  is  thought  to  have  acted  very  pru- 
dently, in  withdrawing  his  protest  against  the 
decree  for  the  payment  of  Pompey's  troops. — 
But  to  answer  your  question  in  few  words  con- 
cerning my  sentiments  of  public  affairs ;  if  one 
or  other  of  our  chiefs  should  not  be  employed 
against  the  Parthians,  I  am  persuaded  great 
dissentions  will  soon  ensue:  dissentions,  my 

friend, 

and  statues  for  the  decoration  of  the  games  which  were  an- 
nually exhibited  by  those  magistrates.  Ep.Fam.iii.  10.  Bro 
Dorno  43.  Vid.  et  Pigh.  Annal.  anno  69S. 

5  The  batteries  of  ridicule  are  nevermore  properly  point- 
ed, than  when  they  are  thus  levelled  at  counterfeit  virtue:  as 
there  is  nothing  that  more  justly  raises  contempt  and  indig- 
nation than  those  reforming  hypocrites, 

Qui  Curios  simvlwit  ^  Bacchmialia  vivmt,        Juven. 

*  It  is  supposed  from  what  Coelius  here  says  of  him,  that 
he  was  one  of  the  praetors  this  year,     Pigh.  AnnaL  703. 

F3 


70 


The  letters 


Book  VI. 


fiiend,  which  nothing  can  terminate  but  the 
sword,  and  which  each  of  them  seem  well-iu- 
cHned  and  prepared  to  draw.  In  short,  if  your 
own  safety  were  not  deeply  concerned,  I  should 
say  that  Fortune  is  going  to  open  to  you  a 
iliost  entertaining  scene^     Farewel. 

LETTER  XVL 

[A.  U.  703.] 

To  Terentia  and  Tullia. 

Ihe  amiable  young  Cicero  and  myself  are 
perfectly  well,  if  you  and  my  dearest  Tullia  are 
so.  We  arrived  here'  on  the  14th  of  this  month, 
after  a  very  tedious  and  disagreeable  passage, 
occasioned  by  contrary  winds.  Acastus*  met 
me  upon  my  landing,  with  letters  from  Rome; 
having  been  so  expeditious  as  to  perform  his 
journey  in  one-and-twenty  days.  In  the  packet 
which  he  delivered  to  me,  I  found  yours, 
wherein  you  express  some  uneasiness  lest  your 
former  letters  should   not   have  reached  my 

hands. 

•  The  meaning  of  this  seems  to  be  (as  one  of  the  commen- 
tators has  explained  it)  that  if  Cicero  himself  were  not  in 
danger  from  the  dissention  between  Cxsar  and  Pompey,  it 
must  afford  him  great  diversion  to  see  these  two  chiefs,  who 
had  both  of  th«m  used  him  ill,  revenging  his  quarrel  upon 
each  other. 

•  Athens. 

•  A  freedman  belonging  to  Cicero* 


>i 


BopK  yi.       OF  cieERo.  71 

Ijands.  They  have,  my  Tjerent j^ :  and  I  fm 
extremely  obliged  to  you  for  the  very  full  ?c- 
counte  you  g^ve  me  of  ev^ery  tiling  I  was  con- 
cerned to  know. 

I  am  by  no  means  surprised  at  tlj^e  shprtn^? 
of  your  last,  as  you  had  reasou  t^  expect  us  ,so 
SQon.  It  is  witl;i  great  impatience  I  wisli  for  that 
njeeting:   though  I  am  sensjJ^k,  At  th^  .same 
time,  of  the  unhappy  situation  in  \vk\ch  I  sjiali 
find  the  repul>Jic.  AJl  the  lettej;s,  ipde^d,  wbick 
1  received  hy  Aca,stus,   agree  in  a^sw'ing  ,nxe, 
that  there  is  a  general  tendency  to  a  civil  w.aa\:  ^ 
so  that  when  I  come  to  Rome  I  aliall  be  under 
a  necessity  of  declaring  myself  on  one  side  or 
the  other.    However,  since  there  is  no  avoid- 
ing the  scene  which  fort^uJie  has  prepared  for 
me,  I  shall  be  the  more  expeditious  in  my  jour- 
ney, that  I  may  the  better  deUberate  on  the  se- 
veral circumstances  which  must  determine  my 
choice.    Let  me  entreat  you  to  mqe;t  me  as  far 
on  my  way  as  your  health  will  permit. 

The  legacy  which  Precius  has  left  me,  is  an 
acquisition  that  I  receive  with  great  cqnceru,: 
.35  I  tenderly  loved  him,  and  e^ctremely  lam^t 
jhjs^death.  If  ^is^estate  should  be  put  up  .to 
auction  before  my  arrival,  I  beg  you  would  re- 
conjipcnd  my  iutqre^t  in  it  f  o  ,t^)e  ca^-^qf  ^^ 
ticus :  or  in  case  his  affairs  should  not  allow 
him  to  undertake  the.office,  tli^t  yqujvvo^ifl  ,j:e- 

F4  q^^st 


n 


The  letters 


Book  VI. 


Book  VI.         op  CICERO. 


73 


^ 


quest  the  same  favour  of  Camillus.     And  if 
I  tills  should  not  find  you  at  Rome,  I  desire  you 
would  send  proper  directions  thither  for  that 
IrPurpose.     As  for  my  other  affairs,  I  hope  I 
shall  be  able  to  settle  them  myself:  for  I  pur- 
pose to  be  in  Italy,   if  the  gods  favour  my 
voyage,  about  the  13th  of  November.    In  the 
mean  time  I  conjure  you,  my  amiable  and  ex- 
cellent Terentia,  and  thou,  my  dearest  Tullia, 
I  conjure  you  both,  by  all  the  tender  regards 
,   you  bear  me,  to  take  care  of  your  healths. 
Farewel. 

Athens,  October  the  18th. 

LETTER  XVII. 

[A.  U.  703.] 

To  Tiro*. 

1  DID  not  imagine  I  should  have  been  so  little 
able  to  support  your  absence :  but  indeed  it  is 
more  than  I  can  well  bear.  Accordingly,  not- 
withstanding,, 

*  He  was  a  favourite  slave  of  Cicero,  who  trained  him  up  in  ' 
his  family,  and  formed  him  under  bis  own  immediate  tuition. 
The  probity  of  his  manners,  the  elegance  of  his  genius,  and 
his  uncommon  erudition,  recommended  him  to  his  master's 
peculiar  esteem  and  affection  :  of  which  the  letters  addressed 
to  him  in  this  collection,  are  a  lasting  and  remarkable  me- 
morial. They  are  many  of  them  written,  indeed,  in  a  style  so 
different  from  the  ordinary  language  of  friendship,  that  they 
probably  gave  strength  and  currency  to  a  suspicion  highly 
disadvantageous  to  Cicero's  moral  character.  This  imputa- 
tion seems  to  have  been  first  propagated  by  the  son  of  the  ce- 
leijrated  Asinius  Pollio ;  who,  io  a  treatise  which  he  pub- 
lished 


\ 


withstanding  it  is  of  the  last  importance  to  my 
interest^  that  1  should  hasten  to  Rome,  yet  I 
cannot  but  severely  reproach  myself  for  having 
thus  deserted  you.     However,  as  you  seemed 
altogether  averse  from  pursuing  your  vT)yagetill 
you  should  re-establish  your  health,  1  approv* 
ed  of  your  scheme  :  and  I  still  approve  of  it,  if 
you  continue  in  the  same  sentiments.     Never- 
theless, if  after  having  taken  some  refreshment, 
you  should  think  yourself  in  a  condition  to 
follow  me,  you  may  do  so,  or  not,  as  you  shall 
judge  proper.     If  you  should  determine  in  the 
affirmative,   I  have  sent  Mario  to  attend  you: 
if  not,  I  have  ordered  him  to  return  immediate- 
ly. Be  well  assured,  there  is  nothing  1  more  ar- 
dently 

Wished  in  order  to  magnify  his  father's  eloquence  at  the  ex- 
pence  of  Cicero's,  inserted  a  wanton  sonnet,  which  he  pre- 
tended was  composed  by  the  latter  on  Tiro.  But  to  speak 
impartially,  there  does  not  seem,  from  all  that  can  be  traced 
of  Cicero's  private  conduct,  the  least  sufficient  evidence  to 
charge  him  with  bavins'  been  infected  with  this  execrable 
vice  of  his  degenerate  coumrymen.  In  passing  judgment, 
therefore,  on  these  letters  to  Tiro,  it  should  be  remembered 
that  Cicero's  temper  was  more  than  commonly  warm  :  which 
infused  a  peculiar  heat  into  all  his  expressions,  whether  of 
friendship  or  of  enmity.  This,  together  with  those  notions 
of  amity  which  were  carried  by  the  ancients,  in  general,  so 
inucb  higher  than  they  have  risen  in  modern  ages,  may  ac- 
count, perhaps,  for  those  overflowings  of  tenderness  which 
are  so  very  observable  in  the  letters  to  Tiro.  Aul.  Gel,  xnu 
9.     Plitu  Epist.  vii.  4. 

^  As  Cicero  was  full  of  the  hopes  of  obtaining  a  triumph, 
he  was  desirous  of  hastening  to  Rome  before  the  dissent;ous 
between  Caesar  and  Pompey  should  be  raised  to  so  great  a 
teioht  as  to  render  it  impossible  for  him  to  enjoy  thit  honour. 

1 


74 


Tut:  LETTERS  Book  Yl 


dently  desire  than  to  have  you  w'ith  me,  provided 
I  may  enjoy  that  pleasure  without  prejudiQe  to 
yourself.  But  be  assured  too,  that  if  your  con- 
tinuing somewhat  longer  at  Patra;^  should  t>e 
thought  necessary,  I  prefer  your  health  to  all 
other  considerations.  If  you  should  embark  im- 
jjicdiately,  you  may  overtake  me  at  Leucas^ 
But  if  you  are  more  inclined  to  defer  yovr  voy- 
age till  your  recovery  shall  be  better  confirmed, 
let  me  entreat  you  to  be  v^ry  careful  in  choos- 
ing a  safe  ship ;  and  that  you  would  neither  sail 
lit  an  improper  season  nor  without  a  ,convoy. 
I  particularly  chaige  you,  also,  my  dear  Tiro, 
by  all  the  regard  you  bear  me,  not  to  suffer 
the  arrival  of  Mario,  or  any  thing  that  I  have 
said  in  this  letter,  in  the  least  to  influence  your  '"^ 
resolution.  Believe  me,  whatever  will  be  mosjt 
agreeable  to  your  health,  will  be  most  agreea-M* 
ble,  hkewise,  to  my  inclinations :  and,  there^  " 
fore,  I  desire  you  would  be  wholly  governed 
by  your  own  prudence.     It  is  tioie,  I  am  ex- 

tremety  ^^ 

♦  A  city  in  Peloponnesus,  which  still  subsists  under  the 
name  of  Patras.  Cicero  had  left  Tiro  indisposed  in  this  place;  i* 
the  day  before  the  dale  of  the  present  letter. 

'  A  little  Grecian  island  in  the  Ionian  sea,  now  called 
Saint  Maure.  It  was  on  this  island  that  the  celebrated  pro-  u 
montory  stood,  from  whence  the  tender  Sappho  is  said  to 
have  thrown  herself  in  a  fit  of  amorous  despair;  and  which 
the  inimitable  Addison  has  rendered  still  more  celebrated  by 
bis  ingenious  papers  on  the  Lover's  Leap,  See  6fec/.  vol.  3. 
No.  223,  233. 


Book  VL 


ov  CiCEflO. 


7$ 


tremely  desirous  of  your  company,  and  of  en- 
joying it  as  early  as  possible:  but  the  same  af-  | 
fee  tion  which  makes  me  wish  to  see  you  soon, 
makes  me  wish  to  see  you  well.  Let  your  health,  , , 
therefore,  be  your  first  and  principal  care ;  as- 
suring yourself,  that  among  all  the  numberless 
ffood  offices  1  have  received  at  your  hands,  I 
shall  esteem  this  by  far  the  most  acceptable. 

November  the  3d. 


LETTER  XVIIL 

[A.U.  70S.]  .       ? 

To  the  3ame.  * 

I  CANNOT  describe  to  you  (nor  would  I,  in- 
deed, if  it  were  in  my  power)  the  uneasy  situa- 
tion of  my  mind.  I  will  only  say,  that  your 
speedy  recovery  and  return  to  me,  will  aftbrd 
infinite  satisfaction  to  both  of  us. 

yhe  third  day  after  we  parted  brought  me  to 
this  place^  It  lies  within  a  hundred  and  twenty  ,^| 
stadia^  of  Leucas ;  where  I  promise  myself  that' 
we  shall  meet ;  or  at  least,  that  I  shall  find  Ma- 
rio there  with  a  letter  from  you.  In  the  raeau 
while,  let  me  entreat  you  to  be  careful  of  your 
health,  in  proportion  to  the  mutual  tenderness 
we  bear  towards  each  other.     Farevv  el. 

Alyzia,  Nov.  the  5th. 

LETTER 

*  Alyzia,  a  city  of  Acarnia  in  Greece. 
'  About  15  miles. 


76  The  LETTERS 


Book  VI. 


LETTER  XIX. 

[A.  U.  ro3.] 

To  the  same. ' 

1  DISPATCHED  a  letter  to  you  yesterday  from 
this  place,  where  I  continued  all  that  day  in 
order  to  wait  the  arrival  of  my  brother :  and  I 
write  this  before  sun-rise,  just  as  we  are  setting 
out.  If  you  have  any  regard  for  us,  but  par- 
ticularly for  me,  shew  it  by  your  care  to  re-es- 
tablish your  health.  It  is  with  great  impati- 
ence I  expect  to  meet  you  at  Leucas :  but  if 
that  cannot  be,  my  next  wish  is,  that  I  may 
find  Mario  there  with  a  letter.  We  all  of  us,  in- 
deed, but  more  especially  myself,  earnestly  long 
to  see  you :  however,  we  would  by  no  means, 
my  Tiro,  indulge  ourselves  in  that  pleasure, 
unless  it  may  be  Gonsistent  with  your  health. 
There  is  no  necessity,  therefore,  of  has  tening  your 
journey,  as  there  will  be  days  enough  to  enjoy 
your  company  when  once  you  shall  be  thorough- 
ly recovered.  I  can  easily,  indeed,  forego  your 
services ;  but  your  health,  my  dear  Tiro,  I 
would  fain  preserve,  for  your  own  sake  in  the 
first  place,  and,  in  the  next,  for  mine.     Fare- 

weL 

LETTER 


/ 


Book  VL         of  CICERO.  77 

LETTER  XX. 

[A.U.  703.] 

To  the  same. 

Your  letter  produced  very  different  effects 
on  my  mind ;  as  the  latter  part  somewhat  alle- 
viated the  concern  which  the  former  had  occa- 
sioned. I  am  now  convinced  that  it  will  not 
be  safe  for  you  to  proceed  on  your  voyage,  till 
your  health  shall  be  entirely  re-established: 
and  I  shall  see  you  soon  enough,  if  I  see  you 
perfectly  recovered. 

I  find  by  your  letter,  that  you  have  a  good 
opinion  of  your  physician :  and  I  am  told  he 
deserves  it.     However,  I  can  by  no  means  ap- 
prove of  the  regimen  he  prescribed  :  for  soups 
*  cannot  certainly  be  suitable  to  so  weak  a  sto- 
mach.    I  have  written  to  him  very  fully  con- 
cerning you ;  as  also  to  Lyso.     I  have  done 
the  same  likewise  to  my  very  obliging  friend 
Curius :  and  have  particularly  requested  him, 
if  it  shoiiid  be  agreeable  to  yourself,  that  he 
would  remove  you  into  his  house.     I  am  ap- 
prehensive, indeed,  that  Lyso  will  not  give  you 
proper  attendance :  in  the  first  place,  because 
carelessness  is  the  general  characteristic  of  all 

his  countrymen* ;  and,  in  the  next,  because  he 

has 

•  The  Grecians. 


.1 


n 


Tnt  LETTERS 


Book  VI 


Book  VL         of  CICERO. 


r^ 


has  returned  no  answer  to  my  letter.  Never- 
theless, as  you  mention  him  with  esteem,  I 
leave  it  to  you  to  continue  with  him,  or  not, 
just  as  you  shall  think  proper.  Let  me  only 
enjoin  you,  my  clear  Tiro,  not  to  spare  any  ex* 
pence  that  may  he  necessary  towards  your  re- 
covery. To  this  end,  I  have  desired  Curius  to 
supply  you  with  whatever  money  you  shall  re- 
quire: and  I  think  it  would  be  proper,  in  ofder 
to  render  your  physician  the  more  careful  in  his 
attendance,  to  make  him  some  present. 

Numberless  are  the  services  I  have  received 
from  you,  both  at  home  and  abroad ;  in  my  pub-« 
lie  and  my  private  transactions ;  in  the  course  of 
my  studies  and  the  concerns  of  my  family.  But 
would  you  crown  them  all  ?  Let  it  be  by  your 
care  that  I  may  see  you  (as  I  hope  I  soon  shall) 
perfectly  recovered.  If  your  health  should 
permit,  I  think  you  cannot  do  better  than  to 
take  the  opportunity  of  embarking  with  my 
quaestor  Mescinius :  for  he  is  a  good-natured 
man,  and  seems  to  have  conceived  a  friejidshipi 
for  you.  The  care  of  your  voyage,  indeed,  is  the 
next  thing  I  would  reconmicnd  to  you,  after  that 
of  your  health.  However,  I  would  now  by  ncj 
means  have  you  hurry  yourself;  as  my  single 
concern  is  for  your  recovery.  Be  assured,  mjr 
dear  Tiro,  that  all  my  friends  are  yours :  and 
4  con- 


eonsequetitly,  as  your  health  is  of  the  greatest 
importance  to  me  as  well  as  to  yourself,  there 
ate  numbers  who  are  solicitous  for  its  preserva- 
tion. Your  assiduous  attendance  upon  me  has 
hitherto  prevented  you  from  paying  due  regard 
to  it.  But  now  that  you  are  wholly  at  leisure, 
I  conjure  you  to  devote  all  your  application  to 
that  single  object :  and  I  shall  judge  of  the  af- 
fection you  bear  me,  by  your  compliance  with 
this  request.  Adieu,  my  dear  Tiro,  adieu! 
adieu  !  may  you  soon  be  restored  to  the  perfect 
fsnjoyment  of  your  health. 

Lepta,  together  with  all  your  other  friends 
jBalute  you.     Farewel. 

Leucas,  Kov.  the  7th. 
■•/(I  ^id  t'»     ■ 

LETTER  XXI. 

[A.u.ros.1 

To  the  same. 

ThoiJgh  it  was  but  an  hour  or  two  that  yotf 
and  I  spent  with  Xenomenes  at  Thyreum',  yet 
lie  has  conceived  as  strong  an  affection  for 
you,  as  if  he  had  conversed  with  you  his  whole 
Iiife':  so  wonderfully  engaging  is  my  Tiro !  Ac- 
cordingly he  has  promised  to  assist  you  in  all 

-   -  your 


■'  ilrU 


A  city  of  Peloponnesui. 


80 


The  letters        Book  VI. 


Book  VI. 


OF  CICERO. 


81 


i  t 


vour  occasions :  aud  it  is  a  promise,  I  am  well 
persuaded,  he  will  punctually  perform. 

1  should  be  glad,  if  you  find  yourself  better, 
that  vou  would  remove  to  Leucas,  in  order  to 
perfect  your  recovery.  Nevertheless,  1  >vould 
not  have  you  change  your  present  situation^ 
without  taking  the  sentiments  of  Curius  and 
Lyso,  together  with  those  of  your  physician. 

I  had  some  thoughts  of  sending  Mario  back 
to  you  :  whom  you  might  return  to  me  with  a 
letter  as  soon  as  your  health  should  be  some- 
what mended.  But  I  considered,  that  thia 
would  b-e  only  securing  the  pleasure  of  hearing 
from  you  once :  whereas,  I  hope  to  receive  that 
satisfaction  frequently.  And  if  you  have  any  re- 
gard for  me,  you  may  easily  give  it  me,  by  send- 
ing Acastus  every  day  to  the  quay :  where  he 
cannot  fail  of  meeting  with  many  who  will  rea- 
dilv  charge  themselres  with  conveying  a  letter 
to  me.  You  may  be  assured,  in  return,  that  I 
shall  not  suffer  any  opportunity  to  escape  me 
of  sending  a  line  or  two  by  those  who  are  go- 
ing to  Patree. 

I  rely  entirely  upon  the  care  of  Curius  for 
your  recovery :  as  nothing,  I  am  sure,  can  exceed 
either  his  friendship  to  myself,  or  his  huma- 
nity in  general.  I  desire,  therefore,  you  would 
l)e  \vholly  resigned  to  his  direction.     As  I  am 

willing- 


willing  to  sacrifice  the  pleasure  of  yourcompany 
to  the  advantage  of  your  health ;  I  entreat  you 
to  have  no  other  concern  but  what  relates  to 
your  recovery;  all  the  rest,  be  assured,  shall 
be  mine.  Again  and  again  I  bid  you  farew^eL 
I  am  this  moment  leaving  Leucas. 

Nov,  the  7th, 

■      * 

LETTER  XXIL 

[A.  U.  703.] 

To  the  same* 

1  HIS  is  the  third  letter  I  have  written  to  you 
v/ithin  these  four-and-twenty   hours;  and  I 
now  take  up  my  pen  more  in  compliance  with 
my  usual  custom,  than  as  having  any  thino- 
new  to  say.     I  can  only  repeat,  iadecd,  what  I 
have  often  requested,  that  you  would  propor- 
tion the  care  of  your  health  to  the  affection 
you  bear  me.     Yes,  my  Tiro,   I  conjure  you 
to  add  this  to  the  numberless  good  offices  you 
have  conferred  upon  me,  as  the  most  accepta- 
ble of  them  all.     When  you  have  taken,  as  I 
hope  you  will,  all  necessary  measures  for  that 
purpose,  my  next  desire  is,  that  you  would  use 
the  proper  precautions,   likewise,  to  secure  to 
yourself  a  safe  voyage.     In  the  mean  time,  you 
will  not  fail  to  write  to  me,  as  often  as  you 
VoL-IL  G  shall 


^ 


The   letters  Book  VI 


shall  meet  with  any  person  who  is  coming  into 
Italy,  as  I  shall  take  all  occasions  of  doing  the 
same  on  my  part,  by  those  who  may  be  going 
to  Patras.  In  one  word,  take  care  of  yourself, 
my  dear  Tiro,  I  charge  you;  and  since  we  have 
been  thus  prevented  from  pursuing  our  voyage 
together,  there  is  no  necessity  for  resuming 
your's  in  haste.  Let  it  be  your  single  care  to 
re-establish  your  health.  Again  and  again 
farewel. 

Actium',  Nov.  tke  7th,  in  the  evening 


I 


LETTER  XXIIL 

[A.  U.  703.1 

To  the  same. 

I  HAVE  been  detained  here*  this  whole  week, 
by  contrary  winds;  which  have,  likewise,  con- 
fined my  brother  and  his  son  at  Buthrotum'. 
I  am  full  of  anxiety  about  your  health,  though 
by  no  means  surprised  at  not  hearing  from  you, 
as  the  same  winds  which  delay  my  voyage, 
prevent  the  arrival  of  your  letters. 

Let  me  entreat  you  to  exert  your  utmost 
care  in  regaining  your  health ;  and,  I  hope,  as 
soon  as  the  season  of  the  year  and  your  reco- 
very shall  render  it  convenient  for  you  to  em- 
bark, 

■  A  city  in  £pirus« 

*  In  Corey ra. 

^  A  city  in  Epiruf. 


m>K  viJ       if  CICMo. 


8J 


bark,  f<)\x  will  return  tO  Him  who  iftfinitely 
teves  ycni.  Your  arrival  will  be  impatiently 
expected  by  numberless  others,  as  Ivell  as  by 
*iysetf ;  fbr  all  who  bear  any  affection  for  me, 
^t^  tender  well-wishers  to  you.  Again  and 
again,  my  dear  Tiro,  I  conjure  you  to  tak^ 
<are  of  your  health.     FareWel. 

Corey  ra,  Kov.  the  iGihi 

LETTER  XXIV. 

*  [A.  U.  T03.] 

To  the  same. 

We  parted,  you  know,  on  the  second  of  Ko- 
tember;  on  the  sixth  I  arrived  at  Leucas,  from 
whence  I  reached  Actium  the  following  day.  t 
Vas  detained  there,  by  contrary  winds,  till  thd 
iiext  morning,  when  I  sailed  for  Corcyra, 
Where  I  arrived  on  the  ninth,  after  having  had 
a  very  favourable  passage.  The  weather  prov- 
ing exti-emely  tempestuous,  I  was  obliged  to 
continue  in  that  place  till  the  sixteenth,  whea 
I  again  proceeded  on  my  voyage ;  and,  on  the 
seventeenth,  I  entered  the  bay  of  Cassiope,  ^ 
maritime  town  in  Corcyra,  situated  about  an 
hundred  and  twenty  stadia  from  my  formei^ 
pott.  Here  the  wind  shifting,  I  was  detained  till 
the  23d.  In  the  mean  time^  those  ships  that 
had  accompanied  me  thither,  and  were  so  im- 

G  2  patient 


84 


The  letters 


Book  VI. 


Book  VI. 


OF  eiCEiRO, 


^ 


■I 


I' 


I 


t 


patient  as  immediately  to  put  to  sea  again,  were 
many  of  them  lost.     However,  on  the  evening 
of  the  day  I   last  mentioned,  we  weighed  an- 
chor ;  and,  having  sailed  all  that  night  ^  the 
next  day  with  a  fair  gale  from  the  south,  and 
a  very  clear  sky,  we  gained,   with  great  ease, 
the  port  of  Hydruns,  in  Italy.     The  same  wind 
carried  us  the  following  djiy,  being  the  twenty- 
fifth,  to  Brundisium.     I  was  met  at  this  place 
by  Terentia,  (who  desires  me  to  assure  you  of 
her  esteem)  and  we  entered  the  town  together. 
On  the  twenty-seventh,  a  slave  of  Plancius 
arrived  here  with  your  very  acceptable  letter, 
dated  the   thirteenth  of  this  month;  which, 
though  it  did  not  entirely  answer  my  wishes, 
contributed  greatly  to  alleviate  the  uneasiness 
I  was  under  upon  your  account.     I  had  the 
satisfaction,  likewise,   of  hearing,  at  the  same 
time,  from  your  physician,  who  confirms  me 
in  the  hope  that  you  will  soon  be  well. 

And  now,  as  I  perfectly  well  know  yourpru- 
dence,  your  temperance,  and  the  affection  you 
bear  me,  can  it  be  necessary  that  I  should  en- 
treat  you  to  employ  your  utmost  care  to  re- 
estabhsh  your  health?  I  am  persuaded,  in- 
deed,  you  will  do  every  thing  in  your  power 
to  return  to  me  as  soon  a*  possible  ;  however, 
I  would  by  no  means  have  you  more  expedi- 

tiou* 


tious  than  your  strength  will  bear.  I  am  sorry 
you  accepted  Lyso's  invitation  to  his  concert, 
lest  your  going  abroad  so  soon  should  occasion 
a  relapse  on  the  fourth  critical  week^  But, 
since  you  were  willing  to  hazard  your  health 
rather  than  appear  deficient  in  point  of  polite- 
ness, I  hope  you  will  guard  against  any  ill 
consequence  that  may  attend  your  complai-i 
sance. 

•  I  have  written  to  Curius,  to  request  he  would 
make  a  proper  acknowledgment  to  your  physi- 
cian, and  supply  you,  likewise,  with  whatever 
money  your  occasions  shall  require ;  which  I 
will  repay  to  his  order.  You  will  find  an  horse 
and  a  mule  at  Brundisium,  .which  I  have  left 
there  for  your  servcice.  I  am  proceeding  on 
my  journey  to  Rome,  where  I  expect  to  see 

great 

*  The  aacients  entertained  a  variety  of  superstitious  no- 
tions concerning  the  mystical  power  of  numbers,  particular- 
ly the  number  seven,  with  its  several  multiplications  and 
divisions.  Cicero,  in  one  of  his  philosophical  treatises,  calls 
this  number  rerum  omnium  fere  nodus  ;  and  it  is  to  its  parti- 
cular influence  with  regard  to  the  crisis  of  distempers,  that 
he  alludes  in  the  present  passage.  Macrobius  has  retailed 
abundance  of  absurd  learning  in  relation  to  this  wonder-work- 
ing number,  which  he  concludes  with  the  following  reflec- 
tions: Unde  non  immerito  hie  nimerus  totiMS  fabriccn  disperi' 
sator  Sp  dominuSf  cegris  quoque  corporibus  periculum  sanita- 
temve  denuntiat.  This  opinion,  however,  is  not  altogether 
inconsistent  with  a  more  improved  philosophy ;  and  experir 
ence  shews,  that  the  7th,.  the  14th,  &c.  days,  are  frequently 
attended  with  certain  determining  symptoms  in  the  progress 
9f  J^QUte  diseases.     M^acrob.  in  Somn,  Scip,  u  6, 

G3 


80 


The  letters 


Book  VL 


great  commotions  upon  the  entrance  of  the  new 
consuls  into  their  office^  However,  it  is  my 
resolution  not  to  engage  in  the  violent  measures 
of  either  party. 

I  have  only  to  add  my  most  earnest  request, 
that  you  would  not  emhark  without  taking  all 
prudent  precautions   to  secure  a  safe  voyage. 
The  masters  of  ships,  I  know,  who  are  govem-i 
ed  entirely  by  their  hopes  of  gain,  are  always 
in  haste  to  sail.     But  I  entreat  you,  my  dear 
Tiro,  not  to  be  too  hazardous  ;  and  remember 
that  you  have  a  wide  and  dangerous  sea  to  tra- 
verse.    I  should  be  glad  you  would,  if  possi- 
ble, take  your  passage  with  Mescinius,  who  is 
never  disposed  to   run  any  imprudent  risks  in 
expeditions  of  this  kind.     But  if  your  health 
should  not  permit  you  to  embark  so  soon,  let 
me  desire  you  would  look  out  for  some  other 
companion  in  your  voyage,  whose  public  cha- 
racter may  give  him  an  authority  with  the  com- 
mander of  your  ship.     In  a  word,  you  cannot 
more  effectually  oblige  me,  than  by  exerting 
your  utmost  care  to  return  to  me  safe  and  well. 
Again  and  again,  my  dear  Tiro,  I  bid  you  adieu. 

I  have  recommended  you  in  the  strongest 

teiTns  to  the  care  both  of  Curius  and  Lyso,  as 

well  as  of  your  physician.    Adieu. 

LETTERS 

*  The  consuls  entered  upon  their  office  on  the  first  day  of 
the  new  year. 


(    «7    ) 


LETTEES 


5''        -I 


OF 


MARCUS  TULLIUS  CICERO 


Vit 


TO 


SEVERAL  OF  HIS  FRIENDS* 


BOOK  VII, 


LETTER  I. 

[A.  u.  ro4.] 
To  Tiro. 


.•17   nr 


Notwithstanding  that  I  feel  the  want  of 
your  services,  in  every  place  and  upon  all  oc^ 
casions  ;  yet,  be  assured,  your  illness  gives  me 
far  less  concern,  on  my  own  account,  than  on 
yours.  However,  since  it  has  terminated,  as 
Curius  informs  me,  in  a  quartan  ague ;  I  hope, 
if  you  are  not  wanting  in  proper  care,  that  it 
will  prove  a  means  of  more  firmly  establishing 

G4  youy 


oCt 


rl 


I 


The  LETTERSr         Book  VIL 


Book  VII.        op  CICERO. 


89 


■(» 


I 


i 


your'  health.  Be  so  just,  then,  to  the  regard 
you  owe  rae,  as  not  to  suffer  any  other  con- 
cem  to  employ  your  thoughts  but  what  relates 
to  your  recovery.  I  am  sensible,  at  the  same 
time,  how  much  you  suffer  from  this  absence; 
but,  believe  me,  all  will  be  well  whenever  you 
are  so.  I  would  by  no  means,  therefore,  have 
you  in  so  much  haste  to  return  to  me,  as  to 
expose  yourself  to  the  dangers  of  a  winter  voy-^ 
age  ;  nor,  indeed,  to  the  fatigue  of  a  sea-sick-^i 
ness,  before  you  shall  have  sufficiently  recover- 
ed your  strength. 

I  arrived  in  the  suburbs*  of  Rome  on  the 
fourth  of  January,  and  nothing  could  be  more 
to  my  honour  than  the  manner  in  which  I  was 
met  on  my  approach  to  the  city.  But  I  am 
unhappily  fallen  into  the  very  midst  of  public 
dissention ;  or  rather,  indeed,  I  find  myself 
surrounded  with  the  flames  of  a  civil  war.  It 
was  my  earnest  desire  to  have  composed  these 

dangerous 

'  A  quartan  ague  was  supposed  by  the  ancirnts,  to  be  ex- 
tremely salutary  in  its  consequences.  Aulus  Gellins  men-,, 
tions  a  contemporary  orator  iinrl  philosopher,  who  wrote  aj 
serious  pa neg)'ric  upon  this  wholesome  distemper  ;  whereiiji^ 
he  supported  his  opinion  upon  the  authority  of  a  passage  jo^j 
iome  writings  of  Plato,  which  are  now  lost.    Noci.  ^//.  xvii^i 

In  ..:■  ■  tut 

*  As  Cicero  claimed  the  honour  of  a  triumph,   he  wasi 
obliged,  till   bis  pretensions  should    be  detormiwed,  to  take 
lip  his  residence  wilhoot  the  walls  of  the  city,  agrerably  to  9 
custom  which  has  been  frequently  mentioned  in  the  preced- 
ing observations. 


dangerous  ferments ;  and  I  probably  might,  if 
the  passions  of  some,  in  both  parties,  who  are 
equally  eager  for  war,  had  not  rendered  my  en- 
deavours ineffectual.  My  friend  Caesar  has 
written  a  very  warm  and  menacing  letter  to  the 
senates.  He  has  the  assurance,  notwithstanding 
theirexpress  prohibition,  to  continue  at  the  head 
of  his  army,  and  in  the  government  of  his  pro- 
vince ;  to  which  very  extraordinary  measures 
he  has  been  instigated  by  Curio.  The  latter,  in 
conjunction  with  Quintus  Cassius  and  Mark 
Antony,  without  the  least  violence  having  been 
offered  to  them*,  have  withdrawn  themselves  to 
»'-  v/jssar, 

'  -^The  purport  of  Ca?sar's  letter  was,  that  he  declared  him- 
8$)f  »williBg  to  resign  his  command,  provided  Porapey  did  the 
same  ;  but  if  this  were  not  complied  with,  that  he  would  im- 
mediately march  into  Italy,  and  revenge  the  injuries  done 
both  to  himself  and  to  the  liberties  of  the  republic.  Appian* 
Bel.  Civ,  ii. 

*  The  letter  mentioned  in  the  last  note  wis  received  by 
the  senate  with  great  indignation,  and  considered  as  an  open 
declaration  of  war.  Accordingly  they  voted,  that  if  Caesar 
did  not  resign  his  command,  by  a  certain  day  named  in  their 
decree  for  that  purpose,  he  should  be  deemed  an  enemy  to 
his  country.  This  decree  was  protested  against  by  Curio, 
Quintus  Cassius  Longinus^  and  Mark  Antony,  in  virtue  of 
their  prerogative  as  tribunes  of  the  people :  and  while  the 
senate  were  deliberating  in  what  manner  to  punish  the  au- 
thors of  this  protest,  they  were  advised,  by  the  consul  Lentu- 
lus,  to  withdraw  before  any  decree  against  them  bad  actu- 
ally passed.  Perhaps  this  is  all  that  Cicero  means,  when 
he  asserts,  that  "  no  violence  had  heey\  offered  to  these  tri- 
**  bunes:"  for,  otherwise,  his  assertion  would  be  contradict- 
ed by  the  unanimous  testimony  of  all  the  aivcient  historiansV 
Jppian.  Bel,  Civil,  ii.  Cctsar,  Bel,  Civil,  i.  5.    Dio,  xli.  p.  15S, 


so 


Th»  letters 


Book  VIT. 


BpojcVII,       of  CICERO. 


91: 


II 


CaDsar.  They  took  this  step  immediately  af- 
ter the  senate  had  given  it  in  charge  to  the  con- 
suls', the  praetors,  and  the  tribunes  of  the  peo- 
ple, together  with  those  of  us  who  are  invested 
with  proconsular  power,  to  take  care  of  the 
interests  of  the  republic\  And  never,  in  truth, 
were  our  liberties  in  more  imminent  danger; 
as  those  who  are  disaffected  to  the  common- 
wealth, never  were  headed  by  a  chief  more  ca- 
pable, or  better  prepared  to  support  them.  We 
are  raising  forces  with  all  possible  diligence, 
under  the  authority,  and  with  the  assistance  of 
Pompey,  who  now  begins,  somewhat  too  late, 
I  fear,  to  be  apprehensive  of  Caesar's  power. 
In  the  midst,  however,  of  these  alarming  com- 
motions, the  senate  demanded,  in  a  very  full 
house,  that  a  triumph  should  be  immediately 
decreed  to  me.  But  the  consul  Lentulus,  in 
order  to  appropriate  to  himself  a  greater  share 
ill  conferring  this  honour,  told  them,  that  he 
would  propose  it  himself  in  proper  form,  as 
soon  as  he  should  have  dispatched  the  affairs 
that  were  necessary  in  the  present  conjuncture. 
In  the  mean  time,  I  act  with  great  modera- 
tion : 

'  The  consols  of  this  year  were  Ciodias  Marcellus,  and 
Cornelius  Lentulus  Crus. 

•  By  this  decree,  the  magistrates  therein  named  were  in- 
vested with  a  discretionary  power  of  acting  as  they  should 
judge  proper  in  the  present  exigency  of  public  affaiis ;  a  de- 
cree to  which  the  senate  never  had  recourse,  but  in  cases  of 
the  utmost  danger  and  distress.     Ccts,  B^l,  Civil,  i.  5, 


tion:  and  this  conduct  renders  my  influence 
with  both  parties  so  much  the  stronger.  The 
several  districts  of  Italy  are  assigned  to  our 
respective  protections ;  and  Capua  is  the  de- 
partment I  have  taken  for  mine. 

I  thought  it  proper  to  give  you  this  general 
information  of  public  affairs ;  to  which  I  will 
only  add  my  request,  that  you  would  take  care 
of  your  health,  and  write  to  me  by  every  op- 
portunity.  Again  and  again  I  bid  you  farewel. 


.^an.  the  12th. 


U" 


I  * 


LETTER  II. 

[A.  U.  T04.] 

ToRuFus*. 

I  SHOULD  have  used  my  utmost  endeavours 
to  have  given  you  a  meeting,  if  you  had  con- 
tinued in  your  resolution  of  going  to  the  place 
you  first  appointed  :  and  though  you  were  wil- 
ling to  spare  me  that  trouble,  yet  be  assured  I 
should,  upon  the  least  notice,  have  shewn  you 
that  I  prefer  your  convenience  to  my  own. 

If 

*  Lucius  Mescinius  Rufus,  the  person  to  whom  this  letter 
is  addressed,  was  quaestor  to  Cicero  in  Cilicia.  His  conduct 
in  that  office  seems  to  have  given  occasion  to  the  character 
we  find  of  him  in  the  letters  to  Atticus,  where  he  is  repre- 
sented as  a  man  of  great  levity,  and  of  a  most  debauched 
and  avaricious  turn  of  mind.    Jd  Mt.  iy,  3. 


4 


9« 


The  LETTERS 


Book  VIL 


Book  VII. 


OF  CICEHO.r 


93 


If  my  secretary,  Marcus  Tulliiis,  were  not 
absent,  I  should  be  able  to  send  you  a  more 
explicit  answer  to  your  letter.  This,  however, 
I  will  assure  you,  that,  with  regard  to  exhibit- 
in<^  the  accounts*  you  mention,  (for  I  will  not 
venture  to  be  so  positive  as  to  any  other  in- 
stance) he  has  not  intentionally  taken  any 
step  injurious  either  to  your  interest  or  your 
reputation.  As  to  my  own  share  in  this  trans- 
action, had  the  law  formerly  observed  in  mat- 
ters of  this  kind  been  still  in  force,  I  should 
not,  most  certainly,  have  laid  my  accounts  be- 
fore the  treasury,  \vithout  having,  agreeably  to 
those  connexions  that  subsist  between  us',  pre- 
viously examined  and  adjusted  them  with  you. 
But  the  ancient  usage  in  these  cases  being  now 
superseded  by  the  Julian  law4,  which  obliged 
me  to  leave  a  stated  account  in  the  province, 
and  exhibit  an  exact  copy  of  it  to  the  treasu- 
ry;  I  paid  you  that  compliment  in  Cilicia, 
which  I  should  otherwise  have  paid  you  at 
Rome.  Nor  did  I  at  that  time  by  any  means 
endeavour  to  control  your  accounts  by  mine ; 

on 

*  Thfse  were  Cicero's  accounts  relating  to  the  public  ex- 
penccs  of  his  government  in  Cilicia  ;  in  which  there  seems  to 
have  been  articles  inserted  not  altogether  favourable  to  the 
reputation  of  Rufus  as  quaestor,  and  which  he  was  desirous, 
therefore,  should  have  been  altered  or  suppressed  before 
^hey  had  been  delivered  into  the  treasury  at  Rome. 

*  As  pwconsul  and  quxstor. 

*  See  p.  38  of  this  vol. 


on  the  contrary,  I  made  concessions  to  you^  of 
which,  I  dare  say,  you  will  never  give  me  rea- 
son to  repent.  The  fact  is,  1  resigned  my  se- 
cretary (whose  conduct  you  now,  it  seems, 
suspect)  entirely  to  your  directions  :  and  it  was 
TuUius,  together  with  your  brother,  (who.yQti 
desired  might  be  joined  with  him)  that  settled 
these  accounts  with  you  in  my  absence.  I 
concerned  myself,  indeed,  no  farther  than  just 
to  cast  my  eye  over  them ;  and  I  considered 
the  copy,  which  I  thus  received  from  my  scr 
cretary,  as  coming  immediately  from  your  bro- 
ther's own  hand.  In  this  whole  transaction  I 
have  treated  you  with  all  possible  respect  and 
confidence;  and  it  was  not  in  my  power  to 
have  employed  a  person  to  make  up  these  ac'*- 
counts,  who  would  have  been  more  cautious 
than  my  secretary  that  nothing  should  appear 
to  your  disadvantage.  That  I  have  paid  a  ner 
cessary  obedience  to  the  Julian  law,  by  depOf 
siting  a  copy  of  my  stated  accounts  in  the  two 
principal  cities  of  the  province,  is  most  certain. 
But  though  I  had  many  reasons  for  being  de- 
sirous of  passing  them  as  expeditiously  as  pos- 
sible ;  yet  I  should  have  waited  your  return  to 
Rouieat-Jl^j^jl  .^ot  considered  their  bejng  thus 
deposited  iii  the  province  as  just  the  same 
thing,  with  respect  to  you,  as  if  they  ha4  been 
actually  carried  into  the  treasury  at  Rome. 

1  As 


H 


Tnt  LETTERS         Book  VIL 


As  to  the  article  you  mention  relating  to 
Volusius,  it  could  by  no  means  be  inserted  in 
the  account.  For  I  am  informed  by  those  who 
are  conversant  in  business  of  this  kind,  parti* 
cularly  by  my  most  judicious  friend  Camillus, 
that  Volusius  cannot  stand  charged  with  the 
sum  in  question,  instead  of  Valerius' ;  but  that 
the  sureties  of  the  latter  are  necessarily  liablo 
to  the  payment  of  this  debt.  It  amounts,  how- 
ever, to  no  more  than  nineteen  thousand  ses- 
terces^  and  not  to  thirty  thousand^  as  you 
state  it  in  your  letter.  For  I  had  recovered 
part  of  it  from  Valerius,  and  it  is  only  the  re-* 
mainder  that  I  have  charged.  But  you  are 
unwilling,  it  should  seem,  to  allow  me  the  ere* 
dit  of  having  acted  upon  this  occasion  eithef 
with  generosity  in  regard  to  my  friends,  or 
(what,  indeed,  I  less  value  myself  upon)  even 
with  common  caution  with  respect  to  myself. 
Why  else  should  you  suppose  that  my  lieute- 
nant and  prajfect  owe  it  to  my  secretary,  ra- 
ther 

'  The  nature  of  this  affair  concerning  Valerius  and  Volu- 
sius, is  utterly  inexplicable,  as  it  refers  to  a  transaction  of 
which  we  know  neither  the  full  circumstances,  nor  the  par- 
ticular laws  to  which  it  relates.  Vain,  therefore,  would  be 
the  task  of  retailing  the  several  opinions  of  the  commenta- 
tors upon  this  and  the  following  passages,  or  the  attempt  to 
clear  them  up  by  any  additional  conjectures  ;  as  it  is  better 
to  remain  quietly  in  the  dark,  than  to  blunder  about  in 
quest  of  a  light  which  is  no  where  to  be  found. 

^  About  1521.  sterling. 

^  About  2401.  sterling. 


Book  VII. 


OF  CICERO. 


§i 


ther  than  to  myself,  that  they  are  eased  of  a 
very  severe,  and,  in  truth,  a  very  unconscion- 
able burthen  ?  and  why  else  should  you  ima- 
gine me  so  negligent  in  a  point  wherein  both 
my  duty  and  interest  were  equally  and  greatly 
concerned,  as  to  suffer  my  secretary  to  settle 
this  account  just  as  he  thought  proper,  with- 
out requiring  him  even  to  read  it  over  to  me  ? 
In  short,  though  I  flatter  myself  that  I  have 
taken  no  imprudent  measures  in  this  business, 
yet  yoa  will  not  believe,  it  seems,  that  I 
have  bestowed  upon  it  even  a  single  thought 
The  truth,  however,  is,  that  the  scheme  of 
throwing  off  this  debt  from  Volusius  was  en- 
tirely my  own ;  as  I  am  endeavouring,  likewise, 
to  discharge  the  sureties  of  Valerius,  and  even 
Marius  himself,  from  so  severe  a  penalty.  And 
I  have  the  satisfaction  to  find  this  my  design 
not  only  generally  approved,  but  applauded ; 
though,  to  tell  you  the  whole  truth,  it  is  not, 
I  perceive,  greatly  relished  by  my  secretary. 
Nevertheless,  I  thought  it  the  duty  of  an  honest 
man  to  spare  the  fortunes  of  such  numbers  of 
his  friends  and  fellow-citizens,  when  he  could 
do  so  without  prejudicing  the  public  interest 
In  regard  to  what  you  mention  concerning 
LucCeius,  I  have  acknowledged  that  the  money 
was  deposited  in  the  temple  by  my  orders,  in 
pursuance  of  Pompey's  advice.     Th^  latter  has 

4  received 


96 


The  letters        Book  VIL 


received  this  sum  for  the  public  use' ;  as  Ses* 
tius  possessed  himself  of  that  which  you  had 
deposited  in  the  same  place.  I  jun  very  sensi- 
ble that  this  is  an  affair  in  which  you  are  in  no 
sort  concerned.  However,  I  should  be  ex- 
tremely sorry  that  I  omitted  to  particularise 
this  circumstance,  if  it  did  not  most  authenti- 
cally appear,  by  the  decree  of  the  senate,  and 
by  the  letters  which  passed  between  us,  for 
whose  use  it  was  delivered  into  the  hands  of 
Sestius.  It  was  the  notoriety  of  this  fact,  and 
the  certainty  that  it  was  of  no  importance  to 
you,  which  prevented  me  from  making  parti- 
cular mention  of  it.  But  since  you  wish  that 
I  had,  I  wish  so  too.  I  agree  with  you  in 
thinking  that  it  is  proper  you  should  insert  this 
article  into  your  accounts :  nor  will  they,  by 
that  mean,  appear  in  the  least  inconsistent 
M  ith  mine ;  as  you  will  only  add  what  I  omit- 
ted, and  vouch  my  express  orders.  I  have  no 
reason,  most  certainly,  to  deny  them;  nor 
should  I,  indeed,  if  I  had,  when  you  desired 
the  contrary. 

As  to  the  nine  hundred  thousand  sesterces', 
they  are  specified  in  the  manner  that  you,  or 
your  brother,  at  least,  required.  And  if  there  is 

any 

*  For  the  purposes,  perhaps,  of  the  war  which  he  was 
BOW  preparing  to  carry  on  against  Caesar, 

*  About  7263I.  of  our  money. 


Book  VII.        of  CICERO. 


97 


any  item  in  respect  to  my  lieutenant  which  you 
are  dissatisfied  with,  and  which  (after  having  re- 
nounced the  privilege  I  was  entitled  to  by  the 
decree  of  the  senate'^)  it  is  in  my  power  to  rec- 
tify ;  I  will  endeavour  to  do  so  as  tar  as  I  legally 
may".  In  the  mean  time,  be  well  assured  I  shall 
take  no  step  in  this  affair,  if  I  can  possibly  avoid 
it,  that  may  prove  inconsistent  either  with  your 
interest,  or  your  inclination. 
.    In  answer  to  your  inquiry  concerning  my  ho- 
norary list"  ;  I  must  acquaint  you,  that  I  have 
only  delivered  in  the  names  of  my  prcefects  and 

military 

'°  It  seems  pro.bai)le,  from  this  passage,  that  there  was 
some  decree  of  the  senate  which  indulged  the  proconsuls  with 
a  longer  lime  for  bringing  in  their  accounts,  than  they  were 
entitled  to  by  the  law :  which  privilege  Cicero  thought  proper 
to  wave.     Manutius, 

"  There  is  a  passage  in  the  original  between  this  and 
the  next  sentence,  which  is  omitted  in  the  translation.     It 
runs  thus :  Tu  certepccunia  exacta ita  efferre  ex  meis  rationibus 
rtlatis  non  oportuit,  nhi  quid  me  fallit :  sunt  enim  alii  peri-- 
ttores.  The  principal  difficulty  of  this  period  lies  in  the  words 
exacta  and  eferre:  which  the  commentators  have  endeavoured 
to  remove  by  various  readings  and  conjectures.     But  as  nei- 
tber  their  readings  nor  conjectures  offer  any  thing  satisfac- 
tory,  I  leave  it  to  the  explanation  of  some  more  successful 
mterpreter;  applauding,  in  the  mean  time,  the  modesty  of 
Grapvius,  who  closes  his  remark  upon  this  place  with  the  fol- 
lowing ingenuous  acknowledgment,  so  unusual  in  a  critic  by 
profession  :  Nihil  in  re  tarn  obscura  dcfinio,  says  he,  nee  mihi 
tpse  satirfacio. 

"  The  proconsuls,  upon  their  return  to  Rome,  after  the 
expiration  of  their  provincial  ministry,  used  to  present  a  list 
of  such  of  their  officers  and  attendants,  who  had  particularly 
distinguished  themselves  by  their  zeal  and  fidelity  in  their  re- 
«pective  functions.     Manutius, 

Vol,  II.  H 


98 


The  letters        Book  VII. 


Book  Vlt.  of  ClCERO. 


military  tribunes,  together  with  those  who  at- 
tended me  as  proconsular  companions''.  I  had 
conceived  a  notion  that  no  certain  time  was  li- 
mited for  this  purpose :  but  I  have  since  been 
informed,  that  it  is  necessary  to  present  this  list 
Mdthin  thirty  days  after  exhibiting  the  accounts. 
I  am  sorry  you  had  not  the  benefit  of  paying 
this  compliment ;  as  I  have  no  ambitious  views 
to  serve  by  taking  it  upon  myself.  But  it  is 
still  open  to  you,  with  respect  to  the  centurions 
and  the  companions  of  the  military  tribunes : 
the  law  not  having  fixed  any  time  for  present- 
ing a  list  of  that  sort. 

I  have  nothing  farther,  I  think,  to  observe 
upon  your  letter,  except  in  relation  to  the  hun- 
dred thousand  sesterces'*.  I  remember  you 
wrote  to  me  upon  this  subject  before,  in  a  letter 
dated  from  Myrina'^,  and  acknowledged  it  to 
be  an  error  of  your  own  :  though,  if  there  be 
any  error  in  the  case,  it  seems  ratlier  chaige- 
able  on  your  brother  and  my  secretary.  But 
be  that  as  it  will,  the  mistake  was  discovered 
too  late  to  be  corrected :  for  I  had  then  quitted 
the  province  and  deposited  my  accounts.  I  be- 
lieve, 

•'  These  were  generally  young  noblemen  wko  attended 
the  proconsul  into  hi&  government  as  a  sort  of  volunteers,  in 
order  to  gain  experience  and  acquaint  themselves  with  busi- 
ness.    Manutius, 

'♦  About  8®0I. 


99 


''  A  mariiiroe  City  in  i£olia,  a  province  of  Asia. 


JeTl 


Iieve,  therefore,  that  the  answer  I  returned  was 
agreeable  to  the  disposition  in  which  I  always 
stand  towards  you,  and  to  those  hopes  I  had 
then  conceived  of  my  finances.     I  do  not, 
however,  remember  that  I  carried  my  com- 
plaisance so  far,  as  to  make  myself  your  debtor 
for  that  sum  ;   any  more  than  I  imagine  that 
you  intended  this  part  of  your  letter  as  one  of 
those  importunate  memorials,   so  frequent  in 
these  times  of  general  distress.    You  will  con- 
sider, that  I  left  in  the  hands  of  the  farmers  of 
the  revenues  at  Ephesus,  all  the  money  which 
legally  accrued  to  me  from  my  government : 
and  that  this  whole  sum,  amounting  to  no  less 
than  two  millions  two  hundred  thousand  ses- 
terces'**,  was  seized  for  the  use  of  Pompey. 
Whatever  effect  this  great  loss  may  have  upon 
me,  I  am  sure  you  ought  not  to  be  discomposed 
at  yours :  and  you  should  only  look  upon  it  as 
a  dish  the  less  at  your  table,  or  an  inconsider- 
^  able  diminution  of  what  you  might  otherwise 
have  expected  from  my  liberality.  But  had  yoti 

actually 

'•  One  may  judge  from  hence  what  immense  weahh^hose 
rapacious  governors  of  the  Roman  provinces  acquired,  who 
did  not  scruple  to  oppress  the  people  committed  to  theii^ 
"j  charge,  by  every  mtithod  of  extortion  that  avarice  could  sug- 
'^est.  For  Cicero,  who  professed  to  conduct  himself  with  the 
tnostexemphaf^disimerestednefs  in  his  province,  was  yet  able, 
it  appears,  to  acquire  so  large  a  sum  in  a  single  year  as  ab  ut 
17,6'OOl.  of  our  money  ;  and  that  too  from  a  province  by  no 
means  the  most  considerabfe  of  the  republic's  dominions. 

H  2 


.     4. 


II 

.J 

I 


100 


The  letters        Book  VII. 


actually  advanced  these  hundred  thousand  ses- 
terces to  me  out  of  your  own  purse,  yet,  to  be 
sure,  you  are  too  complaisant  to  insist  upon  a 
security :  and  as  to  paying  them,  were  I  ever 
80  well  disposed  for  that  purpose,  you  must 
know  it  is  not  in  my  power. — You  see  I  answer 
you  in  the  same  spirit  of  pleasantry,  in  which 
I  suppose  that  part  of  your  letter  was  written 
to  which  this  refers.  But  to  be  serious:  if  you 
think  that  TuUius  can  be  of  any  service  to  you 
in  this  affair,  I  will  send  him  as  soon  as  he  re- 
turns from  the  country. — 1  hare  no  objection 
to  your  destroying  this  letter  when  you  shall 
have  read  it.     Farewel. 

m 

LETTER  III. 

[A.  u.  ro4.] 

To  Terentia  and  to  Tullia. 

In  what  manner  it  may  be  proper  to  dispone 
of  yourselves  during  the  present  conjuncture,  is 
a  question  which  must  now  be  decided  by  youf 
own  judgments  as  much  as  by  mine.  Should 
Caesar  advance  to  Rome,  without  committing 
hostilities,  you  may  certainly,  for  the  present 
at  least,  remain  there  unmolested :  but  if  this 
madman  should  give  up  the  city  to  the  rapine 
of  his  soldiers,  I  much  doubt  whether  even 
Dolabella  s  credit  and  authority  will  be  suffi- 
cient 


Book  VIL         of  CICERO. 


K)l 


cient  to  protect  you.    I  am  under  some  appre- 
hension, likewise,  lest,  while  you  are  deliberating 
in  what  manner  to  act,  you  should  find  your- 
selves so  surrounded  with  the  army  as  to  render 
it  impossible  to  withdraw,  though  you  should 
be  ever  so  much  inclined.    The  next  question 
is,  (and  it  is  a  question  which  you  yourselves 
are  best  able  to  determine)  whether  any  ladies 
of  your  rank  venture  to  continue  in  the  city : 
if  not,  will  it  be  consistent  with  your  character 
to  appear  singular  in  that  point  ?  But  be  that 
as  it  will,  you  cannot,  I  think,  as  affairs  are  now 
situated,  bemorecommodiously  placed,  than  ei- 
ther with  me,  or  at  some  of  our  farms  in  this  dis- 
trict :  supposing,  I  mean,  that  I  should  be  able 
to  maintain  my  present  post.  I  must  add,  like- 
wise, that  a  short  time,  it  is  to  be  feared,  will 
produce  a  great  scarcity  in  Rome.     However, 
I  should  be  glad  you  would  take  the  senti- 
ments  of  Atticus,    or  Camillus,  or  any  other 
friend  whom  you  may  choose  to  consult  upon 
this  subject.  In  the  mean  while  let  me  conjure 
ypu  both  to  keep  up  your  spirits.    TJie  coming 
over  of  Labienus'  to  our  party,  has  given  af- 
fair§  A-Hiuch  better  aspect.     And  Piso  having 
^t  li  jn4  withdrawn 

; .  *  Labrenus  was  one  ofCaesar's  principal  and  most  favourite 
lieutenants  in  Giul ;  where  he  greatly  distinguished  himself  by 
his  military  conduct.    The  Pompeian  party,  ihsrefore,  were 


.1 

P 


i 


il 


102 


The  letters        Book  VII. 


withdrawn  himself  from  the  city,  is  likewise 
another  very  favourable  circumstance :  as  it  is 
a  plain  indication,  that  he  disapproves  the  im- 
pious measures  of  his  son-in-lavv\ 

I  entreat  you,  my  dearest  creatures,  to  write 
to  me  as  frequently  as  possible,  and  let  me 
know  how  it  is  with  you,  as  well  as  what  is 
going  forward  in  Rome.  My  brother  and  ne- 
phew, together  with  Rufus,  affectionately  sa- 
lute you.     Farewel. 

Mintursx^,  Jan.  the  CStb. 

LETTER 

Ytry  assiduous  in  their  applications  to  gain  hirri  over  to  their 
cau^e  ;  as  they  promised  themtselves  great  ad  vantages  from 
his  accession.  But  none,  however,  appears  to  have  aU^nded 
it:  and  be  who  in  Ca;sai*s  camp  had  bevu  esteemed  a  very 
considerable  officer,  seemed  to  nave  lost  all  bis  credit  the 
moment  he  went  over  to  PompeyV 

— Fortis  in  arniis 

Ccrsaris  lAibieHus  eraty  nunc  transfuga  xilis. 
Hirf.  hcL  Gal.  viii.  52.    Ad  Att,  %iii.  ?.    Lvcan  v.  345. 

*  Cicero,  as  has  been  observed  jm  a  former  note,  has  painted 
the  tharactev  of  Piso  in  the  darkest  and  must  odious  colours. 
But  satires  and  invectives  are  not  generally  the  most  faithful 
memoirs  :  and  it  is  evident,  from  Piso's  conduct  upon  tbisoc- 
n  casion,  that  he  was  by  no  means  what  our  author  represents 
him  in  one  of  his  orations,  ;>or^fw^i/»i  «$  pctftejunvs  reipvhlicce; 
at  least  if  C<Ysar's  measures  were  really  more  unfavourable 
iq  liberty  than  those  of  Pompey.  See  vol.  1.  p.  37.  rem.  2. 
'  'A  town  in  Campania.  This  letter,  in  some  of  tbte  Latin 
editions,  bears  date  in  July,  iu  others  no  month  is  specified. 
IWt  it  was  undoubtedly  written  in  January  :  as  it  appears  by 
a  letter  to  Atticus,  that  Cicero's  wife  and  daughter  came  to 
him  at  Formiz  on  4he  2d  of  February.    Ad  Att.  vii.  IS. 


Book  VII.        of  CICERO.  103 

LETTER  IV, 

■ni  rA.U.r04.] 

To  the  same. 

It  well  deserves  consideration,  whether  it  will 
be  more  prudent  for  you  to  continue  in  Rome, 
or  to  remove  to  some  secure  place  within  my 
department:  and  it  is  a  consideration,  my 
dearest  creatures,  in  which  your  own  judg- 
ments must  assist  mine.  What  occurs  to  my 
present  thoughts  is  this.  On  the  one  hand,  as 
you  will  probably  find  a  safe  protection+in  Do- 
labella,  your  residing  in  Rome  may  prove  a  mean 
.  of  securing  our  house  from  being  plundered  ; 
should  the  soldiers  be  suffered  to  commit  any 
violences  of  that  kind.  But,  on  the  other,  whea 
I  reflect  that  all  the  worthier  part  of  the  re- 
public have  withdrawn  themselves  and  their 
families  from  the  city,  I  am  inclined  to  advise 
you  to  follow  their  example.  I  must  add,  like- 
wise, that  there  are  several  towns  in  this  canton* 
of  Italy  under  my  command,  which  are  parti- 
cuiarly  in  our  interest :  as  also,  that  great  part 
of  our  estate  lies  in  the  same  district.  If  there- 
fore 

♦  This  epistle  seems  to  have  been  a  sort  of  duplicate  of  the 
former :  and  though  it  is  dated  from  a  different  place,  it  was 
probably  written  on  the  same  day,  and  conveyed  by  some  un- 
expected opportunity  that  occurred  after  he  had  dispatched 
the  foregoing. 

H4 


\i 


I: 


i: 


194 


The  letters        Book  VIL 


Book  VII. 


OF  CrCERO.  105 


fore  you  should  remove  hither,  you  may  not 
only  very  frequently  be  with  me,  but  whenever 
we  shall  be  obliged  to  separate,  you  may  be 
safely  lodged  at  one  or  other  of  my  farms.  How- 
ever, I  am  utterly  unable  to  determine,  at  pre- 
sent, which  of  these  schemes  is  preferable :  only, 
let  me  entreat  you  to  observe  what  steps  other 
ladies  of  your  rank  pursue  in  this  conjuncture; 
and  be  cautious,  likewise,  that  you  be  not  pre- 
vented from  retiring,  should  it  prove  your 
choice.  In  the  mean  time,  I  hope  you  will 
maturely  deliberate  upon  this  point  between 
yourselves ;  and  take  the  opinion  also  of  our 
friends.  At  all  events,  I  desire  you  would  di- 
rect Philotimus  to  procure  a  strong  guard  to 
defend  our  house:  to  which  request  I  must 
add,  that  you  would  engage  a  proper  number 
of  regular  couriers,  in  order  to  give  me  the  sa* 
tisfaction  of  hearing  from  you  every  day.  But, 
above  all,  let  me  conjure  you  both  to  take  care 
of  your  healths  as  you  wish  to  preserve  mine. 
Farewel. 

Forraiae',  the  25th. 

LETTER 

'  A  maritime  city  in  Campania,  not  far  from  Minturnse^ 
the  place  from  whence  the  preceding  letter  is  dated. 


I  i .' 


LETTER  V. 

[A.  U.  704.] 

ToTiRo. 

You  will  easily  judge  of  our  distress,  when 
I  tell  you,  that  myself  and  every  friend  of  the 
republic  have  abandoned  Rome,  and  even  our 
country,  to  all  the  cruel  devastations  of  fire 
and  sword.  Our  affairs,  indeed,  are  in  so  des- 
perate a  situation,  that  nothing  less  than,  the 
powerful  interposition  of  some  favoura1)ie 'M- 
vinity,  or  some  happy  turn  of  chance,  can  se- 
cure us  from  utter  ruin.  It  has  been  the  per- 
petual purpose  of  all  my  speeches,  my  yotes, 
antC  my  actions,  ever  since  I  returned  toRome^ 
to  preserve  the  public  tranquillity.  But  an  in- 
vincible rage  for  war  had  unaccountably  seized 
not  only  the  enemies,  but  even  those  who  are^ 
esteemed  the  friends  of  the  commonwealth :' 
and  it  was  in  vain  I  remonstrated,  that  nothing 
was  more  to  be  dreaded  than  a  civil  war.  Cae- 
sar,  m  the  mean  time,  unmmdful  of  his  former 
character  and  honours,  and  driven,  it  should 
seem,  by  a  sort  of  phrenzy,  has  taken  posses^, 
sion  of  Ariminum,  Pisaurum,  Ancona,  and  Ar- 
retum.  In  consequence  of  this,  we  have  all  de- 
serted the  city :  but  how  prudently,  or  how 
^  heroically, 


\  ■\  f^ 


W6 


The  letters        Book  VIU 


heroically,  it  now  avails  not  to  examine'. 
Thus  you  see  our  wretched  situation  \  Caesar, 
however,  has  offered  us  the  following  condi- 
tions :  in  the  first  place,  that  Pompey  shall  re- 
tire to  his  government  in  Spain  ;  in  the  next, 
that  the  army  we  have  raised  shall  he  disbanded,, 
and  our  garrisons  evacuated.  Upon  these  terms 
he  promises  to  deliver  up  the  farther  Gaul  into 
the  hands  of  Domitius,  and  the  nearer  into 
those  of  Confidius  Nonianus,  the  persons  to 
whom  these  provinces  have  been  respectively 
allotted.  He  farther  engages  to  resign  his  right 
hi  suing  for  the  consulship  in  his  absence,  and 
is  willing  to  return  to  Rome  in  order  to  appear 
^s  a  candidate  in  the  regular  form*.  We  have 
accepted  these  propositions,  provided  he  with- 
draws 

■  So  Inng  as  CuE?sar  kept  himself  wiihin  the  limits  of  his 
province,  Pompey  ijcated  his  designs  of  invading  Italy  with 
the  utmost  contempt  :  but  C«-ar  had  no  sooner  parsed  the 
AubfCoi),  and  possessed  himself  of  those  several  towns  roen-< 
tinned  in  this  letter,  than  ii  appeared  that  Pompey  was  ut- 
terly tinprepartd  to  oppose  him.  Accordingly,  he  with- 
diew  from  Home  into  the  more  southern  parts  of  Italy,  with 
grt*at  precipitation,  in  order,  as  he  pretended,  to  assemble 
4ht)  troops  in  those  quarters.  But  hii  real  intention  se«ms 
lo  have  been  to  retreat  gradually  to  Brundisium,  and  from 
tH«nce  to  draw  the  war  into  Greece.  The  probable  reason 
of  thia  conduct  will  be  e xpUincd  in  a  subsequent  note.  See 
rem.  4.  on  letter  xiii,  of  this  book,  p.  130.  Ad  Ati,  vii.  S. 
Hio,  xh. 

*  In  the  original  it  U  5«  proesentem  trmundinum  petUurum, 
Manutius  conjectures,  from  this  expression,  that  it  was  usu- 
%\  lo  proclaim  the  names  of  tbe  ctndidates  on  three  market 
days,  at  whtch  time  the  candidates  tkem^elves,  it  is  proba« 
We,  were  reqinred  to  be  present. 


Book  VII.  of  CICERO. 


107 


draws  his  forces  from  the  several  towns  above* 
mentioned,  that  the  senate  may  securely  assem* 
ble  themselves  at  Rome,  in  order  to  pass  a  de- 
cree for  that  purpose'.  If  he  should  think  pro- 
per to  comply  with  this  proposal:  there  are 
hopes  of  peace ;  not  indeed  of  a  very  honoura- 
bly one,  as  the  terms  are  imposed  upon  us :  yet 
any  thing  is  preferable  to  our  present  circum- 
stances. But  if  he  should  refuse  to  stand  to  hi* 
overtures,  we  are  prepared  for  an  engagement: 
but  an  engagement  which  Csesar,  after  having 
incurred  the  general  odium  of  retracting  his 
own  conditions,  will  scarce  be  able  to  sustain*. 
The  only  difficulty  will  be,  to  intercept  his 
march  to  Rome.  And  this  we  have  a  prospect 
of  effecting,  as  we  have  raised  a  very  consider- 
able body  of  troops :  and  we  imagine  that  he 
will  scarce  venture  to  advance,  lest  he  should 
lose  the  two  Gauls  ;  every  part  of  those  pro- 
vinces, excepting  only  the  Transpadani,  being 

utterly 

^  The  expression  in  the  text  is  somewhat  ambiguous  :  ut 
une  metu  de  iis  conditumihus  Roma  senatus  haberi  possit.  But 
the  sense  is  determined  by  the  following  passage  in  a  letter  to 
Atticus,  where,  speaking  of  these  proposals  of  Caesar,  and 
of  the  terms  upon  which  they  were  accepted,  he  adds :  id  si 
fecisset  (sc.  Caesar)  responsum  est  ad  urbem  not  redituros  esse 
df  rem  per  senatum  confecturos.     Ad  Att,  vii .  .14. 

♦  The  favourable  prospect  which  Cicero  gives  in  this  and 
the  following  passages  of  the  senate's  affairs,  is  so  little  con- 
sistent with  the  despondency  he  expresses  in  the  former  part 
^of  this  letter,  that  one  would  be  apt  to  suspect  they  were  two 
distinct  epistles,  which  some  negligent  transcriber  had  blend- 
ed together. 


108 


The  letters         Book  Vlf. 


Book  VIL  of  CICERO. 


1.09 


Utterly  averse  to  him.    There,  are,  likewise,  six 
of  our  fegions  from  Spain,  commanded  by  A- 
franius  and  Petreius,  and  supported  by  a  very 
powerful  body  of  auxiliaries,  that  lie  in  his  rear. 
In  short,  if  he  should  be  so  mad  as  to  approach; 
there  is  great  probability  of  his  being  defeated,!? 
we  can  but  preserve  Rome  from  falling  into  his 
hands.  It  has  given  a  very  considerable  blow  to 
his  cause,  that  Labienus,  who  had  great  credit 
in  his  army,  refused  to  be  an  associate  with  him 
in  his  impious  enterprize'.    This  illustriou^per- 
son  has  not  only  deserted  Cassar,  but  joined  him- 
«eif  with  us ;  and  it  is  said  that  many  others,  of 
the  same  party,  intend  to  follow  his  example*  - 
T.I  have  still  under  my  protection  all  the  coast 
thatexteuds  itself  from  Formice.  I  did  no^  choose* 
to  enter  more  deeply  at  present  into  the  opposi- 
tion against  Caesar,  thatmyexhortations,inorde*^ 
to  engage  him  to  an  accommodation,  mightbo 
attended  with  the  greater  weight  If  war,  how*^ 
ever,  must,  after  all,  be  our  lot,  it  will  be  impossi- 
ble far  me,  I  perceive,  to  decline  theirammand 
of  some  part  of  oiir  fQrces^    To  this  .uneasy  re^ 
flection,  J  must  add  anotlier :  my  son4n*la:MP 
Dolabella  has  taken  party  with  Cassar,    m^y^i 

'  See;  rearj.  I.  pn  let.  ^.  of  ihis  boqli,  p.  IQio^  tO  9I>S> 
•  This,  howevc^r,  Cicero  contrived  to  avoid :  and  though,^ 
aftwr-  hiticH  he!>i{«tioi>,  he  fo^lovcd  Pompcy  ihto<rrecce, •he 
would  accept  of  no  command  in  bis  army,  nor  was  he  present 
•t  any  engagement. 


X  I  was  willing  to  give  you  this  genei^al  infor- 
mation of  public  aifairs :  but  suffer  it  not,  I 
charge  you,  to  make  impressions  upon  your 
mind,  to  the  disadvantage  of  your  health.  I 
have  strongly  recommended  you  to  Aulus 
Varro,  whose  disposition  to  serve  you,  as  well 
as  whose  particular  friendship  to  myself,  I  have 
thoroughly  experienced.  I  have  entreated  him 
to  be  careful  both  of  your  health  and  of  your 
voyage,  and,  in  a  word,  to  receive  you  entirely 
under  his  protection.  I  have  full  confidence  that 
he  will  comply  with  my  request,  as  he  gave  me 
his  promise  for  that  purpose  in  the  most  oblig- 
ing manner. 

As  I  could  not  enjoy  the  satisfaction  of  your 
company  at  a  season  when  I  most  wanted  your 
faithful  services,  I  beg  you  would  not  now 
hasten  your  return,  nor  undertake  your  voyage 
either  during  tlie  winter,  or  before  you  are  per- 
fectly recovered.  For,  be  assured,  I  shall  not 
think  I  see  you  too  late,  if  I  see  you  safe  and 
well.  1  have  heard  nothing  of  you  since  the 
letter  I  received  by  Marcus  Volusius:  but,  ia^ 
deed,  I  do  not  wonder  at  it,  as  I  imairine  the 
severity  of  the  winter  has  hkewise  prevented 
my  letters  from  reaching  your  hands.  Take 
care  of  yourself,  I  conjure  you,  and  do  not  sail 
tiff  your  health  and  the  season  shall  be  favour- 
'^''^''i  able. 


no 


The  letters  to6K  VI I. 


able.    My  son  is  at  Formiae  :  but  Terentia  and 
Tullia  are  still  at  Rome.     Farewel. 

Capua,  January  the  29th. 


LETTER  VL 

[A.  U.  704.] 

QuiNTUs  Cicero^  to  Tiro. 

Your  ill  state  of  health  occasions  us  great 
uneasiness,  for  though  we  have  the  satisfaction 
to  hear  that  it  is  not  attended  with  any  danger- 
ous symptoms,  yet  we  are  informed  that  your 
cure  must  be  the  work  of  time.  But  we  can- 
not think,  without  much  concern,  of  being 
longer  separated  from  one  whose  agreeable  com- 
pany 

^  The  brother  of  our  author.  Quintus  Cicero,  after  hav- 
ing passed  through  the  office  of  praetor,  in  the  year  of  Rome 
692,  was  elected  governor  of  Asia,  where  he  presided  three 
years,  with  little  credit.  He  distinguished  himiself.  in  Gaul, 
as  one  of  Caesar's  lieutenants ;  but  at  the  breaking  out  of 
the  civil  war,  he  followed  the  fortune  of  Pompey.  Howevq*, 
after  the  battle  of  Pharsalia,  he  made  his  peace  with  Caesar, 
and  returned  into  Italy.  He  appears  to  have  been  of  an 
haughty,  imperious,  petulant  temper,  and,  in  every  view  of 
his  character,  altogether  unamiable.  But  what  gives  it  a 
cast  of  peculiar  darkness,  is  his  conduct  towards  Cicero, 
whom  he  endeavoured  to  prejudice  in  the  opinion  of  Caesar, 
at  a  time  when  they  were  both  the  supplicants  of  his  cle- 
mency. This,  as  far  as  can  be  collected  from  the  letters  to 
Atticus,  was  an  instance  of  the  basest  and  most  aggravated 
ingratitude :  for,  whatever  Cicero's  failings  might  be  in  other 
respects,  he  seems  to  have  had  none  with  regard  to  Quintus, 
but  that  of  loving  him  with  a  tenderness  he  ill  deserved.  Ad 
Ait,  i.  15.  vi.6.  xi.  8. 


Book  VIL  of  CICERO. 


Ill 


pany  we  learn  to  value  by  the  regret  we  feel  at 
his  absence.  However,  notwithstanding  I  wish 
most  earnestly  to  see  you,  yet  I  conjure  you  not 
to  undertake  so  long  a  voyage  till  the  season  and 
your  health  shall  render  it  safe.  A  tender  con- 
stitution can  ill  defend  itself  against  the  severity 
of  the  weather,  even  when  sheltered  under  the 
covert  of  a  warm  roof;  much  less  when  exposed 
to  all  the  inclemencies  both  of  sea  and  land. 

Foes  to  the  xveak  are  chilling  blasts  severe  : 

as  Euripides^  assures  us.  What  credit  you  may 
give  to  that  divine  poet,  I  know  not ;  but  for 
myself,  I  look  upon  his  verses,  as  so  many  indu- 
bitable maxims.  In  short,  if  you  have  any  value 
for  me,  endeavour  the  re-establishment  of  your 
healtli,  that  you  may  as  soon  as  possible  return 
to  us  perfectly  recovered.  Farew^el :  and  con- 
tinue to  love  me. — My  son  salutes  you. 

LETTEE 

^ ..',  A  celebrated  Greek  dramatic  poet,  whose  death  is  said 
TO  nave  been  occasioned  by  excessive  joy  for  having  obtafned 
the  poetic  prize  at  the  Olympic  games.  Be  flourished  abitHlit 
40Q  years  before  the  Christian  ara,  ,        , 


"(    3<'l 


i»^ 


i 


lis 


Taz  LETTERS       Book  VII. 


Book  VIL  of  CICERO. 


lis 


LETTER  VIL 

[A.  U.  704.] 

Marcus  C(elius  to  Cicero. 

Was  there  ever  a  more  absurd  mortal  than 
your  friend  Pompey,  to  act  in  so  trifling  a  man- 
ner, after  having  raised  such  terrible  commo- 
tions ?  Let  me  ask,  on  the  other  hand,  whether 
you  ever  heard  or  read  of  a  general,  more  un- 
daunted in  action,  or  more  generous  in  victory, 
than  our  illustrious  Caesar?  Look  upon  his 
troops,  my  friend,  and  tell  me  whether  one 
would  not  imagine,  by  the  gaiety  of  their  coun- 
tenances, that  instead  of  having  fought  their 
way  through  the  se\'efest  climates  in  the  most 
inclement  season,  they  had  been  regaling  them- 
selves in  all  the  delicacies  of  ease  and  plenty ! 
And  now,  will  you  not  think  that  I  am  immo- 
derately elated  ?  The  truth  of  it  is,  if  you  knew 
the  disquietude  of  my  heart,  you  would  laugh 
at  me  for  thus  glorying  in  advantages  in  which 
I  have  no  share.  But  I  cannot  explain  this  to 
•you  till  we  meet,  which  I  hope  will  be  very  spee- 
dily. For  it  was  Caesar's  intention  to  order  me 
to  Rome,  as  soon  as  he  should  have  driven 
Pompey  out  of  Italy  :  and  this  I  imagine  he 
1  has 


has  already  effected,  unless  the  latter  should 
choose  to  suffer  a  blockade  in  Brundisium. 

My  principal  reason  for  wishing  to  be  at 
Rome,  is,  in  order  to  pour  forth  the  fulness  of 
my  heart  before  you  ;  for  full,  believe  me,  it  is. 
And  yet  the  joy  of  seeing  you,  may,  perhaps, 
make  me,  as  usual,  forget  all  my  complaints/ 
and  banish  from  my  thoughts  whatever  I  in- 
tended to  say.     In  the  mean  while,  I  am  oblig- 
ed (as  a  punishment,.  I  suppose,  for  my  sins) 
to  march  back  towards  the  Alps.     I  ^m  indebted 
for  this  agreeable  expedition  to  a  foolish  insur- 
rection of    the  Intemelii\     BelUemus,  whos« 
'  mother  was  a  slave  in  the  family  of  Demetrm^^ 
and  who  commands  the  garrison  there,  was 
bribed  by  the  opposite  faction  tp  s^j^e  an4 
strangle  a  certain  nobleman  of  that  place,  called 
Domitius,  a  person  connected  wi;tbk  ,C»sar  by 
the  rites  of  hospitality '.    The  citizens,  in  resent- 

*The  inhabitants  of  Intexnclium  :  a  mariiirae  ciiy  in 
Ligum,  now  called  Vintimiglia,  in  the  territories  of  Genwr 
Hospitality  was  considered,  from  the  earJkst  ttsts  as 
in  tlie  number  of  the  primary  social  duties.  The  sacred 
historian  has  recorded  a  rei^arkkWe  instanch:  of  this  kind  in 
the  story  of  Lot,  who  would  rather  bave  ^crificed  his  own 
daughters  to  the  flagitious  demands  of  his  infamous  lellowi- 
citiMc,  than  give  up  the  supposed  frafVdlefs  whom  be  had 
m  vited  lo  rest  undertake  shad&m  ofkis  r^v  Agreeably  to  this 
Eastern  practice,  Homer  frequently  in<*ulcates  the  majrtft 
that  strangeri  are  lo  be  recieived  as  guests  from  heavan  ;       ' 

HftVOi, 

Vol.  II.  I 


114 


The -LETTERS        Book  VU. 


Bo^K 


«!ft.«It?Bfta 


lllr 


':i* 


meht'djptfcis  outrage,  Mveiiketi  up  aTtns,  and 
I  have  the  moitirfication  to  be  commanded  to 
march  thither  through  a  deep  snow,  with  four- 
cohorts,  in  order  to  quell  them.  Surely  tlie 
Domitii  are  a  curse  wherever  they  exist  I 
wish,  at  least,  that  our  ^heayen-descended* 
chief  h^d  acted  like  this  other^  of  more  humble 

lineage, 

And   Horace   raeniions  the  hohpitable   connection,  among 
those  of  nearest  and  most  tender  regard  :  ., 

*"*  Quo  sit  ambre  parens,  quofraUr  amandus  Sf  hospes. 
R  ^11  appear  %y  several  passages  in  the  foUowing^  letters, 
that  this  gextarotts  vii^^we  «ub«isted  among  the  Ro^ian^,  whea 
every  other  was  almost  utterly  extinct.  Thr  custom,  indeed, 
ofreceving  stranger*  was  to  generally  established,  tfiai  tta- 
vclUrs  >^ere  scjirce  ever  reduced  to  the  necessity  of  i^ing 
up  their  lodgings  at  an  Inn.  Those  who  were  thus  enter- 
Uine<i,  oriifeo  exercised  the  *tme  Titos  of  humanity  towardf 
others^  were  called  hos-piUs :  aud  they  mutually  exchai^ed 
Certain  tokens  which  were  tervrie^'teiseira  kdspitaUfatis,  Tliese 
llerfi  preeery^dw  ianulief,  and  carefully  transmit  led  from 
father  to  son,  as  memorials  and  pledges  of  the  saipe  gopd 
oificeis  ^etiveen*  •  thvfr  descendants.  Oat.  xix.  Hoifitt. 
Odt/st.  xiv.  a07.     Hor,  Art.  Poet,  313. 

♦  Caesar  affected  to  be  thought  a  descendant  from  iEneas, 
jwbo,  it  is  well  known,  was  supposed  to  have  received  his 
lirtb  from  Venus.  Accordingly,  in  allusion  to  this  pretend- 
ed divinity  of  bis  lineage,  he  always  wore  a  ring,  on  wiiich 
was  engraven  the  figure  of  that  goddess,  and  with  which  he 
used  to  seal  his  most  important  dispatches-  The  propaga- 
ting a  belief  of  this  kind,  must  necessarily  have  proved  of 
singular  service  to  C«sar*s,purp#ii«s  ;  as  it  impressed  a  jpo^ 
jculiar  veneration  of  his  person  upon  the  minds  of  the  popu- 
luce.  Anthony  very  successfully  made  use  of  i.t  to  instigate 
them  against  the  cpqspiratofSvwhen  he  reminded  them,  in  th^ 
funeral  otatioD  which  he  spoke  over  Ca::>»r's  b«>dy,  that  he 
derived  bis  origin  on  one  side  from  the  ancient  kings  of  Italy, 
and  on  the  other  from  the  immortal  gods.  Suet,  in  vit.  Jul, 
6,     Dio.  xliv.  p.  235.  259- 

5  BclUenus,  commaifder  of  the  garrison  at  Intemelium  ; 

and 


lineage,  and  had  treated  Domitius,  at  Corfiis 
nium^  in  the  sauie  iiuatxier  .that  his  namesake 
ha$  been  treated  at  Intemelium.     I  salute  your 
son.     Farewel. 


'k^h 


LETTER  VIII. 

lA.  0.704] 

To  Tmo. 


f 

I  SHALL  think  myself  indebted  to  you  for  all 
that  I  most  value,  whenever  you  give  me^jie 
satisfaction  of  seeing  you  perfectly  recovei-(?d. 
In  the  mean  time,  I  aai  in  the  utmost. impktC 
^W  ^P'^  *^^  return  of  Menande^r,  whom  I  lately 
dispatched  with  a  letter  to  you.''  Iconjureyou, 
if  you  have  any  affection  for  me,  to  take  care 
ot  your  healtli,  and  lel  me  see  you  as  soon  as  i^ 
shall  be  thoroughly  re-established,     far ©wdL 

April  the  lOih.  '      '  ''^ 

...^  LETftR 

WM  *bo,  a>  appean  /rora  this  hetter,  #88  thts'son  oTa  reteslt. 
.^'^.^^k""'  Enobarbus,  a  little  before  the  date  pfihis  !ef 

^*a*  at  kngth  tfbhged  to  wirrender  t^e  ,town. .  Cas«r  lr«ued 

C  ^  ^Ti  8*.""°'i'y'  ^n<'  not  onfp  gave  hilThis  ffi^ 
Wt  rwK.r«rf  io  h.m  a  6^m  o»  money  wbici,  he  had  IpdgeiK 
the  public  treasury  of  the  city.     Some  wcftuat  of  the  o«a^ 

-*^,.V.  •  ...  .1  2 


.   CI' J. 


'i  lo  i'/ij^i. 


116 


Th&  letters        Book  VII: 


TV." 


LETTER  IX. 

[A.U.  70I4.] 

To  the  same. 

iNf  EN'ANDER  retumcd  a  day  later  than  I  ex- 
pected, which  caused  me  to  pass  a  miserable 
night,  in  the  most  disquieting  apprehensions. 
But  though  your  letter  did  not  remove  my  ut\. 
certainty  as  to  your  health,  it,  in  some  mea- 
sure, however,  dispelled  the  gloom  which  had 
overcast  my  mind,  as  it  was  an  evidence,  at 
itast,  that  you  were  still  in  being. 

I  have  bidden  adieu  to  all  my  literary  amuse- 
;inettt5  of  every  kind  ;  nor  shall  I  be  capable  of 
liesuming  them  again  till  I  see  you  here.  ^lean- 
U^Hile,  I  desire  you  would  give  orders  that  your 
physician's  demands  may  be  satisfied  ;  for  which 
Ipurpose  I  have,  likewise,  written  to  Curius.  The 
if ormer,  I  am  told,  attributes  ypur  distemper  to 

that  anxiety  which  I  hear  you  indulge.  But, 
if  you  have  any  regard  for  me,  a^wai^en  in  your 

brdst  that  manly  spirit  of  philosophy,  for  which 
;1  ID  tenderly  love  and  value  you.;   It  U  impo§- 

tible  you  should  recover  your  health,  if  you  do 

not  preserve  your  spirits,  and  1  entreat  you  to 
J  keep  them  up,  for  my  sake  as  well  as  your  own. 
**1  de^fe  you,  like^vise,  to  retain  Acastus,  that 

ydu 


Bo6Kf  VII.       ^liatTCERO. 

you  may  be  the  more  conveniently  attended. 
In  a  word,  my  Tiro,  preserve  yourself  for  me.- 
Remember  the  time,  for  the  performance  of 
my  promise^  is  approaching ;  but,  if  you  return 
to  Italy  before  the  day  I  fixed  for  that  purpose, 
I  will  execute  it  immediately.  Again  and  ag^uu 
I  bid  you  fareweU 


^t  Uill 


LETTER  X. 

[A.  U.  704.] 

To  the  same. 

-^GYPTA    returned  hither'on  the   12th  df 
April.  But,  though  he  assured  me  that  you  had 
lo^t  your  fever,  and  were  much  mended,  it 
gave  me  great  uneasiness  to  find,  that  you  wcie 
hot  yet  able  to  write ;  and  the  more  $0^  asHisr- 
'-mia,  whom  I  expected  the  same  day,  knot 
yet  arrived.     The  concern  I  feel  on  account  of 
your  health  is  beyond  all  belief.    Fred  me  irom 
this  disquietude,  I  conjure  you,  and,  iki^rctufli^ 
Twill  ease  you  of  all  yours.     1  would  wiitea 
longer  letter,  if  I  thought  you  were:  i»^  ^dispo- 
sition to  read  one,     I  will,  therefom,  oaily^add 
my  request,  that  you  would  employ  that  acdd- 

'^^' '  T,'^^  commentaf oi^sHpposc,  wltli^etit  pr^tebiliq^^t 
:  thii  aludes  to  a  promUe  which  Qccro  had  made  to  Tiro,  of 
giving  him  his  freedoiiL 

"^  I  3  m 


01 


lis 


Thi?  letters        BoeK  VIL 


Iffit  vnderstasding  for  iriMch  I  sq  gr?stly  esr 
teem  you^  in  studying  what  itetkods  may  best 
preserve  you  both  to  yourself  and  roe.  I  repeat 
it  again  and  again^  take  caie  of  your  hcahh. 
Farewel 

•^  Since  I  wrote  the  above,  Hennia.  ia  arrived. 
He  delivered  your  letter  to  me>  which  is  written, 
r  perceive,  with  a  very  unsteady  hand.  How- 
ever, I  cannot  wonder  at  it,  ^ter  so  severe  an 
illness.  1  dispatch  iEgypta  with  this ;  and,  as 
he  is  a  good-natured  fellow,  and  seems  to  have 
an  affection  for  you,  I  desire  you  would  keep 
him  to  attend  you.  Hq  i^  accompanied  with 
a  cook^  whom  I  have^  likewise,  sent  for  your 
use.    F^ewel. 


lETTER  XL 

fA.  U.  7M,] 

QuixTus  CiczRO  to  the  sameV 

I  If  AVE  Btrongly  reproached  yoa  in  my  own 
Hiind,  for  suffering  a  second  packet  to  com# 
fway  without  inelosing  a  htier  to  roe.  All 
yoitf  own  rhetoric  will  be  insufficient  to  avert 
the  punishment  you  have  incurred  by  this  ux>- 

kind 

•  Tke  tiiD«  uben  thi»  le««f  wn  writben  t»  «hftgethcr  un- 
cettain,  and  it  is  placed  nnd^r  the  prtsant  year,  not  be«avM' 
there  is  any  gocd  reason  for  it;  but  kecattte  UMre  it  fiOB^ 
a||mst  it. 


BO0|t  VIL:  Of^:; 


•L>|..  I    . 


Ki9\ 


kind  negleiBti  and  yOH  must  liave  recourse  ta^f 
soi^  eiabojiate  production  of   yoi^  pation^t 
eloquence,  to  appease  my  wrathf  /jXhough  I^ 
doiiht  whether  even  his  oratory  will  be  al))^  ,ta . 
persuade  me  that  you  hav«  not  been  guilty  ic^ 
a  wry  unpardonable  on>ission»   ^J,  retn^n^lwjHt 
was  a  custom  of  my  mother,  to  put^  seal  upo^ 
her  empty  casks;  inord^r,  if  anyofiheiDliquarai 
should  be  purloined,  tl^at  the  seiwijipl*;  mi^jU 
not'prctend  the  vessel  hod  been  exhausted  be»ti 
fore.     In.  the  same  manner  you  sh  uldwdtftt^ 
me,  though  you  have  nothing  to  say,  thatypuc^ 
empty  letters  may  be; a  proof,, atUca^.  titafey^^. 
would  not  defraud  me  of  whatil  value.     I.v^-t^ 
lue  all,   indeed,    that  come  fromvyojii,  as  the- 
very  sincere  and  agreeable  dictates  of   your 
heart.     Earewel,  arid  continue  to  love  me. 


LETTER  XII. 

To  Servius  SujLPicius'*    -...„T 

I  AM  informed,  by  a  letter  from  my  friend 
Trebatius,  that  you  latdy  enquired  after  mfe; 
and  expressed,  at  the  same  time,  much  concern^ 

that 

*  Servius  Sulpicius  Rufus  was  descended  from  one  of  the 
noblest  and  naost  con&idei:able  families  in  Rome ;  seyeraj  of 
bU.  ancestors  having  borne  the  Highest  offices  and,  honour*  of 
|ho<  republic.    He  was  elected  to  the  consular  dignitj^  ip  the 

1 4f  '/^'^^ 


m 


The  letters 


B«ox  VI J; 


that  your  indisposition  had  prevented  you  from 
scfjnji.me  when  I  was  in  the  suburbs  of  Rome 
To  which  he  adds,  that  you  are  desirous,  if  L 
shovfl4  approach  the  city,  of  baviog  a  confe-*: 
rence  with  me,  in  order  to  deliberate  in  what 
manner  it  becomes  us  to  act  in  this  critical  sea*t 
son.  I  sincerely  wish  it  had  been  in  our  powef 
to  have  conferred  together,  ere  our  affairs  were 
utterly  ruined,  as  I  am  persuaded  we  might 
have  contributed  somewhat  to  the  support  of  our 
declining  constitution.  For,  as  you  had  long 
foreseen  these  public  calamities^  sol  had  theplea- 
s^e.tjc^j^^i,  whii&t  I  was  in  Cilicia,  that;  t|oth 
during  your  consulate,  and  afterwards,  yoil  aW> 
waysstood  forth  an  advocate  for  the  peace  of  our 
country*.  But,  though  I  totally  concurred  with 
ya\viii  these  sentiments ;  yet,  upon  my  return  to 
Rome,  it  was  too  late  to  enforce  them.  I  was,  in-r, 
d^ed,  w^holly  unsupported  in  my  opinion,  and  not 
only  found  myself  among  a  set  of  men  who  were 

year  of  Rome  709;  to  which  his  eminent  tkii)  in  the  la>K 
principally  contributed.  Suet,  in  vit,  Tiberii.  Dio.  xli.  p. 
14i.  Sftrtmi  6.  on  let,  1.     £.  ix. 

uf>Sui|)icitis^wat  well  a^are,  tbftt  the  recallini;  Cxsa^fronin 
bisgoyernment  in  Gaul  before  the  expiration  of  the  time  for 
wbivb  il  was  granted  him,  together  with  the  refusing  him  the 
prjvilege,  which  he  had  obtained  by  an  express  law,  of  suing 
for  t.hf  consulate  in  his  absence,  would  inevitably  draw  on  a 
civil  wiir.     And,  accordingly,  he  exerted  himself  wkh  great^ 
zeal  IB  opposing  his  colleague,  Marcus  Claudius  Marcellus^-^^ 
in  the  leTcral  aueropts  which  he  made  h%  t^at  purpose.  Di^^ 
ubi  svp,  ,  V 


mbKvit     oF^fl^EWd. 


m 


madly  inflamed  with  a  thirst  of  war,  but  ^V 
considered,  hkewise,  as  one  Avho,  by  a  long' aP*' 
sence,  was  utterly  unacquainted  w5th  the  trtif 
stai^e  of  the  commonwealth.     But  though  it 
seems  in  vain  to  hope  that  our  united- cdiifl^ds 
caft-now  avail  the  republic,  yet,  if  they  can  hi- 
any  degree  advantage  ourselves,  there  is  fi8^ 
man  with  whom  I  should  mom  iv^illingly  co^:' 
fe?^   Not,  indeed,  with  any  View^M^^cfimig^ 
the  least'  part  of  our  former  dighities;^Wkf W^ 
consider  in  what  manner  we  may  most- %o^'> 
thily  deplore  then-  loss:  for  I  welijcnow^fii^^ 
your  mind  is  amply  stored  witli  tliose  e^campfe' 
of' the  great,  and  those  maxhns  of  the  wise, 
which  ought  to  guide  and  animate  our  coir-' 
duct  in  this  important  conjuncture,      Vrtrrifo 
•-I  should  h'l^ve  fold  you  before  now,  thatyotiK 
presence  in  the  senate,  or,  to  speak  moVe  ptdl^ 
jierly,  in  the  convention  ofsemtors\  would  B^  ^ 
altogether  ineffectual,  if Thad'iiot  beefi^ajlpfki'^ 
hensive  of  giving  offence  to  that  person  who 
endeavoured,  by  rastancing  your  example,  to 
persuade  me  to  join  them.     I  vei')^ plainly  a#ii^ 
sured  him,  however,  wheiv  .he  applied  to  me  for 


b*»i(iij,;^  &um     ! 


^Tft  The  meeting  of  the  senate;  to  which  Cicerd  aHudet,  was 
held. m  Rome,  after  Pompey  had  deserted  ItaFy.    Cicero 
cal»S4t      a  convention  of  senators,*«M  not  admitting  the  W"^ 
gamy  of  Its  assembling;  both  the  consul*,  togcthef.  with  rh"^' 
principal  magistrates  of  the  Tepublic,    having   tvitbdrawrf' 
themselves,  together  wiih  Pompey,  into  Greece. 


1J«» 


The  letters      Babi  YlIuF 


/ 


I 


this  purpose,  that  if  I  went  to  thr  senate;  Itt 
shouW^  declare  th«f  same  opinion:  concerning^ 
peace,  and  his  expedition  into  Spain,  whtchn 
y mi  had  aheady  delivered  as  youfs^ 

The  flames  of  war,  you  see^   have  spreaA^ 

themselves  thronghout  the  whole  Roman'  do*» 

mifiions>  and  all  the  world  have  taken  np  arms; 

under  our  respective  chieft.      Rome,  in   tte 

mean  time,  destitute  of  all  rule  or  magiHracyj^i 

of  all  justice  or  control,  i»  wretchedly  aban-.^ 

doned  to  the  dreadful  inroads  of  rapine  and 

devastation.    In  this  general  anarchy  amd  conwi 

fusion,   I  know  not  what  to  expect :  I  scarce 

know  even  what  to  wish.     But,  notwithstand^ 

inor  I  had  determined  to  retire  to  a  farther  dis- 

tance  from  Rome,  (as^   indeed,  I  cannot  even^ 

hear  it  named  without  reluctance)  yet  I  pay 

so  great  a  regard  to  your  judgment,  that,  if 

ybu  think  any  advantacgc  may  arise  from  onr* 

interview,  I  am  willing  to  return.     In  the  mean 

tjme, 

♦  CrctTO  had  an  interview  with  Ca^ar,  in  the  return  of  thte^ 
laH^r  from  Brundifium,  after  Pninpey  had  abandoned  tba^ 
city,  and  fled  into  Greece.  Caesar  laboured  to  prevail  with 
o<ij^  autH«»rto  Tetnrn  to  Rome,  and  take  his  sent  in  the  sermtw.- 
^ut  Cicero  acted  upon  this  occasion  with  a  spirit,  which  we 
cannot  but  regret  bhould  have  ever  deserted  him.  He  de- 
claied  he  would  not  attend  the  senate,  but  upon  tha  terms 
of  being  at  full  liberty  to  deliver  his  sentiments,  which  he 
confess«i  were  utterly  against  carr3ring  the  war  into  Spain, 
ami  altoneiher  in  favour  of  peact .  Caesar  as  pUtialy  assure^* 
him,  that  this  h^*»  what  he  could  not  suflfer ;  and  recommend* 
ing  it  to  him  to  think  belter  oi'  tha  matur,  the  conference 

cude^^^ 


Bo6it  Vn.       ofp  CICERO. 


i^3 


tifoe^tlchaVe^  requested  Trebatius  ta  receive 
y^m  commands,  if  you  should  be  desirous  of 
communicating  any  to  me  by  his  mouth.  I 
should  be  gfad,  indeed,  that  you  Veould  employ 
ekhct  him,  or  any  other  of  your  friends  whom 
you  can  trust  upbn  this  occasion,  as  I  would 
not  faiy  you  under  the  necessity  of  going  out 
of^Home,  or  be  myself  obliged  to  advance 
rauch  nearer  to  it.  Perhaps  I  attribute  too 
mtfehto  my  OMm  judgment,  though  I  am  sure 
li^do  not  to  yours,  when  I  add,  that  I  am  per- 
teaded  the  world  will  approve  whatever  mea- 
Bures  we  shall  agree  upon.     Farewcl 

LETTER  XIII. 


.  r? 


Vr*r 


) 


[A.  U.  704.] 

Marcus  Ccelius,  to  Cicero. 

i  HE  melancholy  cast  of  your  letter  affects  me 
with  the  deepest  concern ;  and  though  you  do 
not  declare  your  intentions  in  direct  and  ex- 
pjicit  terms,  yet  you  leave  me  no  room  to 
donbt  t)f  'what  kind  they  are^  I  thus  in* 
sjtajatly,  therefore,  take  up  my  pen,  in  order  to 
cyiijure  you,  my  dear  friend,  by  the  tenderness 
you  bear  to  your  children,  and  by  all  that  is 
.fli.,  rnost 

efiae*!  '*^  Yery  If ttlc,"  says  Ciceto,  "  to  the  satisfaction  of 
•♦€»8a^  ami  very  much  to  my  own."     Ad  Att,  ix.  18. 
^^"'  That  Cicero  had  formed  a  resolution  of  following  Pom- 
pcy  into  Greece. 


124 


The'  letters      .^ooit  Vll 


l^pcrtt  way  measures  50  to taHy  incomis teat  with 

Wcnrr'  tme  welfare.     Heatenf  a'^  -  eArtlr  will  ife 

my  wkiiess,  th^t  I  hax^e  offered  you  no  ad«icie, 

TK)r  sent  jtvu  any  prophetic  adriionitioiis  which 

-^1  had  not  well  and  maturely  considered;^^  It 

WW  not,   indeed,   till  after  I  had  an  intetview 

with  Caesar,  and  had  fully  discovered  hia-seflf' 

timents,  tliat  I  inCormed  you  in  what  manner 

lie  would  most  assuredly  employ  hia  victory. 

If  you  imagine  he  will  be  as  easy  in  pardoning 

IfW'^ri^mies,  as  hg^was  reasonable  rn  offering 

tTflieni  terms  of  accommodation,  believe  me,  you 

*%»!irfihd  that'you  have  made  a  very  ^f^oneous 

^fealeulation.  His  heart  and  his  expressions  breathe 

^ih*  severest  resentment;  and  he  left  Rome, 

^highly  incensed  both  agaiust  the  senate  and 

*'trrbunes^     In  plain  truth,  he  is  by  no  means 


-m<r»ii..  . 


JeL»i»  CK**r,  upon  \m  return  lo  Rome,  after  the  siege  tf 
,  pfundisiuin,  pro|H)5ed  lo  ihe  senate  that  an  embassy  should 
^he  'font  to  Pompcy,  with  proposals  of  peace.  This  the  house 
^^greeJ  to:  bui  when  the  question  was  moved  concemii\g  the 
jfjer$ons  lo  be  iippoinied  for  this  purpose,  none  of  the  mem- 
bers would  undertake  fhat  commission.    Caesar  endeavouicd, 
.  iike\ribev  to  pcucurc  a  law  for  granting  him  the  money  in  the 
public  treasury,   in  order  to  carry  on  the  war  agajnst  Pom- 
Jw^^'Btit  Mefefhis,  thfe  Tribune,  interposing  his  uegativi?^ 
jftrnr  pbiaioeti  bii  purpose  by  a  shorter   l!icth(^djjj»,>f:^r 
breaking  open   the  femple  of  baturn,  in  which  this  money 
'Was  pre«>erved,  hv  flrsr  plundered   his-  country  of'lier  pat?i- 
.|]gon5,  (jfayb  i'Horus)  and  then  of  her* liberty.     H^in^  thus 
possessed  himself  of  an  immen  e  wealth,    he    immediafely 
^^t  out  upon  his  expedition  against  Afranius  nnd  Petreius, 
the  lieutenants  of  Pompe^'  io  3(»CD.     Ctcs.  Bel,  CiviL  i.  3X 
pio.  xli.  Ftor»  iv.  i^. 


;^^ijj^4li3posi$ion  toiJ^w  the  le^stfeVour  tqlns 

^le,  toryoursei^  ta^ypurson,  /or  to  your,  family 
m^gfe^eral ;  if :  either  my4iie»tUhip^^v^  ^IJ^- 
fttiim  Qf  that  worthy  man  who  )wi3 .  ipar^^^' 
tjour .  d^Mghtcr,  cau  give  us  a.  clawi  tq^^r^e 
influence  over  you,  let  me  conjure  you.notjto 
4^epcert  the  measure*  j^  l^^  take©  to  pi;e- 
mv€  our  fortunes,  nor  lay  us  under  tlie  mi^er- 
,^bAq  alternative  of  either  ahandoning  4  cau$c 
Hipon  whicli  our  own. safety  depends>py,o^ifji- 
^iously  wishmg  well  to  one  which.must  neces- 
sarily be  inconsistent  with  yours •  ^  QonsHjer, 
y-ou  hav^  already  disgusted  Pompey,  by  this 
^ur -delay  in  joining  him ;  and,would;it;;?^Qt  he 
utterly  impolitic,  after  having  so   cautiously 
:^vpided  giving  ojSkncQ  to  Csesar,  when  h». af- 
fairs were  yet  doubtful,,  to  declare  against  him 
.gow  that  they  are  attended  with  such  uncom- 
ttmn  success  ?    AYould  .it  not  b^,  the  highest 
aS^?9^0o^t<>Join^wAth9se  who;^re  fleeiijg 
^before  his  troops,  after  having  refus«ed:  to ).^et 
IP^co^^  theai,  when  they  seemid'ii*. 

clmed  ;to  resist?     In  finfe,  my  fc«;nd,.  let  me 

escape  the  imputation  of  being  deficient  in  pa- 

jtr^otjsm,  ^a.^jfoajretul  l^at  yoi^  mcntMy^^Q^fx- 

'J^lt^^^^^  ^F.^^^^^  in  t>rudeti,ce.  t  But,-  af. 

f^ui^nJ^H  biniiiii'i^nk  Um^^n  uoiHU^qK^  <fiA  rioq i>;yo  j^ 


lf& 


The  LETTERS        Bod*:  VHi 


B90  K  VUl        ttF  CICEAO. 


isr 


I 


ter  idl^utf  I'Cantiot  whaUytdU^adei^ir  fmmb 
youor^olution,  suffer  roe  at  least  to  \ktev$H. 
With  you  toen^pend  the  execution  pi^itf  till  tlnd 
event  of  our  expeditiou  into  Spain;  wiiichi 
shall  venture,  however,  to  assure  you,  aviU  mosi 
certainly  fall  iato  our  hand*  upon,  the  veiy 
first  appearance  of  Cjesajfs  troops.  ;  And  what 
hopes  ^he  opposite  party  can  possibly  entaitaijOk 
after  the  loss  of  that  province,  I  am  perftctiy 
UKMtble  to  discorer.  As  ^tr,  likewi^>  i&  itthor. 
yondmy  penetration,  what  motive  cart  mdiice 
you  to  join  with  tbobe  whose  afiaLcs.are  thus 
evidently  desperate.  This  design,  which  you 
•o  obscurely  intimated  in  your  letter,  had 
reached  the  knowledge  of  Caesar :  and  the  first 
thing  he  said,  after  the  usual  salutations  had 
pas^d  between  us^  was  to  iafonn  nie  of  what 
he  had  heard  concernfaig.  you,  I  professed  my • 
self  entirely  ignorant  that  ypu  haxlany  sudt 
thoughts:  but  if  you  had,  I  said,  itwaiwy 
request  Siiat  he  wjould  write  to  you  iti  such 
terms  as^might  most  probably  prevail  with  youtD 
rei^^Qce  them.  I  have  received  his.jCO^>ands 
to  attend  him  into  Spain ;  otherwise,  I  would 
insjaatly  have  come  to  you^  whe^^>rcrg^^i^  |^ 
been,  in  order  to  have  pressed  these  reasons 
y^gmryon  in  person,  .and,  indeed,  to Mye^j^ 
tained  you  in  Italy  by  absolute  forcj^^^  Consi- 
der well  your  schenie,  my  dear  Cicero^  erg  )ff^ 

carry 


carry  )it  diito  eacecution,  .lest^you  ohstinaitelyj^ 
and  ^^inst  ^  semonstrauces,  imi^olre^  liodt 
j^nietf  and  your  ftimily  in  cutter  andirrecovei'- 
able  min.  But  if  ywou  .are  aflccted  -by  tlic  te- 
fOrdSDbhfis  of  Ithose  Wiho  styie  themselves  pa- 
triots, or  cannot  submit  to  i«  a  witness  of  the 
•lifilenceQf  some  m  die  opposite  party,  let  me 
advise  you  to  retreat  ixi^io  a  neutrail  ^city^  :(iU 
cur  ctoiitests  ishall  be  decided.  This  will  ie 
acting  with  a  pnadence  which  I  cannot  hutOY()il^ 
to  be  a  laudable  one,  and  which  Caesar,  ^I  om 
Wmti'^  mil « by  no  means  .disapprovx.     Earewei. '' 


^,,,1  ,     BETTER  XIV. 

^^Li   ^.'Cac'ErfRO  to  MAftcu;S  CcEiEva..  anub 

-  -.4 

I  SHOULD  hsive  been  extremely  aflfected  by  yout 
letter,  if  reason  had  not  banished  from  my  heart 
ail  its  disquietudes,  atid  despair  of  seeing  bt^B- 
ter  days  had  not  long  since  hardened  it  against 
^ery  newimpressidn'ofgrief;  YcJtsfroitj^ttsl 
hittSt  ackno\viedge  my  despondency  to  be,  I  arh 
tiot  ucfc^lble,  hbweVen^ftig^^^satd  any^tHitfgih 
iriy  kst  whi<ih  could  jusflty  rai^e  the  suspicioh 
■^\i'"hirveconee!vfea.  What  moh?  cRfl  ii^flfefeft 
coiltain  than  general  expressions  of  dissatisfac^ 
tPotf  ^f  ttie  lafl  prbspertWott?  aHTaift'  ?  'd' jif  ospect 
which  cannot,  surely,  suggest  to  yourowitittind 
less  gloomy  apprehensions  than  It  preseB^s^d 
•^  *  mine. 


i  i 


128 


The  letters        Book  VIL 


mine.  For  I  am  too  well  persuaded  of  theforceof 
your  penetration,  to  imagine  that  my  jugdment 
can  discover  consequences  which  lie  concealed 
from  yours.  But  I  am  surprised  that  you,  who 
ought  to  know  me  perfectly  well,  should  be- 
lieve me  capable  of  acting  with  so  little  policy 
as  to  abandon  a  rising  fortune,  for  one  in  its 
decline,  at  least,  if  not  utterly  fallen ;  or  so  va- 
riable as  not  only  to  destroy  at  once  all  the  in- 
terest I  have  established  with  Caesar,  but  to 
deviate  even  from  myself,  by  engaging  at  last 
in  A  civil  war,  which  it  has  hitherto  been  my 
determined  maxim  to  avoid.  Where,  then,  did 
you  discover  those  unhappy  resolutions  you 
impute  to  me  ?  Perhaps  you  collected  them 
from  what  I  sai<l  of  secluding  myself  in  some 
sequestered  solitude.  And,  indeed,  you  are  sen- 
sible how  ill  I  cau  submit,  I  do  not  say  to  en- 
dure, but  even  to  be  a  witness  of  the  insolen- 
cies  of  the  successful  party ;  a  sentiment,  my 
friend,  which  once,  I  am  sure,  was  yours  np 
less  than  mine.  But  in  vain  would  I  retire, 
whilst  I  preserve  the  title'  with  which  I  am  at 
present  distlnguisa|d,  and  continue  to  be  at- 
tended with  this  embarrassing  parade  of  lictors*. 

Were 

*  That  of  Imperator,  Se«  the  first  rem.  od  the  first  }tl, 
ofB.  i. 

'  The  lictors  were  a  sort  of  beadles,  who  carried  the  en- 
signs of  magistracy  before  the  consuls,  proconsuls,  and  other 
supreme  officers  of  the  state.  These  lictors  continued  to  at- 
tend 


Book  VIL        or  CICERO. 


129 


Were  I  eased  of  this  trouWiesonie  honour,  there 
is  no  part  of  Italy  so  obscure,  in  which  I  should 
not  te  well  contented  to  hide  myself.  Yet  these 
my  Jiaurels,  unwelcome  as  they  are  to  myself, 
are  tlie  object  both  of  thef nvy  and  the  raillery 
of  my  malevolent  enemies*.  Nevertliele^s,  un- 
der all  these  temptations  of  withdrawing  fron^ 
so  disgusting  a  scene,  I  never  once  entertained 
a  thought  of  leaving  Italy  without  the  previous 
approbation  of  yourself  an<l  some  others.  But 
you  know  tl^  situation  of  my  several  villas : 
and  as  it  is  among  these  I  am  obliged  to  di- 
vide my  time,  that  I  may  not  incommode'  my 
friends,  the  preference  I  give  to  thos^  whicb 
stand  on  the  sea  coast,  has  raised, a  suspicion, 
that  I  am  meditating  a  flight  into  Greece.  If 
peace,  indeed,  w  ere  to  be  found  in  that  country, 
I  should  not,  perhaps,  be  unwilling  to  under- 
take 

tend  the  proconsul  after  his  return  from  bis  government,  if 
he  a^pl^ed  (as  Cicero  did)  to  the  Ijonour  oi  a  triumph. 

*. Cicero  undoubtedly  gave,  upon  tins  occasion,  but  top 
much  colour  to  the  censure  ot  his  enemies:  for  it  could  not 
but  have  a  verj  strange  appearance,  that  be  should  preserve 
the  ihous  ,ts  ot  a  triumph,  at  a  time^wben  his  country  was 
bleeding  wiih  a  civd  war.  But  as  he  was  extremely  ambi- 
tious oi  ibis  honour,  lie  was  equ^iily  unwilling  to  renounce 
it;  still  fluttering  hi  m!«elt\  perhaps,  that  «ome  accommoda- 
tion beiueen  Caesar  anu  Pompey  would  afford  him  an  oppor- 
tunny  01  e;  joyiiig  what  he  so  strongly  desired. 

*  That  1-,  ny  continuing  in  the  subur^js  of  Rome;  where, 
as  he  had  no  h  -use  ol  his  own,  he  must  necessarily  be  a 
guest  to  some  of  his  friends.  For  he  could  not  enter  the  city 
wiihoHt  relinquishing  his  claim  to  a  triumph. 

Vol.  II.  K 


wo 


Tub  letters         Bopk  VII. 


Book  VII.  Bf  CICERO. 


131 


take  tJie  voyag#i  but  to  enter  upon  it  in  order 
to  engage  in- a  war,  would  be  altogether  incpo- 
^stent,' surely,  with  my  principles  and  charac- 
ter ;  especially  as  it  would  be  taking  up  arms, 
not  only  against  a  man  who,  I  hope,  is  per- 
fcctly  well  satisfied  with  my  conduct,  but  in  fa- 
vour of  one  whom  it  is  now  impossible  I  should 
ever  render  so.  In  a  word,  as  I  made  no  secret 
to  you,  when  you  met  me  at  my  Cumap  yi.Ua, 
of  the  conversation  which  had  passed  between 
Ampius  and  myself,  you  could  not  be  at  a  loss 
to  guess  my  sentiments  upon  this  head :  and, 
indeed,  you  plainly  saw  how  utterly  averse  I 
was  to  the  scheme  of  Pompey's  deserting  Rome. 
Did  I  not  then  affirm,  that  there  was  nothing  I 
would  not  suffer,  rather  than  be  induced  to  fol- 
low  the  civil  war  beyond  the  limits  of  Italy*^? 

jT  ti-And 

'*     ♦  Cicero  perpetually  condemns  the  coixluct  of  Pompcy, 
in  first  retiring  from  Home,  and  after^.ar(ls  removing  ihe  seat 
V  war  out  of  Italy.     But  uilh  regard  to  the  former,   it  ap- 
pears, even  from   bur  author  himself,  that  it  was  attended 
with  a  very  good  effect,  and  which  Pompey,  it  is  pn^bable, 
had  in  view   when  he  resolved  upon  that  measure-.     For  it 
raised  a  more  general  indignation  against  Ca-sar  to  .ee  Pom- 
^nev  thus^eeing  before  him,  and  rendering  the  pe;T)!e  more 
^'iv^rse  from  favouring  his  cau^e.     fygiens  PofBpnvs  mrabi' 
liter  hammctmifctt.   Qvidqua^risf  alia  cau^aJactaeU  :  nthU 
jam  canccdmdum  jmtant  Cmari.     Ad  Atl.  vn.  \\:    And  i^ 
to  Pomi>ey'5  leav.og  Italy,  he  seems,  an  tar  as  can  be  judged 
at  th.s  chsunce  of  time,   to  have  acted  upon  a  very  rational 
Wan.     Pompe)'s  forces  were  much  infermr  to  Cttsar's  :  and 
W  the  few  troops  which  he  had,  were  such  a>  he  could  by 
':«o  means  depend  upon.     As  he  was  master  of  h  very  consi- 
•derab.e  fleet,  there  was  great  probability  of  his  being  able  to 
prevent  Caesar  from  following  him  into  Greece :  at  the  same 


'^And  has  any  event  since  happened,  that  could 
^t'e  me  just  reason  of  changing  my  sentiments? 
On  the  contrary,  has  not  every  circumstance 
tdhcurred  to  fix  me  in  them^  ? 

'  Be  assured,  (and  I  am  well  persuaded  it  is 
what  you  already  believe)  that  the  single  aim 

^^'%iy  actions  in  these  our  pubHc  calamities, 
has  been  to  convince  the  world,  that  my  great 
and  earnest  desire  was  to  preserve  the  peace  of 
our  country ;  and   when  this  could  no  longer 

"be  hoped,  that  there  was  nothing  I  wished 
more,  than  to  avoid  taking  any  part  in  the  civil 

war. 

lime  that  Afranius  and  Petreius  were  in  the  rear  of  Caesar, 
with  an   array  composed  of  approved   and   veteran  forces. 
I^aly  was  supplied  with  corn  from  the  eastern  provinces,  espe- 
cially from  Egypt:   which   Pompey  was  in  hopes  of  cutting 
ofl;  by  means  of  his  fleet.     These  provinces,  together  with  the 
neighbouring  kings,  were  likewise  greatly  in  his  interest:  and 
he  had  reason  to  exptict  very  large  subsidies  from  them,  both 
ol  men  and  money.     Perhaps, ^therefore,  when  these  several 
.Circumstances  shall  be  duly  weighed,  it  will  not  appear  that 
Pompey  determined  injudiciously,  when  he  resolved  to  cross 
the  Adriatic.  Ad  Att,  vii.  13,  ix.  9.  x.  S.    Dio,  xli.  p.  158. 
Notwjthstrtndjng  Cicero's  strong  assertions  that  he  bad 
,110  thoughts  of  joining  Pompey,  he  had  actually  determined 
to  do  so  a  few  days  before  he  received  the  preceding  letter 
,  from  Callus  :  as  appears   by  an  epistle  to  Atticus,   whereiu 
he  expressly  tells  him,  that   he  was  only  wailing  for  a  fair 
,|Pfind.^    But   before  he  wrote  the  present  letter,   he   had  re- 
,  ccived  some  news  not  altogether  favourable  fo  Pompey's party  • 
;  in  consequence  of  which  he  renounced  his  former  deliun  and 
,^,was  now  determined  (though  he  does  not  think  properVown 
,U  in  this  letter)  to  retire  to  Malta,  as  a  neutral  island.  This 
.  resolution,  however,  he  soon  afterwards  rejected,   and  re- 
sumed his  first  .intentions  of  following  Pompey  into  Greece 
And   this  scheme  he  at  length  executed.     Ad  Att,  x  8   «" 
See  rem.  4.  p.  Hi.  of  this  tol.  * 

K2 


I 

I 


<\  I 


'■ 


ft 


/ 


132 


Th£  letters        Book  VIL 


BookVIL        6t  CICERO. 


133 


war.  And  I  shall  never,  I  trust,  have  reasoo. 
to  repent  of  fimily  persevering  in  these  senti* 
nients.  It  was  the  frequent  boast,  I  remember^^ 
of  my  friend  Hortensius,  that  he  had  never 
taken  up  arms  in  any  of  our  civil  dis&entions. 
But  I  may  glory  in  the  same  honest  neutrality, 
with  a  much  better  grace :  for  that  of  Horten- 
sius w-as  suspected  to  have  arisen  from  the  ti- 
inidity  of  his  temper ;  whereas  mine,  I  think, 
cannot  be  imputed  to  any  motive  of  that  un- 
worthy kind.  Nor  am  I  in  the  least  terrified 
by  those  considerations,  with  which  you  so 
faithfully  and  affectionately  endeavour  to  alarm 
mv  fears.  The  truth  of  it  is,  there  is  no  cala- 
mity  so  severe,  to  which  we  are  not  all  of  us, 
it  should  seem,  in  this  universal  anarchy  and 
confusion,  equally  and  unavoidably  exposed. 
But  if  I  could  have  averted  this  dreadful  storm 
ftom  the  republic,  at  the  expence  of  my  own 
•prii-ate  and  domestic  enjoyments,  even  of  those, 
my  friend,  which  you  so  emphatically  recom- 
mend to  my  care,  I  should  most  willingly  have 
made  the  sacrifice.  As  to  my  son,  (who  I  re- 
joice to  find  has  a  share  in  your  concern)  J 
shall  leave  him  a  sufficient  patrimony  in  that 
honour  with  Avhich  my  name  will  be  remem- 
bered, so  long  as  the  republic  shall  subsist:  and 
if  it  be  destroyed,  I  shall  have  the  consolation 
at  least  to  reflect,  that  he  will  sufFpr  nothing 

more 


more  than  must  be  the  common  lot  of  every 
Roman.  With  regard  to  that  dear  and  excel- 
lent young  man  my  son-in-law,  whose  welfare 
you  entreat  me  to  consider;  can  you  oncedoubt^ 
knowing  as  you  perfectly  do  the  tenderness  I 
bear,  not  only  for  him,  but  for  Tullia,  that  I  am 
infinitely  anxious  upon  his  account !  I  am  the 
more  so  indeed,  as  it  was  my  single  consolation, 
amidst  these  general  distractions,  that  they 
might  possibly  prove  a  means  of  protecting  him 
from  those  inconveniences  in  which  his  too  ge^ 
nerous  spirit  had  unhappily  involved  him^  How 
much  he  suffered  from  them,  during  th«  time  he 
cH)ntinued  in  Rome,  as  well  as  how  little  thai 
circumstance  was  to  my  credit,  are  points  which 
I  xhoose  to  leave  to  your  enquiry. 

Affairs  in  Spain,  I  doubt  not,  will  terminate 
in  the  manner  you  mention.  But  I  neither  wait 
the  event  of  them  in  order  to  determine  my  con- 


i.  \,,# 


^  It  should  seem,  by  ibis  passage,  that  DolabelU,  who 
had  contracted  very  considerable  debts,  was  at  this  lime  un- 
der some  diflftcuUies  from  bis  creditors:  fr(»m  whomCvcefo 
flattered  himsell'  that  Caesar's  power  would  have  protected 
^im.  Some  commentators,  however,  instead  of  liheralithte^ 
adopted  in  this  translation,  read  libertate ;  and  suppose  ik^t 
(jlicera.  alludes  to  the  pjpsecuiion  in  v^hich  DolabcUa  had 
been  engaged  against  Appius :  of  which  a  detail  has  been 
given  in  the  preceding  remarks.  But  whichever  be  the  true 
word,  ihe. sentiment  is  observable.  For  surely  it  was  utterly 
unworthy  of  Cicei-o,  to  find  the  least  consolation  amidst  the 
.•calamities  of  hi«  country,  in  the  hope  tlwit  they  jmigbt  prove 
a  scr4*en  to  Dolabeila,  either  from  the  ju&tice  of  his  creditors^ 
or  the  malice  of  his  enemies. 


^TO  m 


K3 


134 


The  letters         Book  VII. 


duct^;  nor  am  I  acting,  in  any  other  respect, 
with  the  least  artifice.  If  the  republic  should 
be  preserved,  I  .shall  certainly  hold  my  rank  in 
it:  but  if  it  should  be  subverted,  you  yourself, 
I  dare  say,  will  join  me  in  my  intended  soli- 
tude.  But  this  latter  supposition  is,  perhaps, 
the  vain  and  groundless  surmise  of  a  disturbed 
imagination  ;  and  affairs,  after  all,  may  take  a 
happier  turn  than  I  am  apt  to  presage.  I  re- 
member the  despondency  which  prevailed  in  my 
earlier  days,  amongst  our  patriots  of  more  ad- 
vanced years* :  possibly  my  present  apprehen- 
sions may  be  of  the  same  cast,  and  no  other 
than  the  effect  of  a  common  weakness  incident 
to  old  age.  Heaven  grant  they  may  prove  so ! 
And  yet  you  have  heard,  I  suppose,  that  a  robe 
of  magistracy  is  in  the  looms  for  Oppius  ;  and 
that  Curtiushas  hopes  of  being  invested  with  the 
^double-dyed  purple^ :  but  the  principal  work- 

man, 

...  y  y^^  contrary  of  this  was  the  truth  :  for  Cicero  was,  at 
tills  lime,  determined  to  w»lt  the  event  of  Cxsar*sexpedifion 
against  the  heuienants  of  Pompey  in  Spain.  And  for  this 
purpose  he  had  thoughts  of  retiring  to  Malta:  Melitvm,  opi- 
nor,  capessamus  (says  he  to  Atiicus)  dum  qnid  in  Hispania. 
Ad  Att,  X.  9.  ^u 

•  This  alludes  to  the  contentions  between  Sylla  and  Ma- 
Hus  ;  which,  notwithstanding  the  probability  of  their  ter»i- 
narin^  in  the  total  subversion  of  the  constitution,  the  republic 
however  survived.  ^a 

•  Oppms  and  Curtius  were  persons  who  probably  had  dis- 
tinguished ihemselves  in  no  other  manwr  than  as  being  the 
servile  in*irumenis  of  Caeaar^  ambition.  The  former,  how- 
ever, appears   to  have  been  in  high  credit  during  Caesar's 

usurpation . 


n 


Book  VII.        of  dCERO.  133 

man,  it  seems,  somewhat  delays  liirn".  I  throw 
mM^  little  pleasantry,  to  l?t^  you  see  that  I 
can  smile  in  the  midst  of  my  indignation.      ^ 
Let  me  advise  you  to  enter  into  the  affair 
which  I  formerly  mentioned  concerning  Dola- 
bella,  with  the  same  warmth  as  if  it  were  jour 
own.    1  have  only  to  add,  that  you  ma))^depend 
upon  it,  I  shall  take  no  hasty  or  inc«?psidera^ 
measures.    But  to  v/hatever  part  of  the'  world  I 
may  direct  my  course,  I  entreat  you  to  protect 
both  me  and  mine,  agreeably  to  your  honour,' 
and  to  our  mutual  friendship.     Farewel.;       ^ ' 

LETTffeR 


ti 


<v> 


usurpation  :  but  the  latter  is  often  mentioned  in  the  lettecs  to 
Atticus  with  great  contempt.  Servius,  in  his  (Comment  dn  the 
7th  bouk  pf  the  iEneid,  informs  us  that  the  colour  of  ike  au- 
gural robe  was  a  mixture  of  purple  and  scarlet :  it  is  pjo- 
bable,  therefore,  from  the  expression  which  Cicero 'employs, 
that  Curtius  had  a  promise  of  being  advanced  into  thf^«a wed 
college.  It  might  well  discourage  Cicero's  hopes  of  belter 
days,  when  he  saw  men  of  this  character  singled  ott  'id  £11 
the  most  important  dignities  of  the  repi^bliq.  And,  ii)d^d, 
it  was  an  earnest  of  what  Caesar  afterwards  practised,  when 
he  became  the  sole  fountain  of  all  preferment ;  which  be  dis- 
tributed in  the  most  arbitrary  njaoner,  without  any  regard  to 
rank  or  merit.  Nvllosnon  konores,  says  one  of  the  historians, 

ad  libidinent  cepit  ^  dedit, Civitate  domtos,  ^  quosdam  c 

semibarbaris  Gall&rum,  recepit  in  curiam.  Suet,  in  Jvl.  70. 
*®  Sed  cum  infector  mQraiur,  This  witticism,  whicH  tiiicn's 
upon  the  equivocal  sense  of  the  word  injector^  con.l4.iM>f  be 
preserved  in  the  translation.  It  is  probable  that  Caesar  had 
gaiiied  Ctiriius,  as  he  had  many  others,  by. some  seasonable 
application  to  hjs  vvants  pi"  bis  avarice ;  for  Cipero  ^ewito 
use  this  word  in  allusion  to  the  verb  from  whence  it  is  de- 
jived,  as  wellas.in.its  appjopriated  nieaAJng;  tn/^cia  .signify- 
ing b^ath  to  corrj/pt  and  to  dj/e, 

K  4 


I     \\ 


'ti      'I 


i  'i 


♦. 


13? 


Tni  LETTERS        Book  Vlh 


;m 


a> 


101 


LETTER  XV. 


[A.  U.  704.J 

To  Se&Vius  Sujupiqius. 

J  RtCEiVED  your  letter  at  my  Curtian  villa, 
^n  the  2Sth  of  April.  I  find  you  shortened  it 
vpon  the  supposition  that  ^hilotimus  M^ould 
deliver  it  into  my  hand$ ;  whom,  it  seems,  you 
h^  inJtructed  to  give  mc  a  more  full  and  ex^ 
plicit  information.  But  he  did  not  execute  his 
commission  with  the  care  he  ought :  for  instead 
ctf  bringing  your  letter  to  me  himself,  he  sent 
it  by  another  person.  Houever,  this  omission 
1>^^^pF<rd  by  a  visit  from  your  wife  and  son: 
who  are  both  of  them  extremely  desirous  you 
tWr^'uId  come  hither:  and,  indeed,  pressed  tt\e 
'to  write  to  you  for  that  purpose. 

Yod  desire  to  know  what  measures  1  would 

recwnmefid  to  you,  in  thiscritrtal  conjunctiire. 

Believe  me,  I  am  in  a  situation  of  miiid  which 

¥<%ders  liheTriiftrli  ftrtore  in  need  of  a  guide  myself, 

thaji  capble  of  conducting  another.  But  were 

fif  Bfflfe¥tfis^,^hbw  should  1  venture  to  offer  my 

advice  to  a  man  of  your  distingurshed  wisdom 

'^tid  aigtifty  ?  Thi^,  however.  I  wilt  say,  that  if 

the  question  be,  in  what  manner  it  becomes  Asto 

i€t;  the  answer  is  plain  and  bbvious'^f •  but  \vhdt 

will 


Book  VIL 


6r  CICERO. 


137 


will  be  most  expedient  for  our  interest,  is  a  point 
far  less  easy  to  determine.  In  abort,  if  we  think, 
a$  I  am  sure  we  ought,  that  honour  and  true  in- 
terest must  ever  point  the  same  way^  there  can 
be  no  dispute  what  path  we  have  to  pursue. 

You  imagine  that  we  are  both  of  u«  in^the 
same  circumstances;  and  most  certainly  we  both 
committed  the  same  mistake,  when  we  honestly 
declared  our  opinions  in  favour  of  peace.  All  oim* 
counsels,  indeed,  equally  tended  toprevent  a  civil 
war ;  and  as  this  was  the  true  interest  of  C8Bea% 
Ave  thought  he  would  consider  himself  as  obliged 
^Xo  us  for  supporting  pacific  measures.     How 
much  we  were  deceived  is  evident,  you  see, 
from  the  present  posture  of  aflairs.  But  you  look, 
I  know,  much  farther,  and  take  into  your  view, 
not  only  what  has  already  happened,  or  is  now 
transacting,  but  the  whole  future  progress  and 
final  tendency  of  tliese  commotions.     If,  then, 
you  should  determine  to  remain  in  Eon>e,  you 
must  either  approve  the  measures  which  are  there 
flurrying  on,  or  be  present  at  a  scene  wVi^  }^wr 
h^art  condemns.     But  the  former  seems  au. un- 
worthy part,  and  the  latter,  I  think,  altogetho- 
an  unsafe  one.    My  opinion  is  consequently  fgr 
retiring:  and  the  single  point  i$,  whither  tadi^ 
l^ct  our  course  ?    But  a^.  public  ^^jF3ir3.5^ere  ne- 
ver in  a  more  desperate  situatioD^  so  never  was 

there 


'i  i\ 


tl 


ii 


i 
i 


f, 


im 


The  letters   Book  VIL 


Book  VII.    ot  CICERO. 


139 


there  a  question  attended  with  greater  difficul- 
ties: whichever  way  one  turns  it,  some  impor- 
tant objection  occurs.  If  you  have  resolved  upon 
any  scheme  which  is  not  consistent  with  mine^  I 
could  wish  you  would  spare  yourself  the  trouble 
of  a  journey  hither:  but  if  you  are  inclined  to 
participate  of  my  measures,  I  will  wait  your  ar- 
rivaP.  I  beg  you  would  be  as  expeditious  for 
that  purpose  as  you  conveniently  can  :  a  request 
in  which  both  Servius  and  Posthumia  equally 
join^     Farewel,  ^ 


•Rli 


>f 


LETTER  XVL 

[A.  U.  704.] 
To  RUFUS^ 


Fio UGH  I  nevei  once  doubted  that  I  enjoyed 
the  highest  rank  in  your  friendship,  yet  every 
da>  '5  experience  strengthens  me  in  that'  per- 
suasion.    You  assured  me,  I  remember,  in  one 

of 

'  Sulpiciiis  had  an  interview  with  Cicero  at  his  Cuman 
v]]]'d,  soon  after  the  date  of  this  letter;  but  the  former  was 
.  ao  iDuch  dispirited,  ami  so  full  of  fears,  that  Cicero  colild 
not  bring  him  10  any  determination.  1  l»ey  broke  up  their 
roriference,  therefore,  without  coming  to  any  explicit  re^jo- 
lution:  for  thouuh  Cicero's  was  already  formed,  he  did  Dot 
thiiik  proper  to  avow  his  design  of  joining  Pompey,  to  a  man 
Whom  he  k)iM\4  in  so  timid  and  fluctuating  a  state  of  roind. 

*  I^he  son  and  wife  of  Sulpicius.  Posthumia  was  one  of 
ihcse  many  ladies  ubo  found  Csssar  as  irresistible  a  gallact 
as  he  was  a  boldier.     Suet,  in  Jul,  50, 

^  See  rem.  1.  p.  91. 


of  your  letters,  that  you  should  be  more  assidu- 
ous in  giving  me  proofs  of  your  affection  now, 
than  when  you  were  my  qusestor,  as  they  would 
faiore  indisputably  appear  to  be  the  free  result 
of  a  disinterested  esteem.  And  though  no- 
thing, I  thought,  could  exceed  your  good  of- 
fices to  me  in  the  province,  yet  you  have  since 
fully  evinced  the  sincerity  of  this  promise.  Ac- 
cordingly, it  was  with  great  pleasure  I  observ- 
ed the  friendly  impatience  with  which  you  ex- 
pected my  arrival  in  Rome,  when  I  had  thoughts 
of  going  thither,  as  well  as  the  joy  you  after- 
wards expressed  at  my  having  laid  aside  that 
design,  when  aifairs  had  taken  a  different  turn 
from  what  you  imagined.  But  your  last  letter 
Avas  particularly  acceptable  to  me,  as  an  instance 
both  of  your  affection  and  your  judgment.  .It 
afforded  me  much  satisfaction,  indeed,  to  find, 
on  the  one  hand,  that  you  consider  your  true 
interest  (as  every  great  and  honest  mind  ought 
always  to  consider  it)  as  inseparably  connected 
"^ith  a  rectitude  of  conduct:  and  on  the  other, 
Hhat  you  promise  to  accompany  me,  whither- 
soever I  may  determine  to  steen  Nothing  can 
'be  more  a<j^recable  to  my  inclination,  nor,  I, 
itrust,  to  your  honour,  than  your  executing  this 
resolution.  Mine  has  been  fixed  for  some  time, 
Jt  was  not  with  any  design  of  concealing 

1  .it 


iVi 


to 


.1 


W 


140 


THfe  LETTERS         Book  VIL 


Book  VIL 


OF  CICERO, 


14lI 


it  from  you,  that  I  did  not  acquaint  you  with 
it  before.  My  only  reason  was,  that,  in  public 
conjunctures  of  this  kind,  the  communication  of 
one's  intentions  to  a  friend,  looks  like  admonish- 
ing, or  rather,  indeed,  pressing  him  to  share  in 
the  difficulties  and  the  dangers  of  one's  schemes. 
Icannot,  however,  hut  willingly  embrace  an 
offer  which  proceeds  from  so  affectionate  and 
generous  a  disposition  :  though  I  must  add,  at 
the  same  time,  (that  I  may  not  transgress  the 
modest  limits  I  have  set  to  my  requests  of  this 
nature)  that  I  by  no  means  urge  your  compli- 
ance. If  you  shall  think  proper  to  pursue  the 
measures  you  propose,  I  shall  esteem  myself 
j^-eatly  indebted  to  you  :  if  not,  I  shall  very 
readily  excuse  you.  For  though  I  shall  look 
upon  the  former  as  a  tribute  which  you  could 
not  well  refuse  to  my  friendship,  yet  I  shall  con- 
sider the  latter  as  the  same  reasonable  concession 
to  your  fears.  It  must  be  owned,  there  is  great 
difficulty  how  to  act  upon  this  occasion.  It  is 
true,  what  honour  would  direct  is  very  appa- 
rent, but  the  prudential  part  is  far  from  being 
a  poitrt  so  clear.  However,  if  we  would  act  up, 
as  we  ought,  to  the  dictates  of  that  philosophy 
we  have  mutually  cultivated,  we  cannot  once 
hesitate  in  thinking  that  the  worthiest  measures 
tnu5t,  upon  the  whole,  be  the  most  expedient. 

fiail  IP 


If  you  are  inclined,  then,  to  embark  with  me, 
you  must  come  hither  immediately :  but  if  it 
should  not  suit  you  to  be  thus  expeditious,  I 
will  send  you  an  exact  account  of  my  route. 
To  be  short,  in  whatever  manner  you  may  de^- 
cide,  I  shall  always  consider  you  as  my  friend' ; 
but  much  more  so,  if  you  should  determine  a3 
I  wish.     Farewel. 


LETTER  XVIL 

[A.  u.  ro4.]       , 

To  Terentia. 


JT> 


y^HJill 


jIBII 


I  AM  entirely  free  from  the  disorder  in  my 
stomach :  which  was  the  more  painful,  as  I  saw 
it  occasioned  both  you  and  that  dear  girl  whom 
I  love  better  than  my  life,  so  much  uneasiness^ 
I  discovered  the  cause  of  this  complaint  th^ 
niglit  after  I  left  you,  having  discharged  a  great 
quantity  of  phlegm.  This  gave  me  so  immedi- 
ate a  relief,  that  I  cannot  but  believe  I  owe  my 
c^fe  to  some  heavenly  interposition:  to  Apollo^ 
no  doubt,  and  iEsculapius.  You  will  offer  up 
your  grateful  tributes,  therefore,  tft, these  restpr^ 
V^K  fWMh  ^'^^^^  ^^^  ^^^^  ardency  of  your  usual 
devotio%it;j  37/  J.  lufii  jvi^r      ? 

I  am  this  moment  embarked*:  and  have  pro^ 

jifjiirKfx-^)  l«Ofn  ifif  exi  .^lo  '    aoqi>  ^^^^^ 

♦  In  order  to  join  Pompey  in  Greece,  who  had  left  Italy 
•bout  thne  mor»ths   beloie   the  date  of  this  letter.     A  late 

learued 


M'l 


14« 


Trt*  LETTERS 


Book  VI r. 


cured  a  ship  which  I  hope  is  well  able  to  perform 
her  voyage.  As  soon  as  I  shall  have  finished  this 
letter,  I  propose  to  write  to  severalof  my  friends, 
recommending  yon  and  our  dearest  Tullia  in  the 
strongest  terms  to  their  protection.  In  the  mean 
time  I  should  exhort  you  to  keep  up  your  spirits, 
if  I  did  not  know  that  both  of  you  are  animat- 
ed 

learned  and  most  able  paneojyrist  of  Cicero  assures  us,  that 
he  took  this  measure,  as  choosing  to  **  follow  ihe  cause 
"  which  he  thought  to  be  the  best,  and  preferring  the  consi- 
*•  tieration  of  duty  to  that  of  his  safety."  Cicero  deserves  so 
highly  from  every  friond  to  genius  and  literature,  that  it  is  no 
wonder  Dr.  Middleton  should  not  always  speak  of  him  with 
the  cool  impartiality  of  an  unbiassed  historian.  But  it  is  the 
principal  purpose  of  these  remarks,  to  inquire,  without  pre- 
judices of  any  kind,  into  the  real  merit  of  Cicero's  political 
character:  and  as  his  conduct  during  this  important  crisis 
will  evidently  shew  the  strength  and  measureof  his  patriotism, 
I  shall  trace  it  from  the  breaking  out  of  the  civil  war  to  the 
present  period,  and  then  leave  the  facts  to  speak  for  them- 
selves. 

Upon  the  news  that  Ca?sar  was  marching  into  Italy,  Pom^- 
pey  was  appointed  general  in  chief  of  the  republican  forces, 
and  the  principal  magistrates,  together  with  those  who  wei* 
invested  with  proconsular  power,  were  distributed  intoditter- 
ent  cantons  of  Italy  in  order  to  raise  troops,  f^)r  the  doit'nce 
of  the  common  cause.  Cicero  had  his  particular  district  as- 
signed him  among  the  rest ;  but  instead  of  ex^cuiing  this 
important  commission  with  spirit  and  vigour,  he  remained 
«lrng#»ther  inactive  at  his  several  villas  in  that  part  of  Italy. 
An<l  this  he  sigiiitied  to  Cjesar,  by  means  of  their  common 
friend  Trebatius,  who  had  written  to  him  in  Cie>ar's  name, 
in  oHer  to  prevail  with  him  to  return  to  R(»me.  liescripsi 
ad  Trebafium  quam  illud  hoc  tempore cssct  difficile:  mc  tumcn 
in  pradiiji  meis  c5Ae,  ncqtte  delcvtum  ullum,  luque  nrgotium  sus- 
cepis9e.  Ad  Att.  vii.  37.  Poinpey,  in  the  mean  lime^  was 
pressing  Cicero  to  join  him:  but  he  excused  Inmselt  by  re- 
pre'enting  that  whilst  he  was  actually  on  the  n>ad  for  that 
purp<>-c,  he  was  inlornied  that  he  could  not  proceed  wiihout 
the  dcinijer  of  being  iulerceplcd  by  Cie>ar'3  troops.    Epiit.  2. 

Cicer* 


Book  VII. 


OF  CICERO. 


U3 


ed  with  a  more  than  manly  fortitude.  And,  in- 
deed, I  hope  there  is  a  fair  prospect  of  your  re- 
maining in  Italy  without  any  inconvenience,and 
of  my  returning  to  the  defence  of  the  republic, 
ia  conjunction  with  tliosc  who  are  no  lessfailli-'  • 
fully  devoted  to  its  interest. 

After 

Cicer.  ad  Pom.  apudepist.  ad  Att.  viii.  Cicero,  however,  is  so 
ingenuous  as  to  acknowledge,  in  the  same  letter  to  Pompey, 
that  so  long  as  there  were  hopes  that  the  negotiations  for 
a  peace  would  be  attended  with  success,  he  thought  it  a 
justifiable  piece  of  prudence  not  to  be  too  active  in  forward- 
ing the  preparations  that  were  carryincj  on  "against  CsBsar  ; 
remembering,  he  says,  how  much  he  had  formerly  suffered 
from  the  resentment  of  the  latter  in  the  affair  uf  his  exile. 
This  was  explaining,  at  once,  the  true  principle  of  his  whole 
CO  nd  ct,  and  he  avows  it  moie  expressly  in  a  letter  to  At* 
ticus.  Non  Bimul  cum  Pompeio  mare  transierimus  ?  OinniHO 
non  poterimus ;  exstat  ratio  dienim^  sed  tamen  (fateamur  enim 
quod  €fit)fefeUit  ea  me  res,  yuccjbrtasse  )io?t  Jcbuit,  sed  fefeliit.; 
pacein  putavijore :  quae  si  csset,  iratum  mihi  Casai'um,  esse,  cum 
idem  amicus  esset  Pompeio^  iiolui.  Hendeiaiu  enim  quam  idea 
essent.  Hoc  verens  in  hanc  larditaiem  incidu  Ad  Att.  x.  8. 
Pompey,  however,  had  no  souner  set  sail  fi)r  Greece,  ihun 
Cicert)  was  struck  with  the  consciousness  of  his  having 
acted  an   unworthy  part :  Postquam  Pompeius  ef  consulen  es 

Italiajexieruntjfion  angor,  says  lie,  sed  ardeo  dolorc uou 

sufHy  inquam^  mihi  credty  mentis  compos^  tantum  mihi  dedecom 
r is  adinisisse  video r.  Ad  Ait,  i\.  6,  After  several  delibera- 
tions, therefore,  he  was  determined,  he  telis  Atiicus,  to  tol- 
Jow  Poinpev,  without  waiting  the  event  of  Caesar's  aims  in 
bpain.  Ad  Att.  ix.  ip.  x.  8.  This  resolution,  nevertheless, 
hoon  gave  way  to  a  second  ;  for  havng  received  some  ac- 
counts which  contradicted  a  former  report  that  had  battii 
spread  conceruiiig  tbe  advantageous  posture  of  Pompey's  af- 
fairs, Cicero  renounced  his  intention  ot  joining  him,  and  now 
purposed  to  stand  neuter.  Ad  Att.  x.  9«  l^ut  u  new  turn 
in  favour  of  Pompey  seems  tu  have  brought  Cicero  back  to 
his  former  scheme :  for,  in  a  subsequi-nt  letter  to  Atticu^, 
wherein   he  menu:)ns  some  reasons  to  believe  that  Pumpey*s 

aflat  ts 


144 


The  letters 


Book  VII. 


I 


After  earnestly  recommending  to  you  the 
caie  of  your  health,  let  me  make  it  my  next  re- 
quest, that  you  would  dispose  of  yourself  in 
such  of  my  villas  as  are  at  the  greatest  distance 
from  the  army.  And  if  provisions  should  be- 
come scarce  in  Rome,  I  should  think  you  will 
find  it  most  convenient  to  remove  with  your 
servants  to  Arpinum^ 

The 

•fTairs  went  well  in  Spain,  and  takes  notice,  likewise,  of 
some  d.S;.ust  which  the  p- pulice  txpre^sed  towards  Caesar 
in  the  !i  eatrr,  we  find  him  ifsumn.g  his  design  ot  openly 
uniting  wiih  Poiupcv  :  and  accordingly  he  rosoWed  to  join 
th«)«^e  who  wen*  inainiaining  Potnpey's  cause  in  Sicily.  Ad 
Att.  X  12.  li  di>es  not  tippear,  by  any  of  his  letters,  upon 
wh.it  motive  be  al'erwanii  exchanged  his  plan  fr  that  of 
sailing  directly  to  Pomje>'s  camp  in  Greece:  which,  after 
various  deba  ts  with  h'niaelf,  he  at  leugih,  we  see,  executed. 
There  is  a  passage,  however,  in  Caesar's  Commentaries, 
which,  perhapn,  will  render  it  pr»bable,  that  the  news  which, 
about  t)ii>t'iDe,  ^«hs  confidently  spread  at  Rome,  (hat  Caesar's 
army  hnd  been  almost  totally  defeated  in  Spain,  was  the 
deteimntkni;  rea«»on  that  seiit  Cicero  to  Ft  nipey.  The  fact 
wa>,  tnaC  Alran'us  and  Pctreiu»  had  gained  some  advantages 
ovtf  Ciesnr  ;  but  as  they  magnified  ihem,  in  their  letters 
to  Hjmc,  much  beyond  the  truth,  several  ^.eisons  of  note, 
w-h  >  had  ht'.ht-rto  been  fluc'uating  in  their  rc-^olutions, 
tb  •iisi'ht  It  was  now  high  time  to  declare  iliem-^elves,  and 
wtn;  otV  immetiiately  to  P<  mpey.  Hac  Aframufy  Vetreius^ 
que^  ei  eorum  aniia\  pieniora  eiiam  atque  uUoriura  Romam 
iiU  suoa  jmncribcLant .  MuUa  rumor  fingcbat :  lU  peiw  bel' 
lum  coiijeduui  vide  ret  ur,    ^uiOus  Uteris  nuucivque  liomatn 

perla/ts muUi  ex  Italia  ad  Cn,  Pompeium  proficv-cehan^ 

tur ;  aUi  ut  principes  talem  nunciam  attalisie  ;  alii  riec  ecen^ 
turn  belli  exptclusie^  aui  ex  omnibus  twvissimi  veniise  vide- 
renlur*     Oe  Bel.  Civil,  i.  53. 

*  A  ci  y  ia  the  couuiryof  the  Volsci,  a  district  of  Italy 
which  now  comprehends  part .  f  iheCaaipHgna  di  Romn,  and 
of  the  Terra  di  Lavoro.  Ciceio  was  born  in  this  town,  which 
still  subsists  under  the  name  of  Arpiuo. 


Book  VII. 


OF  CICEftQ. 


14& 


The  amiable  young  Cicero  most  tenderly  sa- 
lutes you.     Again  and  again  I  bid  you  farewel.  . 

Jmdc  (he  lltb. 

LETTER  XVIII. 

[A.  U.  704.] 

Marcus  Ccelius  to  Cicero. 

VV.A8^  it  for  this  that  I  followed  Caesar  into 
Spain  ?  Why  was  I  not  rather  at  Formiae,  that 
I  might  have  accompanied  you  to  Pompey  ? 
But  I  was  infatuated ;  and  it  was  my  aversion 
to  Appius^,  together  with  my  friendship  for 
Curio,  that  gradually  drew  me  into  this  cursed 
cause.  Nor  were  you  entirely  unaccessary  to 
any  error :  for  that  night,  w^hen  I  called  upon 

you 

•  This  letter  confirms  the  character  that  has  been  given 
of  Ccelius,  in  a  former  remark*,  and  shews  him  to  have  been 
of  a  temper  extravagantly  warm  and  impetuous.  The  re- 
sentment and  indignation  with  which  it  is  animated,  was  ow- 
ing to  some  disappointments  that  he  had  met  with  from  Cz* 
sar,  who  had  not  distinguished  him  agreeably  to  his  expecta- 
tions, Coelius,  therefore,  who  was  one  of  the  praetors  for  the 
present  year,  endeavoured  to  take  his  revenge  by  opposing 
the  execution  of  certain  laws  which  Caesar  had  procured.— 
His  attempts  for  this  purpose  having  created  great  disturb- 
ances in  Rome,  he  was  not  only  deposed  from  his  office,  but 
expelled  the  senate :  and  the  present  letter  seems  to  have 
been  written  immediately  upon  that  event,  Dio,  xlii.  p. 
J95.     Ccti.  de  Bel,  Civil,  iii.  20. 

7  Appius  engaged  on  the  side  of  Pompey,  as  Curio  was  a 
warm  partisan  of  Caesar.  For  the  occasion  of  Coelius's  re- 
sentment against  Appius,  see  B,  vi,  let.  14.  p«  6l,  of  this  vol, 

•  See  rem.  4.  vol.  1.  p.  272. 

Vox.  II.  L 


y 


146 


The  letters        Book  VIL 


you  in  my  way  to  Ariminum',  why  did  you 
forget  the  friend,  when  you  were  gloriously 
acting  the  patriot,  and  not  dissuade  me  from 
the  purpose  of  my  journey,  at  the  same  time 
that  you  commissioned  me  to  urge  Caesar  to 
pacific  measures  ?  Not  that  I  have  an  ill  opi- 
nion of  the  cause ;  but,  believe  me,  perdition 
itself  were  preferable  to  being  a  witness  of  the 
insufferable  behaviour  of  these  his  insolent  par- 
tisans^  They  have  rendered  themselves  so  ge- 
nerally odious,  that  we  should  long  since  have 
been  driven  out  of  Rome,  were  it  not  for  the 
apprehensions  which  people  have  conceived  of 
the  cruel  intentions  of  your  party'^  There  is 
not,  at  this  juncture,  a  man  in  Rome,  except  a 
few  rascally  usurers",  who  does  not  wish  well 

to 

•  In  order  to  join  Caesar.  Coelius  was  one  of  the  party 
with  Curio  and  Antony,  when  they  fled  to  Cse>ar.  Dio.  xli. 
p.  153.  See  the  first  ielier  of  this  book,  and  rem.  4.  on  the 
same. 

*  The  chiefs  of  Cesar's  party  at  Rome. 

'°  When  Poropey  left  Rome,  upon  the  approach  of  Caesar, 
he  declared  that  he  should  treat  all  those  as  enemies  uho 
did  not  follow  him  :  a  declaration,  it  was  imagined,  which 
he  would  most  rigorously  have  fulfilled,  if  fortune  had  put 
it  in  his  power.     Grs,  Bel,  Civil,  i.     Cic.  Epist.  passim. 

"  As  great  numbers  of  those  who  embraced  the  party  of 
Caesar  were  deeply  involved  in  debt,  it  was  apprehended  that 
they  would  procure  a  law  for  a  general  discharge  from  their 
creditors.  But  Cscsar  adjusted  matters  by  a  more  prudeiit 
method,  and  in  such  a  manner  as  to  facilitate  the  payment 
of  the^e  loans  with  little  prejudice  to  those  who  had  advanced 
them.  It  appears  that  Cae>ar  rendered  himself,  by  these 
means,  extremely  acceptable  to  those  persons  at  Rome,  who 
dealt  in  this  sort  of  pecuniary  commerce.  Cas,  dc  Bel.  G- 
t i/.  i. 


Book  VII. 


OF  CICERO. 


147 


to  Pompey ;  and  I  have  already  brought  over 
to  your  cause,  not  only  those  among  the  ple- 
beian families  who  were  in  the  interest  of  Cje- 
sar,  but  the  whole  populace  in  general.  But 
you  will  ask,  perhaps,  what  can  this  avail  us 
now  ?  Wait  the  event,  my  friend :  victory 
shall  attend  you  in  spite  of  yourselves".  For 
surely  a  profound  lethargy  has  locked  up  all 
the  senses  of  your  party,  as  they  do  not  yet 
seem  sensible  how  open  we  lie  to  an  attack, 
and  how  little  capable  we  are  of  making  any 
considerable  opposition.  It  is  by  no  means 
from  an  interested  motive  that  I  offer  my  as- 
sistance, but  merely  in  resentment  of  the  un- 
worthy usage  I  have  received :  and  resentment 
is  a  passion  which  usually  carries  me,  you 
know,  the  greatest  lengths.— But  what  are  you 
doing  on  the  other  side  the  water'^  ?  Are  you 
imprudently  waiting  to  give  the  enemy  battle? 
What  Pompey 's  forces  may  be,  I  know  not  : 
but  CsBsar's,  I  am  sure,  are  accustomed  to  ac- 
tion, and  inured  to  all  the  hardships  of  the 
most  severe  campaigns.     Farewel 

LETTER 


11  *      i./'ji.-,"  4i 


*  This  boast  of  Ccelius  ended  in  nothing  but  his  own  de- 
struction. For,  not  succeeding  in  his  attempts  at  Rome,  be 
withdrew  to  Thurii,  a  maritime  town  on  the  gulph  of  Te^ 
rentum;  where,  endeavouring  to  raise  an  insurrection  in  fa- 
vour of  Pompey,  he  was  murdered  by  the  soldiers  of  Caesa^r'^ 
faction.     Dio.  xlii,  p,  ig6. 

''  Cicero  was  at  this  time  in  Pompey's  camp  in  Greece^ 

L2 


ii 

*4| 


148 


The  letters        Book  VII. 


Book  VIL        of  CICERO. 


149 


t^ 


I" 


LETTER  XIX. 

[A.  U.  704.] 
DoLABELLA'  to  CiCEEO. 

1  SHALL  rejoice  to  hear  you  are  well:  I  have 
the  satisfaction  to  inform  you,  that  both  Tul- 
lia  and  myself  are  perfectly  so.  Terentia,  in- 
deed, has  been  somewhat  indisposed,  but  is 
now,  I  am  assured,  perfectly  recovered.  As  to 
the  rest  of  your  family,  they  are  all  of  them  \^ 
the  state  you  wish. 

It  would  be  doing  me  great  injustice  to  sus- 
pect that  I  have  at  any  time  advised  you  to 
joinoyjtb^lne  in  tb€-4:4use  of  Caesar,  or  at  least 
to  stand  neuter,  more  with  a  view  to  the  ad- 
vantage of  my  own  party,  than  of  your  inte- 
rest. But  now  that  fortune  has  declared  on  our 
side*,  it  is  impossible  I  should  be  supposed  to 
recommend  this  alternative  for  any  other  reason, 

but 

■  The  reader  has  already  been  apprised,  in  the  foregoing 
remarks,  that  DolabeUa  was  son>in-law  to  Cicero.  He  was 
a  young  man  of  a  warm,  enterprising,  factious  disposition, 
and  one  of  the  most  active  partisans  of  Cesar*s  cause.  His 
character,  conduct,  and  fortune  wiU  be  more  parttcuharly 
marked  out  as  occabion  abail  offer,  in  the  farther  progress  of 
these  observations. 

*  Cxsar  having  defeated  Afranius  and  Petreius,  the  lieu- 
tenants of  Pompey,  in  Spain,  was  at  this  time  wiih  his  army 
before  Dyrrachium,  a  maritime  city  in  Macedonia,  now 
called  Duraazi. 


but  because  the  duty  I  owe  you  will  not  suffer 
me  to  be  silent.  Whether  my  advice,  there- 
fore, shall  meet  with  your  approbation  or  not, 
you  will  at  least  be  so  just  as  to  believe,  that 
it  proceeds,  my  dear  Cicero,  from  an  honest 
intention,  and  from  a  heart  most  sincerely  de- 
sirous of  your  welfare. 

You  see  that  neither  the  lofty  title  with 
which  Pompey  is  distinguished',  nor  the  credit 
of  his  former  illustrious  actions,  nor  the  advan- 
tages he  so  frequently  boasted,  of  having 
kings  and  nations  in  the  number  of  his  clients, 
have  any  thing  availed  him.  On  the  contrary, 
he  has  suffered  a  disgr^ice  which  never,  per- 
haps, attended  any  other  Roman  general. 
For,  after  having  lost  both  the  Spains*,  toge- 
ther with  a  veteran  army,  and,  after  having 
also  been  driven  out  of  Italy,  he  is  now  so 
strongly  invested  on  all  sides,  that  he  cannot 
execute  what  the  meanest  soldier  has  often  per- 
^  formed  ;  he  cannot  make  even  an  honourable 
^etreat^     You  will  consider,  then,  agreeably 

to 

^  When  be  was  a  very  young  man,  he  was  honoured  by 
Sylla  with  the  title  of  Pompey  the  Great;  a  title  which  he 
ever  afterwards  assumed. 

*  This  country  was  divided  by  the  Romans  into  the 
Nearer  and  the  Farther  Spain;  that  part  which  lay  near  the 
Pyrenees  and  the  river  Ibro  being  comprehended  under  the 
former  appellation,  and  all  beyond  that  river,  under  the 
latter. 

'  Ft  is  probable  that  some  slight  success  which  Caesar  had 
obtained  before  Dyrrachium,  had  been  greatly  magnified  at 

L  3  Rome : 


r 


150 


The  letters        Book  VII. 


to  your  usual  prudence,  what  hopes  can  possi- 
bly  remain  either  to  him  or  to  yourself;  and 
the  result  will  evidently  point  out  the  measures 
which  are  most  expedient  for  you  to  pursue. 
Let  me  entreat  you,  if  Pompey  has  already  ex- 
tricated himself  out  of  the  danger  in  which  he 
was  involved,  and  taken  refuge  in  his  fleet, 
that  you  would  now  at  least  think  it  time  to 
consult  your  own  interest,  in  preference  to  that 
of  any  other  man.     You  have  performed  every 
thing  which  gratitude  and  friendship  can  ex- 
pect, or  the  party  you  approved  can  require. 
What  remains,   then,  but  to  sit  down  quietly 
under  the  repubHc,  as  it  now  subsists,  rather 
than,  by  vainly  contending  for  the  old  consti- 
tution, to  be  absolutely  deprived  of  both  ?     If 
Pompey,  therefore,  should  be  driven  from  his 
present  post,  and  obliged  to  retreat  still  far- 
ther, I  conjure  you,  my  dear  Cicero,  to  with- 
draw to  Athens,  or  to  any  other  city  uncon- 
cerned in  the  war.      If  you   should  comply 
with  this  advice,  I  beg  you  would  give  me  no- 
tice,  that  I  may  fly  to  embrace  you,  if  by  any 
means  it  should  be  in  my  power.     Your  own 
interest  with  Caesar,  togetlier  with  the  natural 
generosity  of  his  temper,  will  render   it  ex- 
tremely 

Rome :  for  Pompey  was  so  far  from  being  in  the  situation 
which  Dolabella  here  represents  him,  that  Cxsar  found  him- 
self obliged  to  abandon  the  siege  of  this  city,  and  to  retirt 
into  Thessaly.    Dio,  xli.  p.  177. 


Book  VII. 


OF  CICERO. 


15\ 


tremely  easy  for  you  to  obtain  any  honourable 
conditions  you  shall  demand ;  and  I  am  per- 
suaded that  my  solicitations  will  have  no  in- 
considerable weight  for  this  purpose, 

I  rely  upon  your  honour  and  your  humanity 
to  take  care  that  this  messenger  may  safely  re- 
turn to  me  with  your  answer.     Farewel. 


■f  1 1  f  k 


..        LETTER  XX. 

[A.U.  704.] 
To    TERENTIA^ 

AM  informed,  by  the  letters  of  my  friends^ 
as  well  as  by  other  accounts,  that  you  have  had 
a  sudden  attack  of  a  fever.  I  entreat  you, 
therefore,  to  employ  the  utmost  care  in  re- 
establishing your  health. 

The  early  notice  you  gave  me  of  Caesar's 
letter  was  extremely  agreeable  to  me ;  and  let 
me  desire  you  would  send  me  the  same  expedi- 
tious intelligence,  if  any  thing  should  hereaf- 
ter occur  that  concerns  me  to  know.  Once 
more  I  conjure  you  to  take  care  of  your 
health.     Farewel. 

June  the  2d. 

.  i-w^      -  '      LETTER 

*  "  This  letter  was  written  by  Cicero,  in  the  camp  at 
"  Dyrrachium  ;  for  there  is  one  extant  to  Atticus  later  than 
"  this,  and  dated  from  the  camp.  Ad  Att,  xi.  18."  Mr. 
Ross,  L  4 


1  ' 


f 


152  The  LETTERS 


Book  VII. 


LETTER  XXL 

[A.  U.  704.] 

To  the  same/ 

A  XN TREAT  you  to  take  all  proper  measures 
for  the  recovery  of  your  health.  Let  me  re- 
quest, Hkewise,  that  you  would  provide  what- 
ever may  be  necessary  in  the  present  conjunc- 
ture, and  that  you  would  send  me  frequent  ac- 
counts how  every  thing  goes  on.     Farewel. 

LETTER  XXIL    ' 

[A.  U.  704.] 

To  the  same. 

I  HAVE  sddom  an  opportunity  of  writing, 
and  scarce  any  thing  to  say  that  I  choose  to 
trust  in  a  letter.  I  find,  by  your  last,  that 
you  cannot  meet  with  a  purchaser  for  any  of 
our  farms.  I  beg,  therefore,  you  would  con- 
aider  of  some  other  method  of  raising  money, 
in  order  to  satisfy  that  person  who,  you  are 
sensible,  I  am  very  desirous  should  be  paid*. 

I  am 

^  This  letter  was  probably  writteD  soon  after  the  forego- 
ing, and  from  the  same  place. 

•  This  letter,  as  well  as  the  two  former,  was  written  while 
Cicero  was  with  Pompey  in  Greece.  The  business  at  which 
he  so  obscurely  hints,  has  been  thought  to  relate  to  the  pay- 
ment 


Book  VIL 


OF  CICERO. 


153 


I  am  by  no  means  surprised  that  you  should 
have  received  the  thanks  of  our  friend,  as  I 
dare  say  she  had  great  reason  to  acknowledge 
your  kindness. 

If  Pollex^  IS  not  yet  set  out,  I  desire  you 
would  exercise  yOur  authority,  and  force  the 
loiterer  to  depart  immediately.     FareweL 

July  the  15th. 

LETTER 

ment  of  part  of  Tullia*s  portion  to  Dolabella.  But  it  seems 
evident  from  the  4th  epistle  of  the  11th  book  to  Atticus,  that 
Cicero  was  not  at  this  time  come  to  any  resolution  con- 
cerning the  second  payment  of  his  daughter's  portion  ;  for, 
in  a  postscript,  he  desires  the  sentiments  of  Atticus  upon 
that  subject.  De  pensione  altera^  says  he,  oro  te  omni  cura 
considera  quid  faciendum  sit.  Ad  Att,  xi.  4.  Now  that  this 
letter  to  Atticus  was  written  about  the  same  time,  with  the 
present  to  Terentia,  appears  from  hence,  that  Cicero  plainly 
refers  in  it  to  the  same  epistle  to  which  this  before  us  is  an 
answer.  Ex  proximis  cognovi  prcedia  non  venisse  :  [Ad  Att. 
ibid.]  which  tallies  with  what  he  says  in  the  letter  under  ex- 
amination :  ex  tuis  Uteris,  quas  proxime  accepi,  cognovi  prce^ 
dium  nullum  venire  potuisse  ;  and  proves  that  the  date  of  each 
must  have  been  nearly,  if  not  exactly,  coincident.  For  these 
reasons,  it  seems  necessary  to  look  out  for  another  interpre- 
tation of  the  present  passage ,  and,  from  the  cautious  cir- 
cumstance of  the  name  being  suppressed,  it  may  be  suspected 
that  Cawar  is  the  person  meant.  It  is  certain,  at  least,  that 
Cicero  owed  him  a  sum  of  money ;  concerning  which,  he  ex- 
presses some  uneasiness  to  Atticus,  upon  the  breaking  out  of 
the  civil  war ;  as  he  couM  not,  indeed,  continue  in  Cassar't 
debt  with  any  honour,  after  he  had  joined  the  party  against 
bim.     Ad  Att.  vii.  3.  "^  ^  ^ 

^  It  appears,  by  a  letter  to  Atticus,  that  this  person  acted 
ts  a  sort  of  steward  in  Cicero's  family.    Ad.  Att.  xiii.  47.  . 


15* 


The  letters 


Book  VI I. 


Book  VII. 


OF  CICERO. 


153 


lit 


\ 


LETTER  XXIII. 

[A.  U.  704.] 

To  the  same. 

May  the  joy  you  express  at  my  safe  arrival  in 
Italy',  be  never  interrupted  !  But  my  mind 
was  so  much  discomposed  by  tliose  atrocious 
injuries  I  had  received',  that  I  have  taken  a 
step,  I  fear,  which  may  be  attended  with  great 
difficulties^  Let  me,  then,  entreat  your  utmost 

assistance ; 

'  After  ihc  battle  of  Pharsalia,  Cicero  would  not  engage 
himself  any  farther  with  the  Pompeian  party  ;  but,  having 
endeavoured  to  make  his  peace  with  Caesar  by  the  mediation 
of  Dolabella,  he  seems  to  have  received  no  other  answer  than 
an  order  to  return  immediately  into  Italy.  And  this  he  ac- 
cordinoly  did  a  few  days  before  the  date  of  the  present  letter. 

Ad  Att.  xi.  7. 

*  Cicero,  who  was  somewhat  indisposed,  and  much  out 
of  humour,  did  not  attend  Pompey  when  he  marched  from 
Dyrrachium  in  order  to  follow  Cssar.  Cato  was  likewise 
left  behind,  with  fifteen  cohorts,  to  conduct  the  baggage ; 
but  upon  the  news  of  Pompey's  defeat,  in  the  plains  of  Phar* 
salia,  he  pressed  Cicero  to  take  upon  himself  the  commaiwi 
of  those  troops,  as  being  of  superior  rank  in  the  republic. 
Cicero,  who  had  all  along  declined  accepting  any  commission 
in  Pompey's  army,  was  not  disposed,  it  may  well  be  ima- 
gined, to  be  more  active  against  Caesar,  when  the  latter  had 
just  obtained  a  most  signal  victory.  Accordingly,  he  abso- 
lutely refused  this  offer  which  Cato  made ;  declaring,  at  the 
same  time,  his  resolution  of  withdrawing  from  the  common 
cause.  This  exasperated  the  young  Pompey  and  his  friends 
to  such  a  degree,  that  they  would  have  killed  Cicero  upon 
the  spot,  if  Cato  had  not  generously  interposed,  and  con- 
ducted him  safely  out  of  the  camp.  It  is  probably  to  this 
outrage  that  he  here  alludes.  Ad  Att.  xi.  4.  Pint,  in  rit.Cic. 

3  It  has  been  observed,  that  Cicero  scarce  ever  executed 
an  important  resolution,  of  which  he  did  not  immediately 

repent. 


assistance;  though,  I  must  confess,  at  the 
same  time,  that  I  know  not  wherein  it  can 
avail  me. 

I  would  by  no  means  have  you  think  of 
coming  hither.  For  the  journey  is  both  long 
and  dangerous,  and  I  do  not  see  in  what  man- 
ner you  could  be  of  any  service.     Farewel. 

Brundisium,  Nov.  the  5th. 

repent.  This,  at  least,  was  the  situation  of  his  mind,  in  the 
present  instance ;  and  he  was  no  sooner  arrived  in  Italy, 
than  he  began  to  condemn  himself  for  having  too  hastily  de- 
termined upon  that  measure.  The  letters  which  he  wrote  to 
Atticus,  at  this  period,  and  which  comprise  almost  the  lltb 
book  of  those  epistles,  contain  little  eUe  than  so  many  proofs 
of  this  assertion.  Cicero  imagined,  after  the  decisive  action 
that  had  lately  happened  in  the  plains  of  Pbarsalia,  that  the 
chiefs  of  the  Pompeian  party  would  instantly  sue  for  peace. 
But  Caesar,  instead  of  directly  pursuing  his  victory,  suffered 
himself  to  be  diverted  by  a  war  altogether  foreign  to  his  pur- 
pose, and  in  which  the  charms  of  Cleopatra,  perhaps,  car- 
ried him  farther  than  he  at  first  intended.  This  gave  the 
Pompeians  an  opportunity  of  collecting  their  scattered  forces, 
and  of  forming  a  very  considerable  array  in  Africa.  As  this 
circumstance  was  utterly  unexpected  by  Cicero,  it  occasioned 
him  infinite  disquietude,  and  produced  those  reproaches 
which  he  is  perpetually  throwing  out  upon  himself  in  the  let- 
ters abovementioned  lo  Atticus.  For,  if  the  republican  par- 
ty should,  after  all,  have  returned  triumphant  into  Italv,  he 
knew  he  should  be  treated  as  one  who  had  merited  their  ut- 
most resentment.  ,  «;.  :  /jouji  i 
This  and  the  following  letters  in  this  book  to  Tere^tia, 
were  written  during  the  interval  of  Cicero's  arrival  at  Brun- 
disium, and  Caesar's  return  into  Italy,  which  contains  a 
period  of  about  eleven  mouths. 


t56 


The  letters 


Book  VII. 


LETTER  XXIV. 

[A.  u.  ro4.] 

To  the  same. 

The  ill  state  of  health  into  which  TuUia  is 
fallen,  is  a  very  severe  addition  to  the  many 
and  great  disquietudes  that  afflict  my  mind*. 
But  I  need  say  nothing  farther  upon  this  sub- 
ject, as  I  am  sure  her  welfare  is  no  less  a  part 
of  your  tender  concern  than  it  is  of  mine. 

I  agree  both  with  you  and  her  in  thinking  it 
proper  that  I  should  advance  nearer  to  Rome^ ; 
and  I  should  have  done  so  before  now,  if  I  had 
not  been  prevented  by  several  difficulties,  which 
I  am  not  yet  able  to  remove.  But  I  am  in  ex- 
pectation of  a  letter  from  Atticus,  with  his  sen- 
timents upon  this  subject;  and  I  beg  you  would 
forward  it  to  me  by  the  earliest  opportunity. 

Farewel. 

LETTER 

♦  The  anxiety  wbich  Cicero  laboured  under,  at  this  junc- 
ture, was  undoubtedly  severe.  Besides  the  uneasiness  men- 
tioned in  the  last  remark,  he  was,  like^rise,  under  great  dis* 
quietude  from  the  uncertainty  of  the  disposition  in  which 
CffiAr  stood  towards  him.  And,  to  add  yet  more  to  the  dis- 
composure of  his  mind,  it  was  at  this  time  that  he  received 
the  cruel  usage  from  his  brother,  of  which  an  account  has 
been  given  in  rem.  7.  p.  1 10.  of  this  vol.  He  had  still  greater 
misfortunes  of  a  domestic  kind,  to  increase  the  weight  of  his 
borrows,  which  will  be  pointed  out  as  they  shall  occasionally 
offer  themselves  in  the  remaining  letters  to  Terentia. 

'  Cicero  was  still  at  Brundisium,  from  which  place  all  the 
following. letters  in  this  book  to  Terentia,  except  the  last, 
aeem  to  have  been  written. 


Book  VIL        of  CICERO, 


U7 


LETTER  XXV. 

[A,  U.  704.] 

To  the  same. 

In  addition  to  my  other  misfortunes,  I  hav« 
BOW  to  lament  the  illness  both  of  Dolabella 
and  Tullia.  The  whole  frame  of  my  mind  is, 
indeed,  so  utterly  discomposed,  that  I  know 
not  what  to  resolve,  or  how  to  act,  ii\  any  of 
my  affairs.  I  can  only  conjure  you  to  take 
care  of  yourself  and  of  Tullia.     Farewel. 


■t 


i 


III     t 


LETTER  XXVL 

[A.  U.  704.] 

To  the  same. 

If  any  thing  occurred  worth  communicating 
to  you,  my  letters  would  be  more  frequent  and 
much  longer.  But  I  need  not  tell  you  the 
situation  of  my  affairs ;  and,  as  to  the  effect 
they  have  upon  my  mind,  I  leave  it  to  Lepta 
and  Trebatius  to  inform  you.  I  have  only  to 
^dd  my  entreaties,  that  you  would  take  care  of 
your  own  and  Tullia's  health.     Farewel. 

4  LETTER 


158  TheILETTERS         BookVIL 


LETTER  XXVII. 

[A.  U.  704.] 
ToTlTIUS^ 

There  is  none  of  your  friends  less  capable 
than  I  am  to  offer  consolation  to  you  under 
your  present  affliction  ;  as  the  share  I  take  in 
your  loss7  renders  me  greatly  in  need  of  the 
same  good  office  myself  However,  as  my 
m\ef  does  not  rise  to  the  same  extreme  degree 
as  youi*s,  I  should  not  think  I  discharged  the 
duty  which  my  connexion  and  friendship  with 
you  require,  if  I  remained  altogether  silent  at 
a  time  when  vou  are  thus  overwhelmed  with 
sorrow.  I  determined,  therefore,  to  suggest  a 
few  reflections  to  you  which  may  alleviate,  at 
least,  if  not  entirely  remove,  the  anguish  of 
your  heart. 

There  is  no  maxim  of  consolation  more  com- 
mon :  vet,  at  the  same  time,  there  is  none  which 
deserves  to  be  more  frequently  in  our  thoughts, 
than  that  we  ought  to  remember,    "  We  are 

^'menf 

♦  It  is  altogether  uncertain  who  the  person  is  to  whom  this 
letter  is  addressed  ;  perhaps  the  same  to  whom  the  l6th  of 
the  third  book  is  written.  See  rem.  *  p.  248.  vol.  1.  The 
precise  dale,  likewise,  is  extremely  doubtlul ;  however,  the 
opinion  of  Dransfeld  is  here  followed,  who,  in  his  edition  of 
these  eftistles,  has  placed  it  under  the  present  year. 

''  Of  his  bon. 


Book  VII.        of  CICERO. 


159 


\ 


"  men ;"  that  is,  creatures  who  are  born  to  be 
exposed  to  calamities  of  every  kind ;  and,  there- 
fore, "  that  it  becomes  us  to  submit  to  the  con- 
"  ditions  by  which  we  hold  our  existence,  with- 
"  out  being  too  much  dejected  by  accidents 
"  which  no  prudence  can  prevent."  In  a  word, 
that  we  should  learn  by  '^  reflecting  on  the  mis- 
*'  fortunes  which  have  attended  others,  that 
"  there  is  nothing  singular  in  those  which  befal 
"  ourselves."  But  neither  these,  nor  other  argu- 
ments to  the  same  purpose,  which  are  inculcated 
in  the  writings  of  the  philosophers,  seem  to  have 
so  strong  a  claim  to  success,  as  those  which  may 
be  drawn  from  the  present  unhappy  situation  of 
public  affairs,  and  that  endless  series  of  misfor- 
tunes which  is  rising  upon  our  country.  They 
are  such,  indeed,  that  one  cannot  but  account 
those  to  be  most  fortunate,  who  never  knew  what 
it  was  to  be  a  parent ;  and  as  to  those  persons, 
who  are  deprived  of  their  children,  in  these  times 
of  general  anarchy  and  mis-rule,  they  have  much 
less  reason  to  regret  their  loss,  than  if  it  had 
happened  in  a  more  flourishing  period  of  the 
commonwealth,  or  while  yet  the  republic  had 
any  existence.  If  your  tears  flow,  indeed,  from 
this  accident,  merely  as  it  afitcts  your  own  per- 
sonal happiness,  it  may  be  difficult,  perhaps,  en- 
tirely to  restrain  them.  But,  if  your  sorrow  takes 
i  its 


160 


The  letters        BookVIU 


its  rise  from  a  more  enlarged  and  benevolent 
principle;  if  it  be  for  the  sake  of  the  dead 
themselves  that  you  lament,  it  may  be  an  ea- 
sier task  to  assuage  your  grief.  I  shall  not 
liere  insist  upon  an  argument,  which  I  have 
frequently  heard  maintained  in  conversations, 
as  well  as  often  read,  likewise,  in  treatises  that 
have  been  written  upon  this  subject  "Death,*' 
**  say  those  philosophers,  "  cannot  be  consi- 
**  dered  as  an  evil ;  because,  if  any  conscious- 
**  ness  remains  after  our  dissolution,  it  is  rather 
**  an  entrance  into  immortality,  than  an  extinc- 
**  tion  of  life ;  and  if  none  remains,  there  can 
*'  be  no  miserj^  where  there  is  no  sensibility^'' 

Not 

•  The  notion  of  a  future  state  of  positive  punishment, 
seems  to  have  been  rejected  by  the  ancient  philosophers  in  ge- 
neral ;  both  by  those  who  maintained  the  eternal,  and  those 
who  only  held  the  temporary  duration  of  the  soul  after 
death.  Thus  Cicero  and  Seneca,  though  of  different  sects^ 
yet  agree  in  treating  the  fears  of  this  sort  as  merely  a  poe- 
tical delusion  :  [Tvsctil.  Disput,  /.  21.  30.  Seuec,  Consolat. 
^d  Marc.  I9.]  and  even  Socrates  himself  affixes  no  other 
penalty  to  the  most  atrocious  deviations  from  moral  recti» 
tude,  than  that  of  a  simple  exclusion  from  the  mansions  of 
the  gods.  This  shows  how  impotent  the  purest  systems  of 
the  best  philosophers  must  have  been,  for  the  moral  govern- 
ment of  mankind,  since  they  thus  dropped  one  of  the  most 
powerful  of  all  sanctions  for  that  purpose*  the  terrors  of  an 
actual  chastisement.  The  comparative  number  of  those  is 
infinitely  small,  whose  conduct  does  not  give  reason  to  sus- 
pect that  they  would  be  willing  to  exchange  spiritual  joys  \ik 
reversion,  for  the  full  gratification  of  an  importunate  appe- 
tite in  present ;  and  the  interest  of  virtue  can  alone  be  suffi- 
ciently guarded  by  the  divine  assurance  of  intense pwiuAmen^ 
as  well  as  of  complete  happiness  hei'eafter^ 


Book  VIL        of  CICERO. 


161 


Not  to  insist,  I  say,  upon  any  reasonings  of  this 
nature ;  let  me  remind  you  of  an  argument 
which  I  can  urge  with  much  more  confidence. 
He  who  has  made  his  exit  from  a  scene  where 
such  dreadful  confusion  prevails,  and  where  so 
many  approaching  calamities  are  in  prospect, 
cannot  possibly,  it  should  seem,   be  a  loser  by 
the  exchange.   Let  me  ask,  not  only  where  ho- 
nour, virtue,  and  probity,  ^here  true  philoso- 
phy and  the  useful  arts,  can  now  fly  for  refuge ; 
but  where  even  our  liberties  and  our  lives  can 
be  secure.^  For  my  own  part,  I  have  never  once 
heard  of  the  death  of  any  youth  during  all  this 
last  sad  year,  whom  I  have  not  considered  as 
kindly  delivered  bv  the  immortal  orodsfrom  the 
miseries  of  these  wretched  times.  If,  therefore, 
you  can  be  persuaded  to  think  that  their  con- 
dition is  by  no  means  unhappy,  whose  loss  you 
so  tenderly  deplore;  it  must  undoubtedly  prove 
a  very  considerable  abatement  of  your  present 
affliction.     For  it  will  then  entirely  arise  from 
what  you  feel  upon  your  own  account ;  and 
have  no  relation  to  the  persons  whose  death  you 
regret.  Now  it  would  ill  agree  with  those  wise 
and  generous  maxims  which  have  ever  inspired 
your  breast,   to  be  too  sensible  of  misfortunes 
which  terminate  in  your  own  person,  and  affect 
not  the  happiness  of  those  you  love.  You  have 
Vol.  II.  M  upo^ 


162 


The  letters         Book  VIL 


upon  all  occasons,  both  public  and  private, 
shewn  yourself  animated  with  the  firmest  for- 
titude :  and  it  becomes  you  to  act  up  to  the 
character  you  have  thus  justly  acquired.  Time 
necessarily  wears  out  the  deepest  impressions 
pf  sorrow  :  and  the  weakest  mother  that  ever 
lost  a  child,  has  found  some  period  to  her  grief. 
But  we  should  wisely  anticipate  that  effect 
which  a  certain  revolution  of  days  will  un- 
doubtedly produce  :  and  not  wait  for  a  remedy 
from  time,  which  we  may  much  sooner  receive 

from  reason. 

If  what  I  have  said  can  any  thing  avail  in  les- 
sening the  weight  of  your  aflliction,  I  shall  have 
obtained  my  wish  :  If  not,  I  shall  at  least  have 
discharged  the  duties  of  that  friendship  aiul  af- 
fection which,  believe  me,  I  ever  have  pre- 
serve<l,  and  ever  shall  preserve  towaixb  youv. 
Farewel.  » 


LETTER  XXVIII. 

[A.  U.  705.] 

To  Teuentia. 

My  affairs  are,  at  present,  in  such  a  situation, 
that  I  have  no  reason  to  expect  a  letter  on  your 
part,  and  have  nothing  to  conmiunicate  to  you 
on  mine.     Yet  I  know  not  how  it  is,  I  can  no 

more 


Bo 6k  VIL        it)r  CICERO. 


iSs 


more  forbear  flattering  myself  that  I  may  hear 
from  you,   thmi  I  can  refiain  from  writing  to 
you  whenever  I  meet  with  a  conveyance. 
^^Volumnia  ought  to  have  shewn  herself  more 
zealous  for  your  interest;  and  in  the  particular 
instance  you  mention,  she  might  have  acted 
with  greater  care  and  caution.    This,  however, 
is  but  a  slight  grievance  amongst  others  which 
I  far  more  severely  feel  and  lament.  Thev  have 
the  effect  upon  me,  indeed,  which  those  per- 
sons undoubtedly  wished^  who  compelled  me 
into  measures  utterly  opposite  to  my  own  sen- 
timents.    Farewel. 

December  the  31st. 

LETTER 

'  The  commentators  are  divided  in  their  opinions  con- 
cerning the  persons  to  whom  Cicero  here  alludes :  as  they 
are  likewise  as  to  the  year  when  this  letter  was  written.  Ther« 
are  two  periods,  indeed,  of  Cicero's  life,  with  which  this 
epistle  will  equally  coincide:  the  time  when  he  was  in  ba- 
nishment, and  the  time  when  he  returned  into  Italy, ^fter  the 
defeat  of  Pompey.  The  opinion,  however,  of  Viciorius  has 
been  followed,  in  placing  this  letter  under  the  present  year  : 
who  supposes,  not  without  probability,  that  the  persons  here 
meant  are  the  bame  of  whom  Cicero  complains  in  the  23d 
letter  of  this  book. 

M  2 


'"p,  J? 


164 


The  letters        Book  VII. 


LETTER  XXIX* 


Book  VII.  pi', CICERO. 


165 


[A.  U.  706.] 

ToAciLius,  Proconsul*. 

Lucius  Manlius  Sosis  was  formerly  a  ci- 
tizen of  Catina^ ;  but  having  afterwards  ob- 
tained the  freedom  of  Naples,  he  is  at  present 
one  of  the  members  of  their  council.     lie  is 
likewise  a  citizen  of  Rome ;  having  been  ad- 
mitted to  that  privilege  with  the  rest  of  the 
Neapolitans,    in  consequence  of  the   general 
grant  which  was  made  for  that  purpose  to  our 
allies  and  the  inhabitants  of  Latium.     He  has 
lately  succeeded  to  an  estate  at  Catina,  by  the 
death  of  his  brother:  and  is  now  in  actual  pos- 
session.    But  though  I  do  not  imagine  that 
his  right  is  likely  to  be  controverted  ;  yet,  as 

he 

>  He  was  governor  of  Sicily  :  which  is  all  that  is  known 
of  his  history?    The  laborious  and   accurate  Pighius  places 
his  aaministration  of  that  island  under  the  present  year:  and 
Mr.  Ross   assigns  a   very  good  reason  for  being  of  the  same 
opinion.     For  it  appears  (as  that  gentleman  observes)  that 
Cicero's  correspondence  >*ith  Acilms  was  carried  on   when 
the  latter  was  proconsul  of  Sicily,  and  during  the  time  ihat 
Caesar  had  the  supreme  authority.    It  is  probable,  therefore, 
that  these  letters  were  written  in  the  present  >ear  ;  becau>e 
in  all  the  others  that  fall  within  that  period,  the  per>ons  who 
severaUy  presided  in  Sicily  are  known  to  have  been  Posthu- 
mius  Albinus,  Aulus    Allienus,  and  Titus   Fursanius.     See 
Mr.  Ross's  ran.  on  the  Epist.  Tamil,  vol.  ^.  p.  502. 

^  A  maritime  city  in  Sicily,  now  called  Catania.  It  con- 
tinued to  be  a  town  of  considerable  note,  till  the  eruptions  of 
mount  iEtua  in  1669  and  l693,  which  almost  entirely  laid  it 
in  niius. 


he  has  other  affairs  of  consequence  in  Sicily,  I 
recommend  his  concerns  of  every  kind  in  that 
island  to  your  protection.  But  I  particularly 
recommend  himself  to  you  as  a  most  worthy 
man ;  as  one  with  whom  I  am  intimately  con- 
nected ;  and  as  a  person  who  excels  in  those 
sciences  I  principally  admire.  Whether  there- 
fore he  shall  think  proper  to  return  into  Sicily 
or  not,  I  desire  you  would  consider  him  as  my 
very  particular  friend :  and  that  you  would 
treat  him  in  such  a  manner  as  to  convince  him 
that  this  letter  proved  greatly  to  his  advantage, 
Farewel. 

LETTER  XXX.  ' 

[A.  U.  706.] 

To  Terentia. 

TuLLiA  arrived  here'  on  the  12th  of  this 
month*.  It  extremely  affected  me  to  see  a  wo- 
man of  her  singular  and  amiable  virtues  re- 
duced (and  reduced  too  by  my  own  negligence) 
to  a  situation  far  other  than  is  agreeable  to  her 
rank  and  filial  piety^  ^ 

'   ■•"  I  have 

•»ij*«;B'^u'^dis'u»n :  where  Cicero  was  still  waiting  for  Caesar's^ 
arrival  from  Egypt. 

*  June. 
'1*/  Oolabella  wasgceatly  embarrassed  in  his  affairs:  and  it 
seems  by  this  passage  as  if  he  had  not  allowed  Tullia  a  main- 
tenance, during  his  absence  abroad,  sufficient  to  support  her 

M  3  rauk 


166 


The  LETtERS        Book  VII 


I  have  some  thoughts  of  sending  my  soti, 
accompanied  by  Salltts-tius,  with  a  letter  to 
Caesar*:  and  if  I  should  execute  this  design,  I 
will  let  you  know  when  he  setf*  out.  In  the 
mean  time  be  careful  of  your  health  I  conjure 
you.     Farewel. 


LETTER  XXXI. 

[A.U.  706.] 

To  the  sauK. 

I  HAD  determined,  agreeably  to  what  I  men- 
tioned in  my  former,  to  send  my  son  to  meet 
Cassar  on  his  return  to  Italy.  But  I  have  since 
'■  altered  mv  resolution :  as  I  hear  no  news  of  his 
arrival  For  the  rest  I  refer  you  to  Sicca,  who 
will  inform  vou  what  measures  I  think  neces- 
sary  to  be  taken:  tl>ough  I  must  ^d,  that  ik)- 
thing  new  has  occurred  since  I,  wiote;  last. 
TuUia  is  still  with  me.— Adieu,  and  take  all 
possible  care  of  your  health. . 

June  the  20th.  '     ■■ 

.    ■      .  ♦  ♦ 

i»i}\i  and  dsgnity.  The  negligence  with  which  Cicero  re- 
proaches him\elt,  probably  relates  to  his  not  having  secured 
a  proper  settlement  on  his  daughter,  t^henf  h<*  made  the  se- 
cond payment  of  her  fortune  to  Dolabella.  Por  in  a  better 
wriuen  to  Atticus  about  this,  time,  he  expressly  condemns 
himself  for  having  acted  imprudently  in  that  affair.  In  pen- 
sione  secunda,  says  he,  ccecifirimtis.     Ad  Att.  xi.  ip. 

4  In  order  to  sirpplictte  Caesar's  pardon,  for  having  en- 
gfiged  against  him  on  the  side  of  Pumpey. 


Boot  VIL         OF  CICERO. 


167 


LETTER  XXXII. 

[A.U.706.J 

To  AciLius,  Proconsul. 

C  A I  u  s  F  L  A  V I  u  s,  an  illustrious  Roman  knight, 
of  an  honourable  family,  is  one  with  whom  I 
live  in  great  intimacy:  he  was  a  very  particular 
friend  likewise  of  my  son-in-law  Piso.  Both  ho 
and  his  brother  Lucius  shew  me  the  strongest 
instances  of  their  regard.  I  shall  receive  it, 
therefore,  as  an  honour  done  to  myself,  if  you 
Avill  treat  Caius  with  all  the  marks  of  favour 
and  distinction  th?t  shall  be  consistent  with 
your  character  and  dignity  :  and  be  assured 
you  cannot,  in  any  article,  more  effectually 
oblige  me,  than  by  complying  with  this  re- 
quest. I  will  add,  that  the  rank  which  he 
bears  in  the  world,  the  credit  in  which  he 
stands  with  thos^  of  his  own  ord^r,  together 
with  his  polite  and  grateful  disposition,  will 
afford  you  reason  to  be  extremely  w^ll  satis- 
fied with  the  good  offices  you  shall  confer  upon 
him.  When  I  say  this,  beheve  me,  I  am  not 
prompted  by  any  interested  motives,  but 
speak  the  sincere  dictates  of  truth  and  friend- 
ship.    Farewel. 

M  4  LETTER 


158 


The  LETTERS         BookVIL 


LETTER  XXXIIL 

[A.  U.  706] 

To  Terentia. 

I  WROTE  to  Atticus  (somewhat  later  indeed 
than  I  ought)  concerning  the  aflfair  you  men- 
tion. When  you  talk  to  him  upon  that  head, 
he  will  inform  you  of  my  inclinations  :  and  I 
need  not  be  more  explicit  here,  after  having 
written  so  fully  to  him^  Let  me  know  as  soon 
as  possible  what  steps  are  taken  in  that  busi- 
ness :  and  acquaint  me  at  the  same  time  with 
every  thing  else  which  concerns  me.  I  have 
onlv  to  add  my  request,  that  you  would  be 
careful  of  your  health.     Farewel. 

'     July  the  9th. 

LETTER 

-  *  Mr.  Ro^s  supposes  that  the  letter  to  which  Cicero  re- 
fers, h  the  Ipth  oi  the  llih  bock  fo  Atticus.  If  this  cuojec- 
ture  be  nght  (as  it  is  highly  probable)  the  business  hinted  at 
concerned  the  making  of  Terentia's  will,  and  also  the  raising 
of  muney  towards  the  support  of  Tullia,  by  the  sale  of  SLorae 
pUie  and  furniture,     ^rf  Alt.  xi.  1^.  CO.  ' 


k 


•ijb' 


nnsz 

I'    ciiii 


Book  VII.        of  CICERO, 


\h 


LETTER  XXXiV. 

[A.  U.  706.] 

To  the  same. 

1  If  answer  to  what  you  object  concernin^'fhB 
divorce  I  mentioned  in  my  last*^,  I  can  only 
say,  that  I  am  perfectly  ignorant  what  power 
Dolabella  may  at  this  time  possess,  or  what  fer- 
ments there  may  be  among  the  populace^ 
However,  if  you  think  there  is  any  thing  to  be 
apprehended  from  his  resentment,  let  the  mat- 
rfft  '  ■       ■  ter 

*  Between  Tullia  and  Dolabella.  The  occasion  of  this 
divorce  is  so  darkly  hinted  at  in  the  letters  to  Atticus,  thai 
it  is  altogether  impossible  to  penetrate  into  the  reasons  that 
produced  it :  one,  however,  seems  to  have  ariseafrom  an  in- 
trigue that  was  carrying  on  between  Dolabella  and-Metella. 
This  lady  was  wife  to  Lentulus  Spiniher  (to  whom  several  let- 
ters in  the  first  and  second  book  of  this  collection  are  ad- 
dressed) and  is  supposed  to  be  the  same  person  whom  Ho- 
race mentions  to  have  had  a  commerce  of  gallantry  with  the 
son  of  th*-  celebrated  tragedian  iEsopus.  See  rem.  6.  p.  1  ip. 
vol.  i.  Ad  Ait.  xi.  20. 

'  Dolabella  was  at  this  time  tribune  of  the  people,  and 
employing  the  power  and  credit  witb  which  he  was  invesl^d 
by  that  office,  to  the  most  seditious  purposes.  Amono  other 
attempts,  he  endeavoured  to  procure  a  law  for  the  general 
cancelling  of  all  debts,  and  likewise  to  oblige  the  propri«tors 
of  houses  in  Rome,  to  remit  one  year's  rent  to  their  respec- 
tive tenants.  The  disturbances  ran  so  high,  that  the  senate 
was  under  a  necessity  of  suffering  Antony  to  enter  Rome 
with  a  body  of  troops,  and  no  less  than  SCO  citizens  lost  their 
lives  upon  this  occasion.  But  nothing  proved  effectual  for 
quieting  these  commotions,  till  it  was  known  that  ('aesar,  af- 
ter having  finished  the  war  in  Egypt,  was  actually  upon  his 
return  into  Italy.  Plut,  in  vit.  Anton.  Dio.  xlii.  Uv.  Epit. 
il3. 


170 


The  letters        Book  VIL 


ter  rest :  and,  perhaps,  the  first  proposal  may 
come  from  hm^ir.  Ne\'ertheless,  I  leave  you 
to  act  as  you  shall  judg^e  proper ;  not  doubtinjj 
that  you  will  take  such  mea&ures  in  this  most 
imfortunate  affair,  as  shall  appear  to  be  at- 
tended, with  the  fewest  unhappy  consequencesi 
Farewel.  ^ 

July  the  Iflrh. 

LETTER  XXXV. 

[A.V.706.] 

To  AciLius,  Proconsul. 

Marcls  and  Caius  Clodrus,  tcJgether  with 
A^chagathus  and  Philo,  all  of  them  inhabitants 
of  the  noble  and  elegant  city  of  Halcsa,  are 
persons  with  whom  I  am  united  by  every  tie  of 
friendship  and  hospitality.  But  1  am  afraid  if 
I  recommend  so  many  at  once  to  your  particu- 
lar favour,  you  will  be  apt  to  suspect  that  I  write 
merely  from  some  motive  of  an  interested  kind : 
though,  indeed,  both  myself  and  my  friends 
have  reason  to  be  abundantly  satisfied  with  the 
Icgard  you  always  pay  io  my  letters  of  this  na- 
ture. Let  me  assure  you  then,  that  both  Archa- 
gathus  and  Philo,  as  also  the  whole  family  of 

the 

•  The  pa«s}»Qnp  m  tiie  original  i*  <*?ttrefm»iy  corrupt.  The 
Iranslalor  has  (Ulofncd  the  rcadinij  prwpo^ed  by  Mr.  Ross: 
Sid  si  metuetidusiratum'si:  quiesce:  turn  ab Uh  fort asse  nascetur* 


BoaK  VIL 


OF  CICERO. 


171 


the  Clodii,  havi,  by  a  long  series  of  affection- 
ate offices,  a  right  to  my^  best  assistance.  I 
very  earnestly  entreat  yott^i  therefore,  asan  obli- 
gatioR  that  will'  be  highly  agreeable  to  i;n^^  that 
you  would  promote  their  interest  upon)  all  oc- 
casiomis,  as  far  as  the  honour  and  dignity  of 
your  character  shall  permit.     Farewel. 


LETTER  XXXVr. 

[A.  U.  706.1. 

To*  Cass  I  us. 

It  was  the  hope  that  peace  would  be  restored 
to  our  country,  and  the  abhorrence  of  spilling 
the  blood  of  our  fellow-citizens,  that  equally 
induced  both  you  and  myself  to  decline  an  ob- 
stinate perseverance  in  the  civil  war*.  But 
though  these  sentiments  were  common  to  us 

both, 

*  Caj>ar,  after  the  battle  of  Pharsalia,  crossed  the  Helles- 
pont in  parsuit  of  Pompey.  Cassius,  who  was  at  the  same 
time  sailing  in  those  streights  with;a  very  considerable  fl^et, 
might  with  great  ease  have  destroyer!  him;  as  Cassar  was  in 
no  condition  tt>  have  resiste<l  so-  puwerful  an  armamenf.  But 
Cassiu^  chose  to  act  a  most  unworthy  and  treacherous  part, 
by  deserting  with  his  whole  fleet  to  the  conqueror.  Some  of 
toe  historians  account  for^tbis  conduct,  by  assuring  us  that 
he  was  struck  with  a  kind  of  panic  at  the  amazing  fortune  of 
CjEsar,  which  iHindered  him  incapable  of  making  any  farther 
resistance.  Whereas  it  appears,  by  the  present  letter,  to 
have  been  in  consequei)ce  of  a  very  extraordinary  resolution 
he  had  formed  in  concert  with  Cicero,  of  resting  the  cause  of 
liberty,  for  so  they  tailed  it,  upon  a  single  engagement.  Suet, 
itt  JuL  6;}.  Jppian,  B.  C.  483. 


172 


The  letters        Book  VIL 


both,  yet,  as  I  am  considered  as. having  been  the 
first  to  inspire  you  with   them,  it  is  more  my 
part,  perhaps,  to  render  you  satisfied  with  hav- 
ing adopted  them,  than  it  is  yours  to  perform 
the  same  friendly  office  towards  me.    But  to  say/ 
the  truth,  (and  it  is  a  circumstance  upon  which 
I  frequently  reflect)  we  mutually  convinced  each 
other  in  tlie  free  conversations  we  held  upon 
this  subject,  that  a  single  battle,  if  it  should 
not  wholly  determine  our  cause,  ought  to  be  the 
limits,  however,  of  our  particular  opposition,  t 
And  these  sentiments  have  never  seriously  been 
condemned  by  any,  but  by  those  alone  who  think 
it  more  eligible  that  our  constitution  should  be 
totally  de^tro}  cd,  than  in  any  degree  impaired. 
But  my  opinion  was  far  otherwise  :  for  I  had  na,f 
views  to  gratify  by  its  extinction,  and  had  much 
to  liope  from  its  remains.     As  to  the  conse- 
quences which  have  since  ensued  ;  they  lay  far^ 
beyond  the  reach  of  human  discernment;  and 
the  wonderjs,  not  so  much  how  they  escaped^ 
our  penetration,  as  how  it  was  possible  they 
sliould  have  happened.     I   must  confess  rhy 
own  opinion  always  was,   that  tiiie  ^ttla,,,qf| 
Pharsalia  would  be  decisive :  ah9  I  iitiagtiietf^ 
that  the  victors  would  act  with  a  regard  to  thai 
c6mmon  preservation  of  all,  and  the  vanquished^ 
to  theii*  own.    But  both  the  one  and  the  other, 

I  was 


Book  VII.       of  CICEUO. 


173 


I  -^as  well  aware,  depended  on  the  expedition 
with  which  the  conquerors  should  pursue  their 
success.     And  had  they  pursued  it  immediate-  ] 
lyj'  those  who  have  since  carried  the  war  into 
Africa^  would  have  experienced  (and  e^cperi- 
enced  too,  if  I  do  not  flatter  myself,  by  my  in- 
tercession) the  same  clemency  with  which  thei 
rest  of  our  party  have  been  treated,  who  retircd 
into  Asia  and  Achaia.    But  the  critical  oppor- 
tunity (that  season  so  important  in  all  transac- 
tions, and  especially  in  a  civil  war)  was  unhap^  i 
pily  lost :  and  a  whole  year  intervening,  it  raised 
the  spirits  of  some  of  our  party  to  hope  they  > 
might  recover  the  victory :  and  rendered  others  i 
so  despei-ate  as  not  to  dread  the  reverse.  Fortune, 
however,  must  be  answerable  for  the  whole  train  I 
of  evils  which  this  delay  has  produced.   For  who 
would  have  imaonned  either  that  the  Alexandrine^ 
war  could  have  been  drawn  out  to  so  great  a 
length,  or  that  the  paltry  Pharnaces  could  bave^ 
struck  such  a  terror  throughout  Asia^ 
'nri  But> 

Yni  See  rem.  3.  p.  154-.  of  this  vol.  ;.     u 

*  PhariiHces  was  son  of  the  famous  Mithridates,  king  of 
Pontus.  [S^e  Tvm.  2  p.  2.  vol.  1.]  This  young  prince,  talt-  > 
iqij  advantage  of  CiesarN  being  engaged  in  the  Ale^HUf^riq^j 
War,  made  an  incursion  into  Cappadocia  and  the  Lesf^er  Ar- 
menia;  the  (Icmiinions  of  Deiotarus,  a  tributary  king  l<»  iJie 
Homans.  pumiiias  CaKinqs,  whom  Caesar  had  aj)^>'>infed 
to  command  iii  Asia  and  the  neighbouring  proviiK*e«:^,havi»ig 
recetved  notice  uf  this  invasion,  marched  immediately  to  the 
aisistancc  of  DeioUrus.  The  two  armies  came  lo  an  engage- 
ment, 


174 


Th^  LETTEllS  .Book  VII. 


But  though  we  both  acted  by  the  same  mea- 
sures, our  present  situations,  however,  are  ex- 
tremely different.  The  scheme  which  you 
thought  proper  to  execute,  lias  given  you  ad- 
mission into  Caesars  councils,  and  opened  a 
prospect  to  you  of  his  future  purposes  :  an  ad- 
vantage, most  certainly,  that  must  spare  you 
all  the  uneasiness  which  attends  a  state  of 
doubt  and  suspense.  Whereas,  for  myself,  as 
I  imagined  that  Caesar  would  immediately  after 
the  battle  of  Piiarsalia  have  returned  into  Italy, 
I  hastened  hither  in  order  to  encourasre  and 
improve  that  pacific  disposition  which  he  had 
discovered,  by  his  generosity  to  so  many  of  his 
illustrious  enemies :  by  which  means,  I  have 
ever  since  been  separated  from  him  by  an  im- 
mense distance.  Here,  in  truth,  I  sit  the  sad 
witness  of  those  complaints''  that  are  poured 

forth 

xneot,  in  which  Pbarnaces  bad  the  superiority.  Calvinus,  at 
the  same  time,  being  called  away  by  Ca;sar,  who  had  occasion 
for  those  troops  to  complete  the  conquest  of  Alexandria, 
Pbarnaces  took  that  opportunity  of  entering  Ponius,  which 
he  seized  as  his  beredirary  dominions,  and  where  be  com- 
mitted great  cruellies  and  devastation.  This  letter  seems  to 
have  been  untien  soon  after  the  transaction  above  related, 
and  probably  while  Caesar  himself  was  on  ihe  march  in  order 
to  chastise  the  insolence  of  Pbarnaces.  It  was  in  giving  an 
account  of  thib  expedition,  that  Cxsar  made  use  of  that  cele- 
brated expression  in  a  letter  to  one  of  his  friends,  Vcm\  r/t/y, 
vici.     Hirt.  Bel.  Alexand,  Zl.  Plut,  in  'jit.  Cce&ar. 

^  Cajsar,  after  the  battle  of  Pharsalia,  sent  Mark  Antony 
into  Italy  as  his  master  of  the  horse :  an  oflice,  in  tie  ab- 
sence of  the  dictator,  of  supreme  authority  in  the  common- 
wealth 


Book  VIL         ojf  CICERO. 


175 


forth  in  Rome,  and  throughout  ail  Italj^:  com- 
plaints which  both  you  and  I,  according  to  our 
respective  powers,  might  contribute  somewhat 
to  remove,  if  Caesar  were  present  to  support  us. 

I  entreat  you,  then,  to  communicate  to  me, 
agreeably  to  your  wonted  friendship,  all  that  you 
observe  and  think  concerning  the  present  state 
of  affairs  :  in  a  word,  that  you  would  infoim  me 
what  we  are  to  expect,  and  how  you  would  ad- 
vise me  to  act.  Be  assured  I  shall  lay  great  stress 
upon  your  sentiments,  and  had  I  wisely  followed 
those  you  gave  me  in  your  first  letter  from  Lu- 
ceria*,  I  might,  without  difficulty,  have  still 
preserved  my  dignities.     Farewel. 


LETTER  XXXVII. 

[A.  u.  ro6.] 
To  Ac  I  LI  us,  Proconsul. 

1  HERE  is  no  man  of  the  same  rank  as  Otaci- 
lius  Naso,  with  whom  I  more  intimately  con> 
verse :  as,  indeed,  the  polite  and  virtuous  cast 

of 


i    /*T1')3/    T"-) 


.  I 


wealth  :  but  Antony  abused  the  power  with  which  he  was 
thus  invested  ;  and  taking  advantage  of  the  disturbances 
mentioned  in  rem.  7-  p.  I69.  of  this  vol.  turned  them  to  his 
private  purposes,  by  enriching  himself  with  the  spoils  of  his 
fellow  citizens.  This  seems  to  have  been  the  occasion  of  those 
general  complaints  to  which  Cicero  here  alludes.  Flut.  m 
vit.  Anton.  Cic.  Phil.  ii.  24,  25. 

*  Now  called  Lucera,  a  city  of  Italy,  situated  in  theCa- 
pitinata,  a  part  of  the  ancient  Apulia. 

1 


I 


176 


The  letters         Book  VII. 


UOOK  VII. 


OF  CICERO. 


177 


of  his  mind,  renders  my  daily  intercourse  with 
him  extremely  pleasing  to  me.  After  having 
thus  acquainted  you  with  the  terms  upon  which 
we  live  together,  I  need  add  nothing  further 
to  recommend  him  to  your  good  opinion.  He 
has  some  affairs  in  your  province  which  he  has 
entrusted  to  the  management  of  his  freedmen 
Hilarus,  Antigonus,  and  Demostratus :  these, 
therefore,  together  with  all  the  concerns  of 
Naso,  I  beseech  you  to  receive  under  your  pro- 
tection. I  ask  this  with  the  same  warmth  as 
if  I  were  personally  interested;  and  be  assured, 
I  shall  think  myself  highly  obliged,  if  I  should 
find  that  this  letter  shall  have  had  great  weight 
with  you.     Farcwcl. 

LETTER  XXXVIII. 

[A.  I'.  706.] 

To  Tkrentia. 

I  HAVE  not  yet  heard  any  news  either  of  Cie- 
safs  arrival,  or  of  his  letter  w*hich  Philotimus, 
I  was  informed,  had  in  charge  to  deliver  to  me. 
But  be  assured,  you  shall  immediately  receive 
the  first  certain  intelli2:ence  I  shall  be  able  to 
send  you.     Take  care  of  your  health.     Adieu. 


LETTER  XXXIX. 

[A.U.r06.] 

.. .      To  the  same- 

I  HAVE  at  last  received  a  letter  from  Caesar, 
and  written  in  no  unfavourable  tenus^.  It  is 
now  said  that  he  will  be  in  Italy  much  sooner 
than  was  expected.  I  have  not  yet  resolved 
whether  to  M^ait  for  him  here,  or  to  meet  him 
on  his  way ;  but,  as  soon  as  I  shall  have  deter- 
mined that  point,   I  will  let  you  know. 

I  beg  you  would  immediately  send  back  this 
messenger;  and  let  me  conjure  you,  at  the 
same  time,  to  take  all  possible  care  of  your 
health.     Farewel 

August  the  12lh. 

»  This  letter  is  not  extant,  but  Cicero  mentions  the  pur- 
port  of  It  in  one  of  his  orations;  by  which  it  appears,  that 
Caesar  therein  assured  our  author,  that  he  would  preserve  to 
bim  his  former  state  and  dignities.     Pro  Idgar.  3. 


Vol.  II. 


N 


August  the  11th. 


LETTER 


1 


17» 


The  letters        Book  VIL 


I 


LETTER  XL. 

[A.  U.  706.] 

To  Ac  I  LI  US,  Proconsul. 

I  HAVE  been  an  old  and  hereditary  guest',  at 
the  house  of  Lyso,  of  Lilybaeum^  ever  since 
the  time  of  his  grandfather,  and  he  accordingly 
distinguishes  me  with  singular  marks  of  his  re- 
spect; as,  indeed,  I  have  found  him  to  be 
worthy  of  that  illustrious  ancestry  from  which 
he  descends.  For  this  reason,  I  very  strenu- 
ously recommend  both  himself  and  his  family 
to  your  good  offices,  and  entreat  you  to  let 
him  sec  that  my  recommendation  has  proved 
much  to  his  honour  and  advantage.     Farewel. 

LETTER 

*  Cicero  was  proquacstor  of  Sicily,  in  th6  ye«'ir  of  Rome 
678  ;  and  he  afterwards  visited  that  island  in  order  to  fur- 
nish liimself  with  evidence  against  Verres,  the  late  governor,' 
whom  he  had  undertaken  to  impeach  for  his  oppressive  and  ^ 
cruel  administration  of  that  province.    It  was  probably  upon 
these  occasions  that  he  had  been  entertained  at  the  hous«J 
of  Lyso,  as  well  as  of  several  others  whom  be  recommends 
in  his  letters  to  Acilius,  as  persons  to  whom  he  was  indebted 
for  the  rites  of  hospitality. 

*  A  sea-port  town  in  Sicily,  now  called  Marsala.  « 


^     ,.«'    /-)-   .^y    r'f        - 

Book  VH.  of  CICERO. 


179 


LETTER  XLI. 

[A.  U.  706.] 

ToTerentia. 

I  AM  in  daily  expectation  of  my  couriers, 
whose  return  will,  perhaps,  render  me  less 
doubtful  what  course  to  pursue'.  As  soon  as 
they  shall  arrive,  I  will  give  you  immediate 
notice.  Meanwhile  be  careful  of  your  health. 
Parewel.  v ' 

September  the  1st. 


.■I         l,^   ,-,,   ,.        .|.  i; 


..^4    . 


LETTER  XLIL 

'    '     [A.U.706.]        V 

J  To  the  same. 

1  PURPOSE  to  be  at  my  Tusculan  villa  about 
the  7th  or  8th  of  this  month*.  I  beg  that  every 
thing  may  be  ready  for  my  reception,  as  I  shall, 
perhaps,  bring  several  friends  with  me ;  and  I 

may 

"  Whether  to  wait  at  Brundisiura  the  arrival  of  Caesar,  or 
to  set  out  in  order  to  meet  him.  ,    - 

*  "  Cicero  continued  at  Brundisiura  till  Csesar  arrived  in 
"  Italy,,  who  came  much  sooner  than  was  expected,  and 
"  landed  at  Tarentum  some  time  in  September.  They  had 
**  an  interview  with  each  other,  which  ended  much  to  the 
*'  satisfaction  of  Cicero  \  who,  intending  to  follow  Caesar  to- 
•  "  wards  Rome,  wrote  this  letter  to  his  wife,  to  prepare  for 
"  his  reception  at  his  Tusculan  villa."  Ross,  Rem,  m  Cic. 
Epistles^ 

N2 


180 


The  letters        Boqk  VII, 


may  probably,  too,  continue  there  some  time. 
If  a  vase  is  wanting  in  the  bath,  let  it  be  sup- 
plied with  one ;  and  I  desire  you  would,  like- 
wise, provide  whatever  else  may  be  necessary 
for  the  health  and  entertainment  of  my  guests, 
Farewel. 

Venusia',  October  the  1st. 


LETTER  XLllL  \ 

[A.  U.  706.] 

To  Ac  1  LI  us,  Proconsul. 

Caius  Avianus  Philoxenus  is  my  old 
host.     But,  besides  this  connexion,  he  is,  like- 
ivise,  my  particular  friend  ;  and  it  was  in  con- 
sequence of  my  good  offices  that  Cjcsar  admit- 
ted him  into  the  corporation  of  Novocomum. 
It  was  upoD  this  occasion  he  assumed  the  fa- 
mily name  of  his  friend  Flaccus  Avianus,  whom 
I  beliere  you  know  to  be,  likewise,  extremely  ^ 
mine.     I   mention  these  circumstances  as  s& 
many  proofs  that  my  recommendation  of  Phi- 
loxenus is  not  founded  upon  common  mlotives. 
I  entreat  you,  then,   to  receive  him  into  the 
number  of  your  friends ;  to  assist  him  in  every 
instance  that  shall  not  break  in  upon  your  own 
convenience ;  and,  in  a  word,  to  let  him  see 

that 

3  Now  called  Venosa,  a  town  in  the  kingdom  of  Naples^ 
situated  at  the  foot  of  the  Appeunine  m6uniains. 


BboK  Vlt.        OF  CICERO. 


181 


that  this  letter  proved  of  singular  semce  to  him. 
Your  compliance  with  this  request  will  be  oblig- 
ing me  in  the  most  sensible  manner.     FareweL 


LETTER  XLIV. 

•       [A.  U.  706  J 

To  Trebonius*. 

I  READ  your  letter,  but  particularly  the  trea- 
tise that  attended  it^  with  great  pleasure.  It 
was  a  pleasure,  nevertheless,  not  without  its 
alloy ;  as  I  could  not  but  regret  that  you  should 
leave  us  at  a  time  when  you  had  thus  inflamed 
my  heart,  I  do  not  say  with  a  stronger  aiFec- 
tion,  (for  that  could  admit  of  no  increase)  but 

with 

*  He  was  tribune  in  the  year  of  Rome  Ggs,  at  which  time 
he  distinguished  himself  by  being  the  principal  promoter  of 
those  unconstitutional  grants  that  were  made  by  the  people 
to  Pompey,  C«sar,  andCrassus,  for  the  enlargement  of  their 
power  and  dignities.     After  the  expiration  of  his  tribunate, 
he  went  into  Gaul,  in  quality  of  Caesar's  lieutenant ;  and,  on 
the  breaking  out  of  the  civil  war,  he  was  honoured  by  Caesar 
with  the  command  at  the  siege  of  Marseilles.     In  the  year 
before  ^he  date  of  this  letter,  he  was  elected  to  the  office  of 
prietor,  in  Which  he  discovered  ^reat  spirit  and  judgment  in 
opposing  the  factious  measures  of  his  colleague,  the  turbu- 
lent Coelius;  of  whose  attempts,  mention  has  been  made  in 
note  6.  p.  145.  of  this  vol.     In  the  present  year,  he  was  ap- 
pointed proconsul  of  Spain  ;  to  which  province  he  was  either 
just  setting  out,  or  actually  upon  the  road,  when  this  letter 
was  written.     Dio.  xxxix.  p.  105.  Ccesar  de  BeL  CiviL  i.  36. 
iii.  20.     Hirt,  de  Bel.  Afric.  64.     For  a  farther  account  of 
Trebonius,  see  rem.  6.  below,  and  rem.  8.  p.  95.  vol.  iii.    v 
'^"^  A  collection  of  Cicero's  Bons  Mots. 

N  3 


182 


The  letters        Book  VIL 


with  a  morc  ardent  desire  of  enjoying  your 
company.     My  single  consolation  arises  from 
the  hope  that  we  shall  endeavour  to  alleviate 
the  pain  of  this  absence  by  a  mutual  exchange 
of  long  and  frequent  letters.    Whilst  I  promise 
this  on  my  part,  I  assure  myself  of  the  same 
on  yours;  as,  indeed,  you  have  left  me  no  room 
to  doubt,   how  highly  I  stand  in  your  regard. 
Need  I  mention  those  public  instances  I  for- 
merly received  of  your  friendship,  when  you 
shewed  the  world  that  you  considered  my  ene- 
mies as  your  own ;  when  you  stood  forth,  my  ge- 
nerous advocate,   in  the  assemblies  of  the  peo- 
ple; when  you  acted  with  that  spirit  which  the 
consuls  ought  to  have  shewn,  in  maintaining 
the  cause  of  liberty,  by  supporting  mine;  and, 
though  only  a  quxstor,  yet  refused  to  submit 
to  the  superior  authority  of  a  tribune,  whilst 
your  colleague,  at  the  same  time,  meanly  yield- 
ed to  his  measures*^  ?     Need  I  mention  (what  I 

«hall 

«  Trebonius  was  quaestor  in  the  year  of  Rome  693,  wben 
Lucius  Afranms  and  Quintus  Metellus  CeUr  were  consuls. 
It  was  at  this  lime  that  Cludius  (desirous  of  obtaining  the 
tribuiuue  in  order  to  oppress  Cicero  with  the  weight  of  that 
pow^rfui  magistracy)  made  his  first  effort  to  obtain  a  law  for 
ratifyiDfi  his  adoption  into  a  plebeian  family  ;  none  but  ple- 
beians being  entiUed  to  exercise  that  office.  The  tribune, 
lowborn  Cicero  here  aUudes,  is  Herenni  us,  whom  Clod  iiis 
had  prevailed  upon  to  propose  this  law  to  the  people,  and 
whose  indigence  and  principles  qualified  him  for  umiertaking 
any  work  for  any  man  that  would  give  him  his  pnce.  tioiti 
the  consuls  were,  likewise,  favourers' of  this  law,  when  it  was 


Book  VII. 


OF  CICERO. 


183 


"'—        V      *^ 


shall  always,  however,  most  gratefully  remem- 
ber) the  more  recent  instances  of  your  regard 
to  me,  in  the  solicitude  you  expressed  for  my 
safety  when  I  engaged  in  the  late  war ;  in  the 
joy  you  shewed  when  I  returned  into  Italy^;  in 
your  friendly  participation  of  all  those  cares  and 
disquietudes  with  which  I  was  at  that  time  op- 
pressed^; and,  in  a  word,  in  your  kind  intent  of 
visiting  me  at  Brundisium^,  ifyouhadnot  been 
suddenly  ordered  into  Spain  ?  To  omit,  I  say, 
these  various  and  inestimable  proofs  of  yout 
friendship;  is  not  the  treatise  you  have  now  §ent 
me,  a  most  conspicuous  evidence  of  the  share  I 
f  lenjoy  in  your  heart  ?  It  is  so,  indeed,  in  a  double 
y'iGW ;  and,  not  only  as  you  are  so  partial  as  to  be 
the  constant,  and,  perhaps,  single,  admirer  of 
my  wit,  but  as  you  have  placed  it,  likewise,  in  so 
advantageous  a  light,  as  to  render  it,  whatever 
it  may  be  in  itself,  extremely  agreeable.  The 
truth  of  it  is,  your  manner  qf^jelating  my  plea- 
santries, is  not  less  humorous  than  the  conceits 

you 

first  proposed  ;  but  Metellus,  when  he  discovered  the  fecti- 
ous  designs  which  Clodius  had  in  view,  thougtit  proper,  af- 
terwards, most  strongly  to  oppose  it.  The  colleague  of  Tre- 
bonius, in  the  quaestorJship,  was  Quintus  Caecilius  Nepos ; 
of  whose  particular  enmity  to  Cicero,  an  account  has  been 
given  in  rem.  8.  on  let.  2.  of  book  i.  and  by  Cicero  himself 
in  the  third  letter  of  the  same  book.  Ad  Att,  i.  18, 19,  Di9. 
XXX vii.  p.  53.     Ptgh.  Annal»  693. 

^  After  the  battle  of  Pharsalia. 

•  See  rem,  3.  p.  154.  of  this  vol. 

'  When  he  was  waiting  the  arrival  of  Caesar. 

N4 


1S4 


The  letters  Book  Vlt 


you  celebrate,  and  half  the  reader's  mirth  1$.^ 
exhausted  ere  he  arrives  at  my  joke.  In  shorty* 
if  I  bad  no  other  obligation  to  you  for  making 
this  collection,  than  your  having*  suffered  me  to  .^ 
be  so  long  present  to  your  thoughts,  I  should  be 
utterly  insensible  if  it  were  not  to  impress  upon 
me  the  mast  affectionate  sentiments.  When  I 
consider,  indeed,  that  nothing  but  the  warmest 
attacliment  could  have  engaged  you  in  such  a 
work,  J^q^puQtsupposeanyman  tohavTagrcater 
regard  forliimself,  than  you  have  thus  disco- 
vered for  me.  I  wish  it  may  be  in  my  power  to 
make  you  as  ample  a  return  in  every  other  in- 
stance, as  I  most  certainly  do  in  the  affection 
of  my  heart;  a  return,  with  which  I  trust,  how- 
ever, you  M'ill  be  perfectly  well  satisfied. 

But  to  return  from  your  performance,  to  your 
very  agreeable  letter:   full  as  it  was,  I  may  yet 
answer  it  in  few  words.  Let  me  assure  you,  then,  < 
in  the  first  place,  that  I  no  more  imagined  the 
letter  which  I  sent  to  Calvus"°  would  be  made 

.,  public, 

"*  A  very  celebrated  orator ;  who,  though  not  much  above 
thirty  when  he  died,  (which  was  a  short  lime  before  this  let- 
ter was  written)  yet  left  behind  him  a  large  collection  of  ora- 
tions: he  was  Concerned  with  Cicero  in  most  of  the  princi- 
pal causes  that  came  into  the   forum  during  the  short  time    j 
in  which  he  flouribhed.     The  letter  here  mentioned  was  pro-  ,i 
bahly  part  of  a  correspondence  carried  on  between  Cicero  i, 
and  Calvus,  on  the  subject  of  eloquence  ;  the  whole  of  which 
was  extant  long  after  the  death  of  our  author,  though  none 
of  these  epistles  have  reached  our  timesr   Quinct,  InU,  x,  1. 
Ai^t,  Dialog,  dtcaus.  corrupt,  eloquent,  18.21. 


Cook  VII.         OF  CICERO. 


185 


public,  than  I  suspect  that  this  will;  and  vou 
are  sensible  that  a  letter  designed  to  go  no  far- 
ther than  the  hand  to  Avhich  it  is  addi*essed,  is 
written  in  a  very  tlifferent  manner  from  one  in- 
tended for  general  inspection.     Bit t  you'think, 
it  seems,  that  I  have  spoken  in  higher  terms  of 
his  abilities,  than  truth  will  justify.    It  was  my 
real  opinion,  however,  that  he  possessed  a  great 
genius,  and,  notwithstanding  that  he  misap- 
plied it  by  a  wrong  choice  of  that  particular 
species  of  eloquence  which  he  adopted,  yet  he 
certainly  discovered  great  judgment  in  his  ex- 
ecution.    In  a  word,   his  compositions  were 
marked  w^ith  a  vein  of  uncommon  erudition ; 
but  they  wanted  a  certain  strength  and  spirit 
of  colouring  to  render  them  perfecrtly  finished. 
It  was  the  attainment,  therefore,  of  this  quality 
that  I  endeavoiired  to  recommend  to  his  pur- 
suit ;  and  the  seasoning  of  advice  with  ap- 
plause, has  a  wonderful  efficacy  in  firing  the 
genius  and  animating  the  efforts  of  those  one 
wishes  to  persuade".    This  was  the  true  motive 

of 

"  «  It  is  but  allowing  a  man  to  be  what  he  would  have 
the  world  think  him,  (says  Sir  Richard  Steele)  to  make 
'\  him  any  thmg  else  that  one  pleases."  This  judicious 
piece  of  flattery,  however,  deserves  to  be  highly  applauded 
in  the  present  instance,  as  it  proceeded  entirely  from  a 
desire  of  benefiting  the  person  on  whom  it  was  employed.— 
But  what  renders  it  more  remarkably  generous  is,  that  Cal- 
vus contested,  though  very  unequally  indeed,  the  palm  of 
eloquence  with  Cicero.  Yet  the  latter,  we  see,  gene- 
rously endeavoured  to  correct  the  taste  of  his  rival,  and 

improve 


186  The  LETTERS        Book  VII. 

of  the  praises  I  bestowed  upon  Calvus,   of 
whose  talents  I  really  had  a  very  high  opinion. 
I  have  only  farther  to  assure  you,  that  my 
affectionate  wishes  attend  you  in  your  journey  ; 
that  I  shall  impatiently  expect  your  return ; 
that  I  shall  faithfully  preserve  you  in  my  re- 
n>embrance ;  and  that  I  shall  soothe  the  unea- 
siness of  your  absence,  by  keeping  up  this  epis- 
^   tolary  commerce.   Let  me  entreat  you  to  reflect, 
on  your  part,  on  the  many  and  great  good  of- 
fices I  have  received  at  your  hands  ;  and  which, 
though  you  may  forget,   I  never  can,  without 
being  guilty  of  a  most  unpardonable  ingrati* 
tude.     It  is  impossible,  indeed,  you  should  re- 
flect on  the  oWigations  you  have   conferred 
upon  me,  without  believing,  not  only  that  I 
have  some  merit,  but  that  I  think  of  you  with 
the  highest  esteem  and  affection,     Farewel: 

LETTER 

Mnprove  him  into  a  less  inaHcquate  competitor.  For  Cicero 
was  too  conscious  of  his  sublime  abilities,  to  be  infected  wth 
that  low  jealousy  so  visible  in  wits  of  an  inferior  rank,  who 
seem  to  think  they  can  only  rise  in  fame  in  proportion  as 
they  shall  be  able  to  sink  the  merit  of  contemporary  ge- 
*.  -wuses.    Stntc.  Cmtr(yc€rs/\\\»  \9*  j<!oi<:! 

.  ■  5  ; 


Book  VII.        of  CICERO. 


187 


^*tf 


LETTER  XLV. 

i.  [A.  U.  706.] 

To  AciLius,  Proconsul.      ,  _|tu 

I  HAVE  long  had  obligations  to  Demetrius 
Magus,  for  the  generous  reception  he  gave  me 
when  I  was  in  Sicily*:  indeed  there  is  none  of 
his  countrymen  with  whom  I  ever  entered  into 
so  strong  a  friendship.  At  my  particular  in- 
stances, Dolabella  prevailed  with  Caesar  to  grant 
him  the  freedom  of  Rome,  and  I  assisted  at  the 
ceremony  of  his  admission :  accordingly  he  now 
takes  upon  himself  the  name  of  Publius  Corne- 
lius. The  ill  use  which  some  men,  of  a  mean 
and  avaricious  turn,  had  made  of  Csesar's  con- 
fidence, by  exposing  privileges  of  this  kind  t?o 
sale,  induced  him  to  make  a  general  revocation 
of  these  grants.  However,  he  assured  Dola- 
bella, in  my  presence,  that  he  had  no  reason  to 
be  under  any  apprehension  with  respect  to  Ma- 
gus ;  for  his  benefection,  he  said,  should  still 
remain  to  him  in  its  full  force.  I  thought 
proper  to  mention  this,  that  you  might  treat 
him  with  the  consideration  which  is  due  to  a 
Roman  citizen  ;  and  it  is  with  the  utmost  zeal 
that  I  recommend  him  to  your  favour  in  all 
other  respects.     You  cannot,  indeed,  confer 

upon 

*  See  Tcm.  %  p.  178.  of  this  vol. 


IffS 


The  letters 


Book  VII*i 


Book  VII.        of  CICERO. 


18? 


upon  me  an  higher  obligation,  than  by  con- 
vincing my  friend  that  this  letter  procured 
him  the  honour  of  your  peculiar  regard.-— 
FareweL 

LETTER  XLVI. 

[A.  U.  706.] 

To  Sextilius  Rufus',  Quaestor. 

I  RECOMMEND  all  the  Cyprians  in  general  td 
your  protection,  but  particularly  those  belong- 
ing to  the  district  of  Paphos* :  and  I  shall  hold 
myself  obliged  to  you  for  any  instance  of  your 
favour  that  you  shall  think  proper  to  shew 
tliem.  It  is  with  the  more  willingness  I  apply 
to  you  in  their  behalf,  as  it  much  imports  your 
cliaracter  (in  which  I  greatly  interest  myself) 
tliat  you,  who  are  the  first  quaestor  that  eyff 
held  the  government  of  Cyprus^  should  form 
such  ordinances  as  may  deserve  to  be  followed 
as  so  many  precedents  by  your  successors.  It 
wiil  contribute,  I  hope,  to  this  end,  if  you 
shall  pursue  that  edict  which  was  published  by 

*  He  was  appointed  governor  of  the  island  of  Cyprus,  as 
appears  by  the  present  letter.  And  this,  together  with  his 
Commanding  the  fleet  under  Cassius,  in  Asia,  after  the  death 
4>f  Caesar,  is  the  whole  that  is  known  of  him. 
n  *  A  city  in  the  island  of  Cyprus. 
'  Before  this  time  it  was  always  aancxed  (as  Manutius 
observes)  to  tb€  province  of  Cilicia. 


your  friend  Lentulus*,  together  with  those 
which  were  enacted  likewise  by  myselP,  as 
your  adopting  them  will  prove,  I  trust,  much 
to  your  honour.     Farewel  ^.^'snul 

LETTER  XLVIL 

[A.U.706.1 

To  Ac  I  LIU s,  Proconsul. 

1% 
STRONGLY  recommcud  my  friend  and  hostj 

HTppias,  to  your  good  offices  :  he  is  a  citizen 
of  Calactina,  and  the  son  of  Philoxenus.  His 
estate  (as  the  affair  has  been  represented  to  me) 
has  been  illegally  seized  for  the  use  of  the  pub-i 
lie ;  and,  if  this  should  be  the  truth,  your  owik 
equity,  without  any  other  recommendation,  wilt 
sufficiently  incline  you  to  see  that  justice  is  done' 
him.  But,  whatever  the  circumstances  of  hiir 
case  may  be,  I  request  it  as  an  honour  to  my- 
self, and  ail  honour  too  of  the  most  oWiging^^ 
kind,  that  you  would  in  this,  and  in  every 
other  Article  in  which  he  is  concerned,  iavour 
him  with  your  assistance ;  so  far,  I  mean,  as 
shall  not  be  inconsistent  with  the  honour  and 
dignity  of  your  character.  Farewel 
-/  LETTER 

^  Lentulus  Spinther,  to  whom  several  letters  ia  the  first 
and  second  books  of  this  collection  are  addressed.  Se§  rem, 
|.  p.  50.  vol.  1.  ^  ){4! 

^  Cicero  succeeded  Appias  in  the  goverDment  of  Qilicia. 


190 


The  letters 


Book  VII. 


Book  VII.        of  CICERa 


191 


LETTER  XLVIIL 

[A.  U.  706.] 

To  the  same. 

Luc  I  us  Bruttius,  a youngmanof  equestrian 
rank,  is  in  the  number  of  those  with  whom  I 
am  most  particularly  intimate :  there  has  been 
a  great  friendship,  likewise,  between  his  father 
and  myself,  ever  since  I  was  quaestor  in  Sicily. 
He  distinguishes  me  by  peculiar  marks  of  his 
observance,  and  is  adorned  with  every  valua- 
ble accomplishment.  He  is  at  present  my 
guest;  but  I  most  earnestly  recommend  his  fa- 
mily, his  affairs,  and  his  agents,  to  your  pro-^^ 
tection.  You  will  confer  upon  me  a  most  ac- 
ceptable obligation,  by  giving  him  reason  to  ^. 
find  (as,  indeed,  I  have  ventured  to  assure  him 
he  undoubtedly  will)   that  this  letter  proved^ 

letter' 


much  to  his  advantage.     Farewel. 


n 

f*  lilO 


\ 


LETTER  XLIX. 

[A.  U.  706.] 

To  Lucius  Papirius  P.etus\ 

Is  it  true,  my  friend,  that  you  look  upon  your- 
self as  having  been  guilty  of  a  most  ridiculous 
piece  of  folly,  in  attempting  to  imitate  the 
thunder,  as  you  call  it,  of  my  eloquence  ?— 
With  reason,  indeed,  you  might  have  thought 
so,  had  you  failed  in  your  attempt :  but,  since 
you  have  excelled  the  model  you  had  in  view, 
the  disgrace  surely  is  on  my  side,  not  on  yours. 
Ine  verse,  therefore,  which  you  apply  to  your- 
self, from  one  of  Trabea's*  comedies,  may  with 
much  more  justice  be  turned  upon  me,  as  my 
own  eloquence  falls  far  short  of  that  perfection 
at  which  I  aim.  But  tell  me  what  sort  of  fi- 
gure  do  my  letters  make  ?  are  they  not  written, 
think  you,  in  the  true  familiar  ?  They  do  npt 
constantly,  however,  preserve  one  uniform 
manner,  as  this  species  of  composition  bears  no 
resemblance  to  that  of  the  oratorical  kind ; 
though,  indeed,  in  judicial  matters,  we  vary 
our  style  according  to  the  nature  of  the  causes 
in  which  we  are  engaged.  Those,  for  exam- 
ple, 

^  See  vol.  ii.  p.  15.  rem.  1. 

'  The  time  when  this  poet  flourished  is  uncertain.  His 
dramatic  writings  seem  to  have  been  in  great  repute,  as  Ci- 
cero frequently  quotes  them  in  his  Tusculan  Disputations. 

1 


192 


The  letters         Book  VIL 


pie,  in  which  private  interests  of  little  moment 
are  concerned,  we  treat  with  a  suitable  simpli- 
city of  diction ;  but  where  the  reputation  or 
the  life  of  our  client  is  in  question,  we  rise  into 
greater  pomp  and  dignity   of  phrase.      But, 
whatever  may  be  the  subject  of  my  letters, 
they  still  speak  the  language  of  conversation. 
How  came  you  to  imagine  that  all  your  fa- 
mily have  been  plebeians,  Avhen  it  is  certain 
that  many  of  them   were  patricians,   of  the 
lower  ordei^  ?     To  begin  w  ith  the  first  in  this 
catalogue,  I  will  instance  Lucius  Papisius  ]\Ia- 
gillanus;  who,  in  the  year  of  Rome  312,  was 
censor  with  Lucius  Sempronius  Atratinus,  as 
he  before  had  been  his  colleague  in  the  consu- 
late.    At  this  time  your  family  name  was  Pa- 
pisius.    After  him  there  were  thirteen  of  your 
ancestors  who  were  curule  magistrates*,  before 
Lucius  Papirius  Crassus,  who  was  the  first  of 
your  family  that  changed  the  name  of  Papi- 
sius, 

*  The  Patrician  families  were  distinguished  into  the 
higher  and  the  lower  order.  Of  the  former  sort  were  those 
who  derived  their  pedigree  from  the  two  hundred  senators 
that  composed  the  senate,  as  it  was  originally  established  by 
Jlomulus  :  of  the  latter,  were  the  descendants  of  the  mem^ 
bcrs  which,  above  a  century  afterwards,  were  added  to  this 
celebrated  council,  by  Tarquinius  Pnscus.     Rosin.  Antiquit, 

^(m.  p.  687. 

•  The  curule  magistatcs  were  those  particular  officers  of 
the  state  who  had  the  privilege  of  being  drawn  in  a  car. — 
These  were  the  consuls,  the  censors,  the  prsctors,  and  cu-i 
rule  aediles. 


BookVIL        of  CICERO. 


193 


sius.     This  Papirius,  in  the  year  315,  being 
chosen    dictator,    appointed    Lucius   Papirius 
Castor  to  be  his  master  of  the  horse,  and  four 
years  afterwards  he  Avas  elected  consul,  toge- 
ther with  Caius  Duilius.     Next  in  this  list  ap- 
pears Cursor,  a  man  highly  honoured  in  his  gd- 
neration ;  and  after  him  we  find  Lucius  Masso, 
the  asdile,  together  with  several  others  of  the 
same  appellation :  and  I  could  wish  that  you 
had  the  portraits  of  all  these  patricians  among 
your  family-pictures.     The  Carbones  and  the 
Turdi  follow  next.    This  branch  of  your  fahiily 
were  all  of  them  plebeians,  and  they  by  no  meant 
reflect  any  honour  upon  your  race.  For,  exbept*" 
ing  Caius  Carbo,  who  was  murdered  by  Dama^^ 
sippus,  there  is  not  one  of  his  name  who  was  not 
an  enemy  to  his  country.     There  w^as  another 
Caius,  Avhom  I  personally  knew,  as  well  as  the 
buffoon,  his  brother :  they  were  both  of  them 
itlhi  of  the  most  worthless  characters.     As  to 
the  son  of  Rubria,  he  was  my  friend ;  for  which 
reason  I  shall  pass  him  over  in  silence,  and  only 
iuentiou  his  three  brothers,  Caius,  Cneius,  and 
Marcus.  Marcus,  having  committed  numberless 
acts  of  violence  and  oppression  in  Sicily,  was 
prosecuted  for  those  crimes  by  Publius  Flaccu^ 
and  found  guilty :  Caius  being,  likewise,  im- 
peached by  Lucius  Crassus,  1s  said  to  have 
poisoned  himself  with  cantharides.     He  was 
Vol.  IL  O  the 


194 


The  letters        Book  Vlt 


^i 


the  author  of  great  disturbances,  during  the 
time  that  he  exercised  the  office  of  tribune, 
and  is  supposed  to  have  been  concerned  in  the 
murder  of  Scipio  Africanus.     As  to  Cneius, 
who  was  put  to  death  by  my  friend  Pompey^; 
at  Lilybaeum,  there  never  existed,  I  believe,  a 
more  infamous  character.     It  is  generally  ima- 
gined that  the  father  of  this  man,  in  order  to 
avoid  the  consequences  of  a  prosecution  which 
was  commenced  against  him  by  Marcus  Anto- 
nius,  put  an  end  to  his  life  by  a  draught  of  vi- 
triol.    Thus,  my  friend,  I  would  advise  you  to 
claim  your  kindred  among  the  patricians ;  for 
you  see  the  plebeian  part  of  your  family  were 
but  a  worthless  and  seditious  race?.     Farewel. 

LETTER 

«■  This  Cneius  Pai>irii]s  Carbo  was  three  times  consul ;  the 
last  of  which  was  in  the  year  of  Rome  6/1.  Having  exer- 
cised his  power  in  a  most  oppressive  and  tyrannical  manner, 
he  was  deposed,  to  the  great  satisfaction  of  the  republic,  by 
Sylla,  who  was  immediately  declared  dictator.  Carbo  soon 
afterwards  appeared,  wiih  a  considerable  fleet,  upon  the 
coast  of  Sicily  ;  and  being  taken  prisoner  by  Pompey,  whoni 
Sylla  had  sent  in  pursuit  of  him,  he  was  formally  arraigned 
before  the  tribunal  of  Pompey,  and  publicly  executed  by  bi8 
erders  at  Lilybaeum.     Plut.  in  tit.  Pomp. 

8  It  may  be  proper  to  apprise  ihe  reader,  in  this  place, 
that  there  is  one  epistle  from  Cicero  to  Partus,  which  is 
omitted  in  this  translation.  Cicero  takes  occasion,  in  thi« 
rejected  letter,  to  explain  to  his  friend  the  notion  of  the 
stoics  concerning  obscenity  ;  and,  in  order  to  illustrate  theur 
absurd  reasonins  upon  ibis  subject,  he  introduces  a  great  va- 
riety oUouble  entendrcs,  which,  as  ihey  turn  upon  ambigui- 
ties that  hold  only  in  the  Litin  language,  it  is  utterly  im- 
poisible  to  translate.     But,  had  they>bcen  reconcileable  to. 

ouf 


Book  VIL         of  CICERO.  195 

LETTER  L. 

[A.  U.  70C.] 

To  Acilius,  Proconsul 

1  HAVE  long  had  a  friendship  with  the  family 
of  the  Titurnii ;  the  last  surviving  branch  of 
which  is  Marcus  Titurnius  Rufus.     He  has  a 
claim,  therefore,  to  my  best  good  offices,  and 
it  is  in  your  power  to  render  them  effectual. 
Accordingly  1  recommend  him  to  your  favour, 
in  all  the  most  unfeigned  warmth  of  my  heart; 
and  you  will  extremely  oblige  me  by  giving 
him  strong  proofs  of  the  regard  you  pay  to  my 
recommendation.     Farewel. 

LETTER 

our  idiom,  the  translator  would  nevertheless  have  declined 
the  office  of  being  their  interpreter  ;  as  he  would  not  have 
deprived  himself  «f  the  satisfaction  to  think  that  there  is  no. 
thing  m  these  volumes  unfit  for  the  perusal  of  the  fair  part 
of  bis  readers.     I'id.  Epist.  Famil.  ix.  22.  ' 


(    197    ) 


LETTERS 


OF 


MARCUS  TULLIUS  CICERO 


TO 


SEVERAL  OF  HIS  FRIENDS. 


.4  4         16. 'V 


ill     -  -     ■•' 


BOOK  VIII. 
LETTER  I. 

[A.  U.  707.] 

To  Marcus  Marius*. 

X 

Whenever  I  reflect,  as,  indeed,  I  frequently 
do,  on  those  public  calamities  we  have  thus 
long  endured,  and  are  still  likely  to  endure,  it 
always  brings  to  my  thoughts  the  last  inter- 
view we  had  together.  It  made  so  strong  an  im- 
pression 

'  See  rem.  2.  p.  Il6.  vol.  1. 
O  3 


11 


I 


198 


The  letters        Book  VlII. 


fioOK  VIII.        OF  CICERO. 


199 


pression  upon  my  mind,  that  I  can  name  the 
very  day ;  and  I  perfectly  well  remember  it  was 
on  the  10th  of  May,  in  the  consulate  of  Len- 
tulus  and  Marcellus*,  that,  upon  my  arrival  at 
my  Pompeian  villa',  I  found  you  waiting  for 
me  with  the  most  friendly  solicitude.  Your 
generous  concern  arose  from  a  tenderness  both 
for  my  honour  and  my  safety ;  as  the  former, 
you  feared,  would  be  endangered  if  I  continued 
in  Italy ;  and  the  latter,  if  I  went  to  Pompey. 
I  was  myself,  likewise,  as  you  undoubtedly  per- 
ceived, so  greatly  perplexed,  as  to  be  incapable 
of  determining  which  of  these  measures  was 
most  advisable.  However,  I  resolved  to  sacri- 
fice all  considerations  of  personal  safety  to  the 
dictates  of  my  honour,  and  accordingly  I  join- 
ed Pompey  in  G  reece.  But  I  no  sooner  arrived 
in  his  army,  than  I  had  occasion  to  repent  of 
my  resolution ;  not  so  much  from  the  danger  to 
which  I  was  myself  exposed,  as  from  the  many 
capital  faults  I  discovered  among  them.  In  the 
first  place,  Pompey's  forces  were  neither  very 
considerable  in  point  of  numbers*,  nor  by  any 

means 

*  An.  Urb.  704  about  two  years  before  the  date  of  this 
letter,  which  was  probably  written  very  early  in  the  present 

5  «  This  villa  of  Cicero  was  situated  near  Pompeii,  upon 

"  the  eastern  coast  of  the  bay  of  Naples,  and  at  no  great 
«  distance  from  the  villa  of  Marius."     Mr.  Ross, 

•  Pompev'g  array,  at  the  battle  of  Pharsalia,  was  more 

'^  "^  than 


means  composed  of  warlike  troops :  and,  in  the 
next  place,  (I  speak,  however,  with  exception 
of  Pompey  himself^  and  a  few  others  of  the 
principal  leaders)  they  carried  on  the  war  with 
such  a  spirit  of  rapaciousness,  and  breathed 
such  principles  of  cruelty  in  their  conversation, 
that  I  could  not  think  even  upon  our  success 
without  horror.  To  this  I  must  add,  that  some 
of  the  most  considerable  officers  were  deeply 
involved  in  debt ;  and,  in  short,  there  was  no- 
thing good  among  them  but  their  cause.  Thus 
despairing  of  success,  I  advised  (what,  indeed, 
I  had  always  recommended)  that  proposals  of 
accommodation  should  be  offered  to  Csesar ; 
and  when  I  found  Pompey  utterly  averse  to  all 
measures  of  that  kind,  I  endeavoured  to  per* 
suade  him,  at  least,  to  avoid  a  general  engage* 
ment.  This  last  advice  he  seemed  sometimes 
inclined  to  follow ;  and,  probably,  would  have 
followed,  if  a  slight  advantage,  which  he  soon 
afterwards  gained"^,  had  not  given  him  a  con- 
fidence in  his  troops.     From  that  moment.  ^U 

the 

than    double   in   number  to  that   of  Cassar,   whose  forces 
amounted  only  to  about  22,000  men.     Plut.  in  vit»  Pomp, 

*  Before  the  walls  of  Dyrrachmm.  Notwithstanding  Ci- 
cero speaks  with  some  sort  of  contempt  of  this  advantage 
which  Pompey  gained  over  the  troops  of  Caesar ;  yet  it  ap- 
pears to  have  been  very  considerable.  It  was  thought  so  at 
least  by  Caesar  himself,  who  observed  to  some  of  his  friends, 
after  the  action  was  over,  that  the  enemy  would  have  ob- 
tained a  complete  victory,  bad  they  been  commanded  by  a 
generftl  that  knew  how  to  conquer.     Plut,  invit.  Pomp. 

04 


N'"' 


too 


The  letters        Book  VIIL 


the  skill  and  conduct  of  this  great  man  seems 
to  have  utterly  forsaken  him  :  and  he  acted  so 
little  hke  a  general,  that,  with  a  raw  and  inex- 
perienced army,  he  hnprudently  gave  battle^  to 
the  most  brave  and  martial  legions.  The  con- 
sequence was,  that  he  suffered  a  most  shameful 
defeat ;  and,  abandoning  his  camp  to  Caesar, 
he  was  obliged  to  run  away,  unaccompanied 
even  with  a  single  attendant^  This  event  de- 
termined me  to  lay  down  my  arms  ;  being  per- 
suaded 

'  In  the  plains  of  PJrarsalia.  The  principal  officers  of 
Pompey's  army  were  so  elated  by  their  late  success  before 
Dyrrachium,  that  they  pursued  Caesar  as  to  certain  conquest; 
and,  instead  of  concerting  measures  for  securing  their  victory, 
were  employed  in  warmly  contesting  among  themselves  their 
several  proportions  of  the  spoils.  Pompev  was  not  less  con- 
fident of  success  than  the  rest ;  and  he  had  the  imprudence  to 
declare,  in  a  council  of  war,  which  wa^  holden  a  few  davs 
before  this  important  battle,  that  he  did  not  doubt  of  entirely 
defeating  Caesar  by  the  single  strength  of  his  cavalry,  and 
without  engaging  his  legions  in  the  action.  Cees,  de  Bel. 
Civ,  iii.  83.  86. 

It  is  very  observable,  that  the  day  on  which  this  memo- 
rable battle  was  fought,  is  no  where  recorded,  and  that  it 
was  not  known  even  in  Lucan's  tim« : 

,  I  Tenqwra  signavit  leviorum  Roma  malorum^ 

Hunc  voluit  nesctre  diem.  Luc.  vii.  410. 

*  Plutarch  resembles  Pompey*s  flight  to  that  of  Ajax  be- 
fore Hector,  as  described  in  the  11th  Iliad  : 

Sttj  ^e  Ta^ft/v,  &C. 

Partial  Jove^  espousing  Hectares  part^ 

Shot  heav'fubred  horror  Ihro^  the  Gre(;ian's  heart ; 
Confus^dj  unnerved  in  Hector^ s  presence  grovcn^ 
Amaz'd  he  stood^  Kith  horrors  not  his  oun. 
O^er  his  broad  back  his  moony  shield  lie  threis^ 
^^        Jndy  glaring  round^  btf  tardj^  steps  zcithdrezc.     Pope. 

In 


Book  VIIL        of  CICERO. 


201 


suaded  that,  if  we  could  not  prevail  with  our 
united  forces,  we  should  scarce  have  better 
success  when  they  were  broken  and  dispersed. 
I  declined,  therefore,  to  engage  any  farther 
in  a  war,  the  result  of  which  must  necessarily 
be  attended  with  one  or  other  of  the  following 
unhappy  consequences :  either  to  perish  in  the 
field  of  battle,  to  be  taken  prisoner  by  the 
conquerors,  to  be  sacrificed  by  treachery^,  to 
h^ve  recourse  to  Juba*,  to  live  in  a  sort  of 

voluntary 

In  fact,  however,  it  was  attended  with  all  the  circumstances 
of  disgrace  which  Cicero  mentions,  Pompey,  after  various 
deliberations,  resolved  to  take  shelter  in  Egypt,  where  he  bad 
reason  to  hope  for  a  protector  in  Ptolemy,  whose  father  he 
had  formerly  assisted  in  recovering  his  dominions.  [See  vol. 
i.  p.  51.  rem,  2.]  But  Theodotus,  a  sort  of  tutor  to  this 
young  prince,  nol  thinking  it  prudent  either  to  receive  Pom- 
pey, or  to  refuse  him  admittance,  proposed,  as  the  best  po- 
licy, that  he  should  be  destroyed.  Accordingly  the  persons 
who  were  sent  to  conduct  him  from  his  ship  had  directions 
to  be  his  executioners ;  which  they  performed,  by  stabbing 
him,  as  he  was  stepping  out  of  the  boat,  in  order  to  land. — 
These  assassins,  having  severed  Pompey's  head,  left  his  body 
on  the  shore,  where  it  was  burnt  with  the  planks  of  an  old 
fishing-boat,  by  a  faithful  freedman,  who  had  been  the  un- 
happy spectator  of  this  affecting  tragedy.  Pompey's  ashes 
were  afterwards  conveyed  to  his  wife  Cornelia,  who  deposited 
them  in  a  family  monument  near  his  Alban  villa.  Piut,  in 
vit.  Pomp, 

^  This  seems  to  allude  to  the  fate  of  Pompey. 

^  He  was  a  very  considerable  prince,  whi>se  dominions 
extended  not  only  over  that  part  of  Africa  which  is  now 
called  the  coai»t  of  Barbary,  but  southward  beyond  mount 
Atlas,  and  from  the  Sireights  mouth  along  the  Atlantic  ocean 
to  the  Canary  islands.  Upon  the  first  breaking  out  of  the  ci- 
vil war,  he  distinguished  himself  in  supporting  the  Pompeian 
party,  in  Africa,  ag?iinst  the  army  commanded   by  Cuiio, 

whi^iB 


^1 


202 


The  letters        Book  VIII. 


voluntary  exile,  or  to  fall  by  one's  own  hand. 
Other  choice  most  certainly  there  was  none,  if 
you  would  not,  or  durst  not,  trust  to  the  cle- 
mency of  the  victor.  Banishment,  itmust.be 
owned,  to  a  mind  that  had  nothing  to  reproach 
itself  with,  would  have  been  the  most  eligible  of 
all  these  evils ;  especially  under  the  reflection 
of  being  driven  from  a  commonwealth,  which 
presents  nothing  to  our  view  but  what  we  must 
behold  with  pain.  Nevertheless,  I  chose  to  re- 
main 

whom  he  entirely  defeated.  [See  rem.  1.  on  let.  1.  B.  iii.] 
Lucan  has  given  a  very  poetical  description  of  the  several 
tributary  nations  which,  upon  this  occasion,  he  led  to  battle  ; 

Autololes^  Numidcrque  vagiy  semperque  paratus 
IncuUo  Gwtulus  equo^  <f5fc. 

JVi'th  him  unnumbered  nations  march  alon^. 

Th'  Autololes  with  wild  Numidians  throng ; 

The  rough  Gcetulian^  isith  his  ruder  deed; 

The  Moor^  resembling  India" s  szcarthy  breed: 

Poor  Nasamojis,  and  Garamantines  joined, 

With  swift  Marmaridans  that  match  the  Kind; 

TTie  Marax  bred  the  trembling  dart  to  throw, 

Sure  m  the  shaft  thai  leaves  the  Parthian  bow  ; 

With  these  Massylia's  nimble  horsemen  ride  ; 

They  nor  the  hit,  nor  curtnng  rein  provide, 

But  with  light  rods  the  well-taught  coarser  guide. 

From  lonely  cots  the  Lybian  hunters  came. 

Who  still  unarmed  invade  tfie  salvage  game,        '  »f'^       J  >  • 

And  with  spread  mantles  tawny  Horn  tame,       Rowe. 

After  the  battle  of  Pharsalia,  Scipio,  who  commanded  the 
remains  of  Pompe^'s  army  that  had  assembled  in  Africa,  ap-^ 
plied  to  Juba  for  assistance ;  who,  accordingly  joined  hun 
M/hh  a  very  considerable  body  of  men.  But  their  united  forces 
viere  not  kufficient  to  withstand  the  fortune  of  Caesar  ;  \tho, 
having  defeated  their  combined  troops,  Juba  was  too  high 
spirited  to  survive  the  disgrace,  and,  at  his  own  request,  was 
stabbed  by  one  of  bis  ftttendants,  Lucan,  iV.  670.  Hirt,  dc 
Bell.  Afric.  94. 


Book  VIII.        of  CICERO. 


203 


main  with  my  own ;  if  any  thing  now,  indeed, 
can  with  propriety  be  called  our  own  ;  a  mis- 
fortune which,  together  with  every  other  cala- 
mity that  this  fatal  war  has  produced,  I  long 
since  foretold.  I  returned,  therefore,  to  Italy, 
not  as  to  a  situation  perfectly  desirable,  but  in 
order,  if  the  repubHc  should  in  any  degree  sub- 
sist, to  enjoy  somewhat  that  had,  at  least,  the 
semblance  of  our  country;  and  if  it  were  ut- 
terly destroyed,  to  live  as  if  I  were,  to  all  essen- 
tial purposes,  in  a  real  state  of  exile.  But, 
though  I  saw  no  reason  that  could  justly  induce 
me  to  be  my  own  executioner,  I  saw  many  to 
be  desirous  of  death.  For  it  is  an  old  and  true 
maxim,  tliat  '4ife  is  not  worth  preserving,  when 
**  a  man  is  no  longer  what  he  once  was."  A 
blameless  conscience,  however,  is  undoubtedly 
a  great  consolation  ;  especially  as  I  can  add  to 
it  the  double  support  that  arises  to  my  min<3, 
from  a  knowledge  of  the  noblest  sciences,  and 
from  the  glory  of  my  former  actions ;  one  of 
which  can  never  be  torn  from  me  so  long  as^ 
live ;  and  of  the  other,  even  death  itself  has 
not  the  power  to  deprive  me.  ^   ^,  2,^^^% 

I  have  troubled  you  with  this  minute  deta,il,   . 
from  afull  persuasion  of  the  tender  regarfl  yotf''^'' 
bear  both  to  myself  and  to  our  country.   I  was 
desirous,   indeed,    to  apprise  you  fully  of  the 
principles  by  which  I  have  steered,  tliat  you 

1  might 


204 


The  letters       Book  VIII. 


Book  VIII.        of  CICERO. 


S05 


might  be  sensible  it  was  my  first  and  principal 
aim,  that  no  single  arm  should  be  more  potent 
than  the  whole  united  commonwealth;  and,  after- 
wards, when  there  was  one,  who  by  Pompey's 
mistaken  conduct,  had  so  firmly  established  his 
power  as  to  render  all  resistance  vain ;  that  it 
was  my  next  endeavour  to  preserve  the  public 
tranquillity.  I  was  desirous  you  should  know 
that,  after  the  loss  of  those  troops,  and  thatgene- 
ral'  wherein  all  our  hopes  were  centered,  I  at- 
tempted to  procure  a  total  cessation  of  arms; 
and  when  this  advice  proved  ineffectual,  that  1 
determined,  at  least,  to  lay  down  my  own.  In  a 
word,  I  was  desirous  you  should  know,  that  if 
our  liberties  still  remain,  I  also  am  still  a  citizen 
of  the  republic ;  if  not,  that  I  am  no  less  an 
exile,  nor  more  conveniently  situated,  than  if  I 
had  banished  myself  to  Rhodes  or  Mitylene". 

I  should 

*  Pompey. 

■°  Rhodes,  the  metropolis  of  an  island  in  the  Mediterra- 
nean, and  Mitylene,  the  principal  city  of  Lesbos,  an  island 
in  the  ^gean  sea,  where  places  to  which  Marcellus  and  some 
others  of  thePompeian  party  retired  after  the  battle  of  Phar- 
salia.  These  cities  were  esteemed  by  the  ancients  for  the 
delightful  temperature  of  their  respective  climates,  and  for 
many  other  delicacies  with  which  they  abounded;  and,  ac- 
cordingly, Horace,  in  his  ode  to  Plancus,  mentions  them  in 
,  the  number  of  those  which  were  most  admired  and  celebrat- 
ed by  his  countrymen  : 

Laudabunt  alii  claram  Rhoden,  avt  Mityleften^  SfC. 

Both  Vitruvius  and  Cicero,  likewise,  speak  of  Mitylene  in  par- 
ticular, with  the  highest  encomiums  on  the  elegance,  beauty, 
and  magnificence  of  its  buildings.     It  should  seem,  therefore, 

that 


I  should  have  been  glad  to  have  said  this  to 
you  in  person ;  but,  as  I  was  not  likely  to  meet 
with  an  opportunity  for  that  purpose  so  soon  a& 
I  wished,  I  thought  proper  to  take  this  earlier 
method  of  furnishing  you  with  an  answer,  if  you 
should  fall  in  the  way  of  those  who  are  disposed 
to  arraign  my  conduct.     For,  notwithstanding 
that  my  death  could  in  no  sort  have  availed  the 
republic,  yet  I  stand  condemned,  it  seems,  by 
some,  for  not  sacrificing  my  life  in  its  cause. 
But  they  are  those  only,  I  am  well  assured,  who 
have  the  cruelty  to  think,  that  there  has  not  been 
blood  enough  spilt  already.  If  my  advice,  how- 
ever, had  been  followed,  those  who  have  perish- 
ed in  this  war,  might  have  preserved  their  lives 
with  honour,  though  they  had  accepted  of  peace 
upon  ever  so  unreasonable  conditions.   For  they 
would  still  have  had  the  better  caiise,^  though 
their  enemies  had  the  stronger  swords. 

And  now,  perhaps,  I  have  quite  tired  your 

pafierice ; 


.'iii-i 


d^at  the  text  is  corrupted  in  this  place;  and  tha^,  instead  of 
fiofi  incommodiore  loca^  the  true  reading  is  non  commodiore, 
Cicero,  indeed,  would  make  use  of  a  very  odd  sort  of  justifi* 
location,  if  we  suppose  him  to  have  said  that  he  had  not  cho- 
<sen  a  more  incofivenient  place  for  his  residence,  than  those 
n«vho  retired  to  Rhodes  or  Mitylene;  whereas  it  was  much  to 
his  purpose  to  assert,  that  the  exiles  in  those  cities  were  fall 
as  conveniently  situated  as  himself.     For  the  rest,  it  will  ap- 
pear in  the  progress  of  these  letters,  that  Cicero  was  far  from 
living  at  Rome  as  in  a  state  of  exile,  during  Caesar's  usurpa- 

'lion.    H&r,  Od,  i.  7.  Vitru.  u  Cic.  de Leg.  Agra,  ii.  id; 

,v  ^      "       >/   ijbTiso!,; 

.  ii     ,,'■,...  .  -Sill  ba& 


Q06 


The  letters        Book  VIII. 


'i 


patience ;  I  shall  think  so,  at  least,  if  you  do 
not  send  me  a  longer  letter  in  return.  I  will 
only  add,  that  if  I  can  dispatch  some  affairs 
which  I  am  desirous  of  finishing,  I  hope  to  he 
with  you  very  shortly.     FarewcL 


II 


LETTER  II. 

[A.  U.  707.] 

To  Cneius  Planciu&\ 

I  AM  indebted  to  you  for  two  letters,  dated 
from  Corcyra.  You  congratulate  me  in  one 
of  them  on  the  account  you  have  received,  that 

'  I  still 

'  Cneius  Plancius  was  of  an  equestrian  family.  He  was 
early  initiated  into  public  affairs  by  AulusTorquatus,  whom 
he  attended  when  he  was  proconsul  in  Africa.  He  after- 
wards served  under  Quintus  Metellus,  in  his  expedition  against 
Crete;  and,  in  the  year  of  Cicero's  banishment,  was  quaestor 
in  Macedonia.  This  gave  him  an  opportunity  of  distinguisli- 
JDg  his  friendship  for  our  author,  by  the  many  good  offices 
be  exerted  towards  him  as  he  passed  through  that  province, 
Cicero  very  gratefully  re^nembered  them,  as  appears  by  his 
oration  in  defence  of  Plancius,  when  he  was  accused  of  illi- 
cit practices  in  obtaining  the  office  of  icdile.  He  seems,  in 
the  earlier  part  o(  his  life,  to  have  indulged  himself  in  the 
prevailng  vices  of  the  fashionable  world  ;  but,  upon  the  whole 
of  his  character,  to  have  been  a  man  of  strict  honour  and 
integrity.  Cicero  particularly  celebrates  him  for  his  filial 
piety,  and  that  general  esteem  in  which  he  lived  with  all  his 
relations.  At  the  lime  when  this  letter  was  written,  he  was 
in  Corcyra,  a  little  island  in  the  Ionian  sea,  now  called 
Corfu.  It  is  probable  he  retreated  thither,  with  some  others 
of  the  Pompeian  party,  after  the  total  overthrow  of  tbeirar- 
lay  in  the  plains  of  Pharsalia.     Orut.pro.  Pianc.7,il}  t^* 


Book  VIII.        of  CICERO. 


sor 


I  still  preserve  my  former  influence  in  the  com- 
monwealth, and  wish  me  joy  in  the  other,  of  my 
late  marriage*.  With  respect  to  the  first,  if  to 
mean  well  to  the  interest  of  my  country,  and  to 
approve  that  meaning  to  every  friend  of  its  liber- 
ties, may  be  considered  as  maintaining  my  in- 
fluence, the  account  you  have  heard  is  certainly 
true.  But  if  it  consists  in  rendering  those  sen- 
timents effectual  to  the  pubhc  welfare,  or,  at 
least,  in  daring  freely  to  support  and  enforce 
them  ;  alas !  my  friend,  I  have  not  the  least 
shadow  of  influence  remaining.  The  fact  is, 
it  will  be  sufficient  honour  if  I  can  have  so 
much  influence  over  myself  as  to  bear  with  pa-^ 
tience  our  present  and  impending  calamities;  a 
frame  of  mind  not  to  be  acquired  without  diffi- 
culty, when  it  is  considered  that  the  present 
war'  is  such  that  if  one  party  is  successful,  it 
will  be  attended  with  an  infinite  effusion  of 
blood ;  and,  if  the  other,  with  a  total  extinc- 
tion of  liberty.  It  affords  me  some  consolation, 
however,  under  these  dangers,  to  reflect,  that  I 
clearly  foresaw  them  when  I  declared  how  great-^ 
ly  1  dreaded  our  victory  as  well  as  our  defeat ; 

I  was 

^  See  below  note  5. 

3  Between  Casar,  and  the  remains  of  the  Pompeian  party 
under  the  command  of  Scipio,  who  had  assembled  a  very  con- 
siderable army  in  Africa.  Caesar  set  out  upon  this  expeditioix 
towards  the  end  of  December,  in  the  preceding  year,  about 
three  or  four  months  aftei:  his  return  from  the  Aie.\andriQ^ 
war. 


4 


i( 


£08 


The  letters      Book  VIII. 


I  was  perfectly  aware  of  the  hazard  to  which 
our  liberties  would  be  exposed,  by  referring  our 
political  contentions  to  the  decision  of  the 
sword.  I  knew,  indeed,  if  that  party  should 
prevail  which  I  joined,  not  from  a  passion  for 
war,  but  merely  with  the  hopes  of  facilitating  an 
accommodation,  what  cruelties  were  to  be  ex- 
pected from  their  pride,  their  avarice,  and  their 
revenge.  On  the  contrary,  should  they  be 
vanquished,  I  was  sensible  what  numbers  of  the 
best  and  most  illustrious  of  our  fellow-citizens 
Mould  inevitably  perish.  And  yet,  when  I 
forewarned  these  men  of  our  danger,  and  justly 
advised  them  to  avoid  it,  instead  of  receiving 
my  admonitions  as  the  effect  of  a  prudential 
caution,  they  chose  to  treat  it  as  the  dictates 
of  an  unreas(mable  timidity. 

But  to  turn  to  your  other  letter ;  I  am  obliged 
to  you  for  your  good  wishes  in  regard  to  my 
marriage* ;  as  1  am  well  persuaded  that  they  are 

perfectly 

5  Cicero  had  very  lately  divorced  his  wife  Terenlia,  on 
occasion  of  some  great  offence  hhe  had  given  him  in  her 
crcoiKm»icui  conduct.  Tl*e  person  to  v%hom  he  was  now 
married,  was  called  Publia,  a  young  lady  to  whom  he  had 
been  guard.ari,  and  of  an  age  extremely  di^propojtionate  to 
his  own.  His  principal  inducement  to  this  match,  seems  to 
have  been  her  fortune;  which,  it  is  said,  was  very  conside- 
rable. However,  he  did  not  long  enjoy  the  benefit  of  it,  fot 
finding  himself  uneasy,  likewise,  under  this  second  marriage, 
he  soon  parted  with  hii  young  wife,  and  consequently  with  her 
portion.  This  very  unequal  match  exposed  Cicero  to  much 
censure;  and  Calenus  warmly  rtproaches  him  with  it,  in 
that  bitter  invective  which  he  delivered^  as  Dio,  at  least,. 

pretends,, 


V      '^ 


Book  VIIL        of  CICERO. 


sag 


perfectly  sincere.  I  should  have  had. no  thoughfa; 
in  these  miserable  times,  of  entering  Ji>to  any 
new  engagement  of  this  sort^  if  I  hjjdiiQfe'upon 
my  return  into  Italy,  found  my  ddinojtio.a^airj 
in  no  better  a  situation  than  thus©' oEithe  ire^ 
public.     When  I  discovered  that,-  through  the 
wicked  practices  of  those  whom  I  had  infinitely 
obliged,  and  to  whom  my  welfare  ought  to  have 
been  infinitely  dear,  that  there  was  no  security 
for  me  within  my  ov/n  walls,  and  that  I  was  sur- 
rounded with  treachery  on  all  sides,  I  thought 
it  necessary  to  protect  myself  against  the  pej-fi- 
diousness  of  my  old  connexions,  by  having  re- 
course  to  a  more  faithful  alliance.— ^Biit  ^Qough 
of  my  private  concerns:  and  perhaps  tpo  much. 
As  to  those  w^hich  relate  to  yourself. I. hope 
you  have  the  opinion  of  them  which  you  justly 
ought,  and  are  free  from  all  particular  uneasi- 
ness on  your  own  account.    For  I  am  well  per- 
suaded, that  whatever  may  be  the  event  of  pub- 
lic affairs,  you  will  be  perfectly  secure :  as  one 
of  the  contending  parties,  I  perceive,  is  already 
reconciled  to  you ;  and  the  other  you  have  ne- 
ver offended.  With  respect  to  my  own  disposi- 
tion towards  you  :  though  I  well  Icridw  the  nar- 
row extent  of  my  power,  and  how  little  my  ser- 
vices can  now  avail,  yet  you  may  be  assured 

of 

pretends,  in  reply  to  one  of  Cicero's  against  Mark  Antony,' 
Jd  Ate,  xiii.  34,     Dio.  Ix.  p.  303. 

Vol.  II.  P 


^1 


i 


210 


Th«  letters        Book  VIII; 


of  my  most  zealous  endeavours,  at  least,  upon 
every  occasion  wherein  either  your  character 
or  your  interest  is  concerned.  In  the  mean 
time,  let  me  know,  as  soon  as  possible,  how  it 
fares  with  you,  and  what  measures  you  purpose 
to  pursue.     Farewel. 


*•  i 


LETTER  IIL 

[A.  U.  707.] 
To  TORANIUS'. 


Although  I  imagine  this  miserable  war  ra 
either  already  terminated,  by  some  decisive  en* 
gagement*,  or  at  least  is  approaching  to  its 
conclusion ;  yet'  **♦♦♦**♦♦.  I  frequently 
reflect,  that  there  was  not  a  man  throughout  all 

the 

'  Suetonius  mentions  a  person  of  this  nan*e,  who  was 
elected  into  the  qflicc  of  J^\\e  with  Octsiviu^,  the  father  oC 
Augtistus,  and  who  aflerwarHs,  notwithstanding  he  had  been 
guardian  to  Augustus  himself,  was  inihe  number  of  those 
who  peh!>hed  by  the  sanguinary  proscriptions  of  that  empe- 
ror. One  of  ihe  comim-ntaJors  upon  that  historian,  supposes 
bim  to  ht  the  tame  person  to  whom  this  letier  is  addressed  ; , 
and  indeed  the  conjecture  is  extremely  prob^l^le*  However, 
all  that  can  be  affirmed  wiih  any  ceriainiy  concerning  Tora- 
nius  is,  that  he  u>ok  part  in  the  civil  war  on  ihe  side  of  Pom- 
pey,  and  that,  after  ihe  battle  of  PharsaJ,ia^  hereiiied  tuCo^- 
cyra,'as  he  appears  to  have  been  in  that  island  when  this  let- 
ter was  written.  Suet,  in  vit.  Jugust.  27.  See  the  rem.  of 
Mr.  Ross,  on  the  Epist.  Famil.  vol.  i.  p.  498. 

*  See  rem.  3.  on  the  foregoiog  letter,  p.  207. 

*  The  first  period  of  this  letter  in  the  original  runs  thus  : 
Etsi  cum  koBc  ad  te  scribebam^  uut  appropinquare  exitus  huju^ 
calamitosmimi  belli,  autjam  aliquid  actum  Sf  confectum  vide- 
hatur ',  tamcn  quotidic  commemorabam,  te  unum  in  tanto  ex- 

ercitu 


^66k  Vim-     OF  cicma 


Iff 


the  numerous  army  of  Pompey  who  agreed 
with  you  and  me  in  our  opinion.^ ^We  were  fli^ 
only  persons,  indeed,  who  were  sensfBre,W1thefe 
should  be  no  hope  of  an  accomm6datl6h|  how 
pregnant  with  miscliief  that  war  mUit  proVe-  iti 
which  torrents  of  blood  woulH'  be  the  conse-' 
quence,  if  we  were  vanquished  ;  and  slavery, 
if  we  proved  victorious*.     I  was  represented, 
at  that  time,  by  such  wise  and  heroic  spirits  as 
your  Domitii  and  your  Lentuli,  as  a  man  alto- 
gether under  the  dominion  of  fear :  and  fear,  I 
will  confess,  I  did,  that  those  calamities  would, 
happen  which  have  since  ensued.     But  I  am 
now  totally  void  of  all  farther  apprehenaiona  • 
and  I  stand  prepared  to  meet  with  indifference 
whatever  it  be  that  fortune  may  have  iareserve^ 
While  prudence,  indeed,  could  any  thing  avail, 
I  lamented  to  see  her  dictates  neglected.     But 
now  that  counsel  can  profit  nothing  ind  jh^t^ 
the  republic  5s  utterly  overturned^  thfeoiify'm- 

trctfttMhifuisse  assentorem,  ^  me  tibu  The  e^^itiJIthe  ttt^ 
men  in  this  sentence,  seem  to  be  as  absolutely  incoherent  as 
if  Cicero  had  said,  that  "  although  .^.neas  settled  in  Italy,  yet 
**  Caesar  was  a  consummate  general/^  It  shbuldseerti,  the^d^ 
fore,  th^t  there  is  some  error  in  the  text.  Perhaps  the  prp.per ' 
connecting  words  that  followed  famehy  have  Been  dropped  by 
the  transcribers  ;  and  that  Quotidie  was  'the  beginning  of  a 
new  sentence.  The  translator  h^s  ventured,  at  least,  lo  pro-*  ' 
ceed  upon  this  conjecture :  and  the  place  of  the  supposed 
omission  is  marked  by  asteri^i. 

.♦  This  is  explained  by  what  he  says  of  foropey  in  s^  ?uli- 
scfJtBcnt  letter,  p.  344.  of  this  Tol,  **...,:  ;./:^ 

PS 


e 


f 


£12 


The  letters         Book  VIH, 


■5 


!i 


tional  part  that  remains,  is  to  bear  with  calmr 
iiess  whatever  shall  l?e  the  event;  especially 
when  it  is  considered,  that  death  is  the  final 
period  of  all  human  concerns.     In  the  mean 
time  I  have  the  satisfaction  to  be  conscious,  that 
I  consulted  the  dignity  of  the  repubHc,  whilst 
it  was  possible  to  be  preserved ;  and  when  it 
could  no  longer  be  maintained,  that  my  next; 
endeavour  was,  to  save  the  commonwealth  from 
being  utterly  destroyed.     I  mention  this,  not 
to  indulge  a  vanity  in  talking  of  myself,  but 
that  you,  who  were  entirely  united  with  me  m 
the  §ame  sentiments  and  disposition,  may  be 
led  into  the  same  train  of  reflections.     For  it 
must  undoubtedly  afford  you  gre^t  consoUtion 
to  remember,  that  whatever  turn  affairs  might 
have  taken,  your  counsels  were  perfectly  right. 
May  we  yet  live  to  see  the  republic,  in  some 
degree  at  least,  again  restored !  and  may  we 
have  the  satisfaction  of  one  day  comparing  to- 
gether the  anxiety  we  mutually  suffered,  when 
\vc  weje  looked  upon  as  men  that  wanted  spi- 
rit,  merely  because   we  declared   that   those 
consequences  wpuld  happen  which  have  ac- 
cordingly taken  place !    Mean  while,    I  will 
venture  to  assure  you,  that  you  have  nothing 
to  apprehend  upon  your  own  account,  exclu- 
sive of  the  general  subversion  of  the  common- 
wealth.    As  for  myself,  be  persuaded,  that  I 

shall 


Boon  VIIL       or  CICERO. 


€13 


ehall  at  all  times'^  as  far  as  lies  in  my  power,  ht 
ready  to  exert  my  utmost  services  towards  you 
and  your  family.     Farewel. 


I 


LETTER  IV. 

{A.  u.  7or.] 

To^  Marcus  Terentius  Varro. 

Attic  us  lately  read  a  letter  to  me  that  ht 
had  received  from  you,  by  which  I  was  in^ 
formed  where  you  are,  and  in  what  nianner  em* 
ployed;  but  it  mentioned  no  circumstance  that 

could 

*  Marcus  Terentius  Vatrohad  been  lieu-tenant  to  Pom* 
pey  in  the  piratic  war ;  in  which  be  distinguished  himself 
with  so  much  advantage,  as  (o  be  honoured  with  a  naval 
icrowD  ;  an  honour  usually  conferred  ou  those  who  had  sig^ 
nalized'  their  valour  in  a  sea  engagement.  He  was  afterwards 
etp^ointed,  in  conjunctikih  with  Afranius  and  Petreius'^  lieU* 
tenant  to^ompey  ia  Spain  :  and  he  was  serving  in  that  qua- 
lify, when*  the  civil  war  broke  out.  He  was  at  that  time  at 
the  heUd  of  two  legions  in  the  farther  Spain  :  but  his  col* 
leagues  having  been  defeated  by  Gaesar,  he  found  himself  in 
Ti6  conditiorf  to  resist;  and  accordingly  surrendered  hiiriself 
find  his  army  into  the  hands  of  the  conqueror.  He  seems 
from  that  time  to  have  withdrawn  from  public  affairs,  and  to 
liave?  (Joiti^rated  the  remaintfet  ot  his  life  (Which*  he  is  said 
to  have  preserved^  wrth  all  his  senses  entire,  to  the  age  of  aa 
hundred)  wholly  to  philosophical  studies.  His  genius  and 
talents,  md^^d,  were-  principally  of  the  literary  kind  :  in 
^vhich  he  was  universally  acknowledged  to  hold  the  first  rank 
among  his  contemporaries.  He  published  many  treatise^  in 
all  the  various  branches  of  human  science:  one  or  two  of  tha 
least  considerable  of  which,  and  those  not  entire^  are  the  whole 
thkt'riow  remain  of  his  numberless  compositions,  des,  Bel, 
CitiL  17.  &c.     Vat,  Max,  viii.  7.    Cic,  Academ,  i.  3. 

P3 


k 


tH 


The    letters        Book  VIII, 


I 


1 


N. 


could  lead  me  to  guess,  when  we  might  expect 
to  see  you.  I  hope,  however,  that  the  time 
of  jrour  coming  hither  is  approaching,  and  that 
your  company  will  afford  me  consolation  un-- 
def  our  general  misfortunes :  though,  indeed, 
they  arc  so  numerous  and  so  severe,  that  it  is 
a  folly  to  expect  any  thing  w  ill  be  sufficient 
focthatjjurpose.  Nevertheless,  there  are  some 
instances,  perhaps,  in  which  we  may  prove  of 
mutual  assistance  to  each  other.  For  since  my 
return  to  Rome,  you  must  know,  lam  reconciled 
to  those  old  companions  of  mine,  my  books. 
Not  that  I  w^as  estranged  from  them  out  of 
any  disgust ;  but  that  1  could  not  look  upon 
them  without  some  sort  of  shame.  It  seemed, 
indeed,  that  I  had  ill  observed  their  precepts, 
whea^  1  joined  with  perfidious  associates  in" 
taking  part  in  our  public  commotions.  They 
are  willing,  however,  to  pardon  my  error,  and 
invite  me  to  renew  my  former  acquaintance 
wftli  fhem ;  applauding,  at  the  same  time,  your 
superior  wisdom,^  in  never  having  forsaken  their 
'society*^.  Tliiis  'restored,  therefore,  as  I  am  to* 
their  good  graces,  may  I  not  hope,  if  I  can 
unite  your  company  with  theirs,  to  support 
myself  under  the  pressure  of  our  present  and 

C;"i:    T^VO  ^'•;u^  :.u.'.    .-..     >    •■•"    •■■  -*.  •      ,.      ■» 

impendmg 

^  Varro's  books  were  Jiis  companions,  it  seems,  in  Jhe 
camp  as  well  as  in  the  closet,  and  he  was  n^ver  wholly  sepa- 
rated from  them,  i!  Vpp^ar^,  even  amfdst  the  molt  active  en- 
gagements of  public  life.       v  ^ 


i 


f  I 


Book  Vllt       of  CICERO. 


215 


impending  calamities  ?  Wherever  then  you  shall 
choose  I  should  join  you,  be  it  at  Tusculum,  at 
Cumae*,  or  at  Rome,  I  shall  most  readily  obey 
your  summons.  The  place  I  last  named  would, 
indeed,  be  the  least  acceptable  to  me.  But  it 
is  of  no  great  consequence  where  we  meet:  for 
if  we  can  but  be  togetlier,  I  will  undertake  to 
render  the  place  of  meeting  equally  agreeable 
to  both  of  us.     Farewel. 


LETTER  V. 

{A.U.707.] 
ToToBIANUS, 

As  I  wrote  to  you  three  days  ago  by  some 
domestics  of  Plancius,  I  shall  be  so  much  the 
shorter  at  present :  and  as  my  former^  was  a 
letter  of  consolation,  this  shall  be  one  of  ad- 


vice. 


1  thiuK  nothinor  can  be  more  for  your  ad- 
vantage  than  to  remam  m  your  present  situa- 
tion till  you  shall  be  able  to  learn  in  what  man-' 
ner  you  are  to  act.  f'or  not  to  mention  that 
you  will  by  this  mean  avoid  the  danger  ot  ^ 
long:  winter-voyaffe,  in  a  sea  that  affords  but 
few  harbours  :  there  is  this  very  material  con- 
sideration.  that  you  may  soon  cross  over  into 

'  Varro  had  ^  villa  nm  each  of  these  duc^.j|^^  ^^    ^ 
;;,*'^rohab|y  ihe  thir^^t^r  of  t^^^^  ^^. ,,  ^^^ 

P    4  **l^llcHit|1o«^II?" 


I'  \ 

1 


» 


tie 


T«E  LETl'ERS        Book  VIIL 


if 
3 


J 


Italy,  whenever  you  shall  receive  any  certain 
intelhgence.  Nor  do  I  see  any  reason  for  your 
being  desiroui^  of  presenting  yowrself  to  Caesars 
friends  in  their  return.  In  short,  I  have  raany 
other  objections  to  your  scheme:  for  the  parti- 
culars of  which  I  refer  you  to  our  friend  Cbilo. 
Yottcarmot,  indeed,  in  these  unfortunate  times, 
be  mare  coatvcttiently  placed,  than  where  you 
now  are:  as  you  may,  with  great  facility  and 
expedition,  transport  yourself  from  thence,  to 
whatever  other  part  of  the  world  you  shall  find 
it  necessary  to  remove;  If  Caesar  should  re- 
turn at  the  time  he  is  exj>ected",  you  may  be 
in  Italy. soon  enough  to  wait  upon  him;  but 
shou|dany  thing  happen  (as  many  things  pos- 
sibly may)  fo  prevent  or  retard  his  march, 
ypu  are  in  a  place  where  you  may  receive  an 
early  information  of  alT  that  occurs.  To  re- 
peat it,  therefore,  once  more,  I  am  altogether 
of  opinion,'  that  you  should  continue  in  vour 
present  quarfers.  I  will  only  add,  (what  I 
have  often  exhorted  you  in  my  former  letters 
fe  be  well  persuaded  ol")  tiiat  you  Iiave  rio- 
thiuff  to  fear  beyond"  the  s:eneral  danger  to 
which  every  citizen  of  Rome  is  equally  exposed. 
And  though  this,  it  must  be  owned,  is  suffi- 
cientlj)'  great;  yet  we  can  both  of  us  took  back 
Wrth  so  much  satisfaction  upon  our  past.pqn- 

'  *      duct, 

■  From  Africa.     Set  nm^3,  p.  207.  of  this  vol. 


Bioit  VIM;I        6f  CtCfiRO. 


217 


dtict,  dtttf  ¥t^arrhrcd  !alt 'lutfe  f^e!^^^  of  Me% 
^boit  we  o»ught  to  bear  withr|>ai'ticular  fortitucte 
vn\2.tev€t  niufn^rited  fate  itray  attend  ui. 

Your  family  here  are^  all  Weil,  and  extremely 
regret  yemr  absence:  as  they  love  and  honour 
you  with  the  highest  tenderness  and  esteem.— 
Take  care  of  your  health :  and  by  no  means  re- 
move without  duly  weighing  the  consequence** 
Farewel. 


LETTER  VI. 

[A.u.ror.] 

.  •  f .  ' 

)       To  DOMI.TJVS\ 

If  you  have  not  heard  from  me  since  your  at- 

rival  in  Italy,  it  is  not  that  I  was  discouraged 

.      ,  irorn 

*'  ^tctrb  W«9  «t  this  time'  aboat j52  ^yetfrs  of  age. 
.p^*  The  pe^s^to^  wh4)in  ibis  kftei^  |s;  addressed,  i&  sup* 
posed  to  have  been  the  son  of  tiomitius  iilhobarbus,  who 
commanded  thegam*>(Mi  of  Cor^iim  at  the  breaking  oUt^of 
the  civil  war..  [See  vol.  ij.  p;  1 15.  rem.  6.^  The  father 
was  kiTTed  in  his  flight  from  the* battle  of^  JPliarsalia  :  ('t^ds^ 
Bd*  Cfv.  iri.  9^«]viUier.  which  hisisofov  ^  it  should  seemly 
this  letter,  returned  into  Italy.  He  is  mentioned  in  the  list 
^f  thro^  who  were  concerned  in  assassinating  Casar.'*^**'Btit 
fhe  managed  hisi  aifairs  (as  Mr.rJXoss  obseiives).  ,w^th  so 
"  much  address,  that, after  the  death  of  Brutus  and  Cassius, 
**.he  first  made  his  jSeace!  with  Atrtony,  and  then,  upon  ^e 
^^  decline  of  his  power,  took  ^n  occasion  t^  leave  him  and 
"join  himSeif  with  AligustUs.  And  though  he  did  not  live 
**  leng  enough  to  enjoy  the  benefit  of  that  union;  yet  iie 
**  left  a  son,  who  recovered  tl^e  ancient  splendour  of  the  fa- 
^  mily,  and  taid  a  foundation  for  the  eitipife,  which  took  place 
t*'  in  the  person  of  his  grand-son  Nero."  Suet,  in  Nero,  SfC, 
Faterc,  ii.  72, 


HJ'< 


I'..,. 


s 

I 


4 


818 


The  letters        Book  Vllfc 


tf 


from  writing  on  my  part,  by  the  profound  si^ 
lence  you  have  observed  on  yours.    The  single 
reason  was,  that  I  could  find  nothing  to  say.  For 
on  the  one  hand,  I  was  in  every  respect  too  much 
distressed,  as  well  as  too  much  at  a  loss  how  to 
act  myself,  to  offer  you  either  assistance  or  ad- 
vice: and,  on  the  otherj  I  knew  not  what  conso- 
lation to  suggest  to  you,  under  these  our  severe 
and  general  misfortunes.     However,  notwith- 
standing public  affairs  are  so  far  from  being  in  a 
better  situation  at  present,  that  they  are  growing 
every  day  more  and  more  desperate ;  yet  I  could 
not  satisfy  myself  with  being  silent  any  longer: 
and  rather  chose  to  send  you  an  empty  letter, 
than,  not  to  send  you  any. 

If  yoii  were  in  the  number  of  those  who  tena- 
ciously persevere  in  the  defence  of  the  republic, 
t)eyoHd  all  possibility  of  success^l  should  employ 
every  argument  in  my  powet,  to  reconcile  .you , 
to  those  conditions,  though  not  the  most  eligible 
ii)d^,  whi^^  aii5.  offered  to^  gijt  acceptance.. 
But  as  you  judiciously  terminated  the  noble 
struggle  you.  jpad^j'ti  suppprt^^tf^^pjir.  Jij^gfties^ 
by  those  limits  which  fortune  herself  marked 
o^t  itft  Quj  opposition ;  let  meponjure  yx)u  by 
our  long  and  mutual  amity,  to  preserve  yourself^  x 

for 


:.|2U 


_J^]  It  jpoks  by  this  passage  as  if  Doinitius  b^  beep^ sus- 
pected at  this  time  of  an  intentioa  to  destroy  himse|i|  ^  .  i    ^, 


Bdok  yillr        or  CiClERO; 


aigf/ 


for  tfae^sakepf  your  fri€nd$>  your  mother,  your 
wife,  and  your  children  :  for^fbe;  sake  of  those^ 
in  short,  to  whom  you  have  evel*  been  infinitely 
dear,  -and  whose  welfere  and  interest  depends  en- 
tuely  upon  yours.  Let  me  entreat  you  to  call  to 
your  aid,  in  this  glbomy  season,  those  glorious 
precepts  of  philosophy,  in  which  you  have  been 
conversant  from  your  earliest  youth :  and  to  supJ- 
port  the  loss  of  those  with  whom  you  were  united 
by  the  most  tender  ties  of  affection  and  grati- 
tude', if  not  with  a  mind  perfectly  serene,  at 
least,  with  a  rational  and  manly  fortitude. 
.  How  far  my  present  power  may  reach,  1  know 
not ;  or  rather,  indeed,  I  am  sensible  that  it  can- 
not extend  far.  This,  however,  I  will  assure  you, 
(and  it  is  a  promise  which  I  have  likewisemade  to 
that  excellent  woman  your  affectionate  mother) 
that,  in  whatever  instance  I  imagine  my  services 
cdftt  avail  either  to  your  honour  or  your  welfare, 
I  shall  exert  them  with  the  same  zeal  which  you 
h^e  always  shewn  in  i*^rd  to  myself  If  there 
is  any  thing,  therefore,  in  which  you  shalVbc^ 
dMroiri  to  employ  them,  I  beg  you  will  let  mC'^ 
know :  and  I  will  most  punctually  perform  your* 
coihmands.  Indeed,  without  any  such  express 
jcqiit^  jf6\i  may  depend  upon  my  best  oflSces 


i  y 


OB 


^'The  father  iiti  J-fViends  of  Ddfcltius,  who  had  perished 
in  the  civil  war. 


I 

1 , 4 


s$» 


Tnt  LETTERS       BdokVIIt 


li 


on  every  occasiort,  wherein  I  ^hM  he  d«pabW 
of  promoting  your  int^f edt.     T^ttvtih 

lErrEn  m 

[A.  U.  707.] 
To  CnI^IUI  pLANClirs*. 

X  HAVE  received  your  v^ry  short  Utter,  \i^Iiicf1i 
Informs  me  of  what  I  never  once  questioiieid, 
but  leaves  me  entirely  ignorant  in  a  point  I  was 
extremely  desirous  of  knowing*  I  had  not  th6 
least  doubt,  indeed,  of  the  share  I  enjoy  in  yout 
friendship  ;  but  wanted  much  to  hear  with  what 
resolution  you  submit  to  our  common  calamities : 
a  circumstance,  of  which  if  I  had  been  apprised, 
I  should  have  adapted  my  letter  accordingly* 
However,  though  I  mentioned  in  my  last,  >V^hat 
I  thought  necessary  to  say  upon  that  subject,  yet 
itmay  be  proper,  at  this  juncture,  just  to  Caution 
you  again,'  nor  to  imagine  that  you  have  any 
thing  particular'  to  fear.  It  is  true,  we  are  every 
Ote  of  us  in  gfeat  danger :  but  the  danger,  hoW^ 
ever,  is  general  Met  equal*.  Yon  ought  not; 
therefore,  to  complain  of  your  own  fortune,  or 
think  it  hard  to  take  your  part  in  cala^iittes  that 
extend  to  all.    Let  as  theft,  my  friend,  preserve 

the 

^  See  note  U  p.  306.  of  this  vol. 
'  See  the  94  letter  of  this  book. 


Rqq  k  Yllh         o  f  CICERO.  ?§  I 

the  same  mutual  disposition  of  mind  which  ha3 
ever  subsisted  between  us.  I  am  sure  I  shall, 
on  my  part,  and  I  have  reason  to  hope  that  you 
will  do  so  likewise  pn  yours.     Farewel. 


LETTER  VIIL 

[A.  U.  707.] 

To  Lucius  Plancus^ 

You  are  sensible,  I  dare  say,  that,  amongst 
all  those  friends  whom  you  claim  as  a  sort  of 
p,j^ternal  inheritance,  there  is  not  one  so  closely 
attached  to  you  as  myself.  I  do  not  mean  in 
consideration  only  of  those  mo^e  conspicuous 
connexions  of  a  public  kind  in  which  I  was  en- 
gaged with  your  father ;  but  in  regard,  like- 
wise, to  that  less  observable  intercourse  of  pri- 
vate friendship,  which  I  had  the  happiness,  you 
well  know,  of  enjoying  with  him  in  the  high- 
est degree.    As  this  was  the  source  from  whence 

my 

^  He  was  brother  tp  Plancus  Burta,  the  great  enemy  of 

Cicero,  and  of  whom  an  account  has  been  given  in  rem.  5- 

fvol.  1.  p.  26s.     Piancus  does  not  seem  to  have  figured  in 

tbe  coramonwealth  ;  at  least,  history  does  not  take  much  no-r 

iOiice  of  "him,  till  after  the  death  of  Caesar,  at  which  timt  he 

^  ,was  at  the  head  of  a  considerable  army  in  the  farther  Gaul, 

'as  governor  of  that  province.  But  as  there  are  ueveraHetters 

e?.in  this  collection  which  passed  between  him  apd  Cicfro.at 

K'  at  period,  the  particulars  of  his  character  will  be  best  re- 
arked  in  the  observations  that  will  arise  upon  his  conduct 
in  that  important  crisis.  In  the  mean  time,  it  may  be  suffi- 
cient to  observe,  that  when  this  letter  was  written,  he  wa» 
probably  an  officer  under  Capsar  in  the  African  war.  See 
rem,  ^,  on  let,  JJO.  B.  xii. 


i 


: 


122 


The  letters         Book  VIIL 


i| 


II 


iny  affection  for  the  son  originally  took  its  rise: 
so  that  affection,   in  its  turn,  improved  and 
strengthened  my  union  with  the  father:  espe- 
cially when  I  observed  you  distinguishing  me 
with  peculiar  marks  of  respect  and  esteem,  as 
early  as  you  were.capable  of  forming  any  judg- 
ment of  mankind.     To  this  I  must  add,  (what 
is  of  itself,  indeed,  a  very  powerful  cement)  the 
similitude  of  our  tastes  and  studies :  and  of 
those  particular  studies  too,  which  are  of  a  na- 
ture most  apt  to  create  an  intimacy  between 
men  of  the  same  general  cast  of  temper^    And 
now,  are  you  not  impatient  to  learn  the  purpose 
of  this  long  introduction  ?  Be  assured,  then,  it 
is  not  without  just  and  strong  reason,  that  I  have 
thus  enumerated  the  several  motives  which  con- 
cur in  forming  our  amity :  as  it  is  in  order  to 
plead  before  you  with  more  advantage  the  cause 
of  my  very  intimate  friend  Ateius  Capito*.     I 
need  not  point  out  to  you  the  variety  of  fortune 
with  which  my  life  has  been  chequered  :  but  in 
all  the  honours  and  disgraces  I  have  experienced, 
Capito  has  ever  most  zealously  assisted  me  with 
bis  pow^r,  his  interest,  and  even  with  his  purse. 

'  Titus 

'  The  studies  to  which  Cicero  here  filludes,  are,  proba- 
bly, those  of  the  philosophical  kind. 

•  Pighius  supposes,  that  this  is  the  same  Ateius  Capito, 
who  devoted  Crassus  to  destruction  when  beset  out  upon  his 
Parthian  expedition :  of  which  the  reader  has  already  met 
with  an  account  in  rem.  7.  p.  128.  vol.  i.  Pigh,  Armuh 
\\u  389. 


Book  VIII.         qv  CrcERO. 


SOS 


Titus  Antistius,  who  was  his  near  relation,  hap- 
pended  to  be  quaestor  in  Macedonia  (no  person 
having  been  appointed  to  succeed  him)  when 
Pompey  marched  his  army  into  that  province'. 
Had  it  been  possible  for  Antistius  to  have  re- 
tired, it  would  have  been  his  first  and  most  ear- 
nest endeavour  to  have  returned   to  Capito, 
whom  he  loved  with  all  the  tenderness  of  a  fi- 
Kal  affection  :  and,  indeed,  he  was  so  much  the 
more  desirous  of  joining  him,  as  he  knew  the 
high  esteem  which  Capito  had  ever  entertained 
for  Csesar.     But  finding  himself  thus  unex- 
pectedly in  the  hands  of  Pompey,  it  was  not  in 
his  power  wholly  to  decline  the  functions  of 
his  office :  however,  he  acted  no  farther  than 
he  was  absolutely  constrained.    I  cannot  denj^ 
that  he  was  concerned  in  coining  the  silver  at 
Apollonia\    But  he  was  by  no  means  a  princi- 
pal in  that  affair :  and  two  or  three  months 
were  the  utmost  that  he  engaged  in  it.     From 
that  time  he  withdrew  from  Pompey's  camp, 
and  totally  avoided  all  public  employment.     I 
hope  you  will  credit  this  assertion,  when  I  as^ 
sure  you,  that  I  know  it  to  be  fact :  for,  in- 
deed, Antistius  saw  how  much  I  was  dissatis- 
fied 

'  When  Pompey  retreatct^  before  Caesar,  *nd  abandoned 
Italy. 

*  For  the  paynient  of  Pompey 's  army.  ApolJonia  was  a 
city  in  Thrace :  a  part  of  Greece  apnejted  to  tbe  pr^Tmce  of 
^lacedonia« 


! 


i 


•I  •  I 


224 


Thz  letters        Book  VIIL 


Book  VIIL        of  CICERO. 


225 


fftd  with  the  war,  and  consulted  with  mc  upon  all 
his  measures.  Accordingly,  that  he  might  hav^ 
no  part  in  it,  he  withdrew,  as  £ar.as  possible, 
from  Pompey's  camp,  and  concealed  himself  in 
the  interior  parts  of  Macedonia.  Afttr  the  bat- 
tle of  Fbarsalia  he  retired  to  his  friend  AuIua 
Plautius%  in  Bithynia.  It  was  here  that  he 
had  an  interview  with  Caesar^,  .who.  received 
him  without  the  least  mark  of  displeasure,  and 
ordered  him  to  return  to  Rome.  But  he  soon 
afterwards  contracted  an  illness,  which  he  car- 
ried with  him  into  Corey ra,  where  it  put  an  end 
to  his  life.  By  his  will,  which  was  made  at 
Rome  in  the  consulate  of  Paulus  and  Marcel- 
lus,  he  has  lei't  ten  twelfths,  of  his  estate  to 
Capito.  The  remaining  two  parts,  amounting 
to  300,000  sesterces*,  he  has  devised  to  those 
for  whose  interest  no  mortal  can  be  concerned : , 
and,  therefore,  I  am  not  in  the  least  solicitous 
whether  Caesar  shall  think  proper,  or  not,  to 
seize  it  as  forfeited  to  the  public.  But  I  most 
earnestly  conjure  you,  my  dear  Plancus,  to  con- 
sider the  cause  of  Capito  as  my  own,  and  to 
employ  your  intluence  with  Coesar,  that  my 
friend  may  be  pennitted  to  inherit  this  legacy, 
i  agreeably 

*  At  that  time  wovernor  of  Bitfcynia,  an  Asiatic  province 
situated  on  the  Euxine  sea, 

'  Probably  in  his  return  from  the  Alexandrine  war. 
^  About  ^4001.  of  our  money ^ 


agreeably  to  the  will  of  his  relation.  I  entreat 
you  by  all  the  various  ties  of  our  friendship,  as 
well  as  by  those,  likewise,  which  subsisted  be- 
tween your  father  and  myself,  to  exert  your 
most  zealous  and  active  offices  for  i  as  purpose. 
Be  assured,  if  you  were  to  grant  me  all  that  lies 
within  the  compass  of  your  extensive  credit  and 
power,  you  could  not  more  effectually  oblige 
me  than  by  complying  with  my  present  request. 
I  hope  it  may  be  a  means  of  facilitating  your 
success  upon  this  occasion,  that  Capito,  as  Cae- 
sar himself  can  Witness,  has  ever  held  him  in  the 
highest  esteem  and  affection.  But  Caesar,  I 
know,  never  forgets  any  thing :  I  forbear,  there- 
fore, to  furnish  you  with  particular  instances  of 
Capito's  attachment  to  liim,  and  only  desire  you 
to  make  a  proper  use  of  those  which  are  fresh  in 
Caesar's  memory.  It  may  not,  however,  be  un- 
necessary to  point  out  one  proof  of  this  sort, 
which  I  myself  experienced:  and  I  will  leave  it 
to  your  own  judgment  to  determine  how  far  the 
mentioning  of  it  may  avail.  I  need  not  tell  you 
by  what  party  my  interest  had  been  supported, 
nor  whose  cause  I  espoused  in  our  public  divi- 
sions. But  believe  me,  whatever  measures  I  pur- 
sued in  this  war,  which  were  unacceptable  to  Cae- 
sar, (and  I  have  the  satisfaction  to  find  that  he  is 
sensible  of  it  himself )  were  most  contrary  to  my 
own  inclinations,  and  merely  in  comphance  with 
Vol.  II.  Q  the 


226 


The  letters       Book  VIIL 


Book  VIIL        dr  CICERO- 


£27 


J 


I 


the  persuasions  and  authority  of  others.  But  if 
I  conducted  myself  with  more  moderation  than 
any  of  those  who  were  joined  with  me  in  the 
same  cause ;  it  is  principally  owing  to  the  advice 
and  admonitions  of  Capito.  To  say  truth,  if  the 
rest  of  my  friends  had  been  influenced  by  th# 
same  spirit  with  which  he  was  actuated,  I  might 
have  taken  a  part  that  would  have  proved  of 
some  advantage,  perhaps,  to  my  country;  I  am 
sure,  at  least,  of  much  to  myself ^  In  one  word, 
my  dear  Plancus,  your  gratifying  my  present 
request,  will  confirm  me  in  the  hope  that  I  pos- 
sess a  place  in  your  affection :  and  at  the  same 
time  extremely  contribute  to  your  own  advan- 
tage, in  adding,  by  a  very  important  obligation, 

the 

'  The  part  which  Cicero  here  accuses  his  friends,  (an^ 
surely  with  some  want  of  generosity)  that  ihey  would  not 
suffer  him  to  act,  seems  to  have  been  that  of  standing  neuter 
io  the  war  between  Pompey  and  Caesar.  And  it  must  be  owned 
•that  this  conduct  would  have  been  far  less  exceptionable,  if, 
instead  of  faintly  joining  with  one  side,  he  had  determined  to 
engage  with  neither.  This  too,  as  the  event  proved,  might 
have  been  most  prudential  in  point  of  interest :  for  a  neutra- 
lity wi!i  all  thatCxsar  desired  of  him.  But  that  it  could  in 
any  sort  have  advantaged  his  country,  appears  to  be  a  notipa 
altogether  improbable,  and  advanced  only  to  give  a  colour  to 
bis  not  having  entered  with  more  spirit  into  the  cause  of  iha 
republic.  Cicero  often  intimates,  indeed,  that  by  preserving 
a  neutrality,  he  might  have  been  more  likely  to  have  facili- 
tated an  accommodation  between  Pompey  and  Caesar.  But 
it  is  utterly  incredible,  from  the  temper  and  character  of  these 
contending  chiefs,  that  either  of  them  entertained  the  least 
disposition  for  this  purpose :  as  it  is  certain,  from  Cioero'i 
own  confession  in  his  letters  to  Atticus,  that  he  waa  well  peiv 
suaded  Pompey  would  liever  listen  to  any  pacific  overtures. 
Yiii.  Ad  Jtt.  vii.  ».  viii.  15. 


the  most  grateful  and  worthy  Capito  to  the 
number  of  your  friends.     Farewel. 

LETTER  XI. 

[A.U.r07.]  *      '      ^ 

«,  To  Allien  us,  ProconsuK 

JJemocritus  of  Sicyon  is  not  only  my  host', 
but  (what  I  can  say  of  few  of  his  countrymen 
beside)  he  is  likewise  my  very  intimate  friend. 
He  is  a  person,  indeed,  of  tlie  highest  probity 
and  merit,  and  distinguished  for  his  most  ge- 
nerous and  poiite  hospitality  towards  those  who 
come  under  his  roof:  in  which  number  I  have 
received  particular  marks  of  his^  affection  and 
esteem.    In  one  word,  you  will  find  him  a  man 
of  the  first  and  most  valuable  character  amongst 
his  fellow-citizens,  I  had  almost  said  in  all  A- 
chaia.     I  only  mean,  therefore,  by  this  letter, 
to  introduce  him  to  your  acquaintance  :  fori 
know  your  sentiments  and  disposition  so  well, 
that  I  am  persuaded  nothing  more  is  necessary 
to  make  you  think  him  worthy  of  being  re- 
ceived both  as  your  guest  and  friend.     Let  ^le 
iio  g>^wjj'^  «!ii  r'jd'  ;n  ■  entreat 

*  He  was  at  this^lime  proconsul,  or  governor  of  Sicily, 
and  distingutfilied  kimrielf  by  his  oare  and  diligence  iji  traQS^ 
porting  thft  troopB  which  Caesar  received  from  thence  in  order 
^to  daihry^on;  the  present  war  in  Africa.  There  is  a  silver  corn 
atiii  exoint,  on  which  i«  inscribed,  A.  ALLIENVS.  PRO. 
COS.  and  on  the  reve#.e,  C.  C^SAR.  IMP.  COS.  ir£U. 
Pigh^  Annah  iai.  A5S. 

^  See  4).  113..  of  this  vol.  rem.  3. 

Q  « 


S28 


The  letters        Book  VIII. 


entreat  you,  in  the  mean  time,  to  favour  him 
w  ith  your  patronage,  and  to  assure  him  that,  for 
my  sake,  he  may  depend  upon  all  the  assistance 
in  your  power.  If  after  this  you  should  discover 
(as  I  trust  you  will)  that  his  virtues  render  him 
deserving  of  a  nearer  intercourse :  you  cannot 
more  sensibly  obhge  me  than  by  admitting  him 
into  your  family  and  friendship.     Farewel. 

LETTER  X. 

[A.  U.  707.] 

To  Lucius  Mescinius** 

Your  letter  afforded  me  great  pleasure,  as  it 
gave  me  an  assurance  (though  indeed  I  wanted 
none)  that  you  earnestly  wish  for  my  company. 
Believe  me,  I  am  equally  desirous  of  yours :  and, 
in  truth,  when  there  was  a  much  greater  abun- 
dance of  patriot  citizens  and  agreeable  compa- 
nions, who  were  in  the  number  of  my  friends, 
there  was  no  man  with  whom  I  rather  chose  to 
associate,  and  few  whose  company  I  Hked  so 
well.  But  now  that  death,  absence,  or  change 
of  disposition  has  so  greatly  contracted  this  so- 
cial circle,  I  should  prefer  a  single  day  with 
you,  to  a  whole  life  with  the  generality  of  those 
with  whom  I  am,  at  present,  obliged  to  llve*^ 

Solitude 

«  See  rem.  1.  p.  91.  of  this  vol.  "'''''^ 

*  The  chiefs  of  the  Cxsarean  party  :  with  whom  Cicero 

now  found  it  convenient  to  cultivate  a  friendship,  in  order  to 

ingratiate  himself  with  Caesar. 


Book  VIII.        of  CICERO. 


229 


Solitude  itself,  indeed,  (if  solitude,  alas !  I  were 
at  liberty  to  enjoy)  would  be  far  more  eligible, 
than  the  conversation  of  those  who  frequent 
my  house :  one  or  two  of  them,  at  most,  ex- 
cepted. I  seek  my  relief,  therefore,  (where  I 
would  advise  you  to  look  for  yours)  in  amuse- 
ments of  a  literary  kind,  and  in  the  conscious-^ 
ness  of  having  always  intended  well  to  my 
country.  I  have  the  satisfaction  to  reflect,  (^$ 
I  dare  say  you  will  readily  believe)  that  I  never 
sacrificed  the  public  good  to  my  own  private 
views ;  that  if  a  certain  person  (whom  for  »iy 
sake,  I  am  sure,  you  never  loved)  had  not 
looked  upon  me  with  a  jealous  eye',  both  him- 
self and  every  friend  to  liberty  had  been  happy; 
that  I  always  endeavoured  that  it  should  not 
be  in  the  power  of  any  man  to  disturb  the  pub- 
lic tranquillity ;  and,  in  a  word,  that  when  I 
perceived  those  arms,  which  I  had  ever  dreaded, 

would 

3  Pompey ;  who  being  jealous  of  the  popularity  which, 
Cicero  had  acquired  during  his  consulship,  struck  in  with  the 
designs  of  Caesar^  and  others,  who  had  formed  a  party  against; 
our  author.  It  was  by  these  means  that  Pompey  laid  the 
principal  foundation  of  Caesar's  power,  which,  without  the 
assistance  of  ^he  former,  could  never  have  prevailed  to  the 
destruction  both  of  himself  and  of  the  republic,  [see  rem.  4. 
p.  3.  tol.  i.]  The  censure  which  Cicero  here  casts  upon 
Pompey's  conduct  towards  him,  is  undoubtedly  just :  but  it 
is  a  proof,  at  tbe  same  time,  how  unworthily  he  flattered  that 
great  man  in  the  plenitude  of  his  power,  when  he  professed 
to  have  received  obligations  from  him,  that  gave  him  the  most 
unquestionable  right  to  his  highest  gratitude.  See  riem.  \ 
p^  l^.  of  this  vol. 

.        Q3- 


230 


The  letters        Book  nil. 


Book  VIII.         of  CICERO. 


231 


I 


would  prove  an  over-match  for  that  patriot- 
coalition  I  had  myself  formed*  in  the  republic^ 
I  thought  it  better  to  Jiccept  of  a  safe  peace 
npon  any  terms,  than  impotently  to  contend 
with  a  superior  force.  But  I  hope  shortly  to 
talk  over  these,  and  many  other  points,  with 
you,  in  person.  Nothing,  indeed,  detains  me 
in  Rome,  but  to  wait  the  event  of  the  war  in 
Africa :  which,  I  imagine,  must  new  be  soon 
decided.  And  though  it  seems  of  little  im- 
portance on  which  side  the  victory  shall  turn  ; 
yet  I  think  it  may  be  of  some  advantage  to  be 
near  my  friends  when  .the  news  shall  arrive,  in 
order  to  consult  with  them  on  th^  me&sures  it 
may  be  adviseable  for  me  to  pursue*.  Affairs  are 
now  reduced  to  such  an  unhappy  situation, 
'";'  that 

•dceto^f^fcably  allttc^w  to  the  coalitiow  be  furmed  during 
his  consulship,  of  the  equestrian  orcier  wiih  that  of  the  se- 
nate :  which,  indeed,  was  one  of  ihe  most  shining  parts  of  his 
adniinHrtrdtioi).  **  This  order,  (as  Dr.  Middleton  observes) 
**  consisted,  next  to  the  senators,  of  the  richest  and  most 
**  splendid  families  in  Rome :  who,  from  the  ease  and  affluence 
**  of  their  fortunes,  were  naturally  well  affected  Iq  the  pros- 
"  ptrity  of  the  republic;  and  being  also  the  constant  farmers 
**  of  ali  the  revenues  of  ihe  empire,  had  a  great  part  vt the 
**^  inferior  people  dependent  upon  them.  Cicero  imagined 
"that  ihe  united  weight  of  these  two  orders  would  always  be 
**  an  overbalance  to  any  other  power  in  the  Male,  and  ate- 
cure  barrier  against  any  attempts  of  the  p('|)ular  ai^d  am- 
bitious upon  th«  common  liberty."  Life  of  Ck.  t.TSQ. 
iro,  edit. 

'♦  Cicero  would  have  had  great  occasion  for  the  advice  of 
his  friendi,  if  the  reinains  of  Porapey's  army  had  defeated 
Caesar's  in  Africa.     For  he  had  reason  to  expect,  and  would 
f  robably  have  experienced,  the  severest  eflfects  of  their  resent- 
ment^ 


it 


that  though  there  is  a  considerable  difference, 
it  is  true,  between  the  cause  of  the  contend- 
ing parties,  I  believe  there  will  be  very  little  as 
to  the  consequence  of  their  success.     How- 
ever,  though  my  spirits  were  too  much  de- 
jected, perhaps,  whilst  our  affairs  remained  in 
suspense ;  I  find  myself  much  more  composed 
now  that  they  are  utterly  desperate.   Your  last 
letter  has  contributed  to  confirm  me  in  this  dis- 
position ;  as  it  is  an  instance  of  the  magnaru*. 
mity  with  which  you  support  your  unjust  dis- 
grace\     It  is  with  particular  satisfaction  I  ob- 
serve, that  you  owe  this  heroic  calmness,  not 
only  to   philosophy,   but  to   temper.     For  I 
will  confess,  that  I  imagined  your  mind  was 
softened   with    that    too   delicate  sensibility 
which  we,  who  passed  our  lives  in  the  ease 
and  freedom  of  Rome,  were  apt  in  general  to 
contract.    But  as  we  bore  our  prosperous  days 
with  moderation ;  it  becomes  us  to  bear  our 
adv^rie  fortune,  or  more  properly,  indeed,  our 
irretrievable  ruin,  with  fortitude.   This  advan- 
\tige  we  may  at  least  derive  from  our  extreme 
^^calamities ;  that  they  vnll  teach  us  to  look  upon 
)ldeath  with  contempt :  which,  even  if  we  were 
:^Iiappy,  we  ought  to  despise,  as  a  state  of  total 

insensibility ; 

^^inent,  if  they  bad  returned  victorious  into  Italy.    Vid.Epist, 
ij|.  jawii/.  IX.  ^. 

.         5  Mescinius,  it  is  probable,  was  banished  by  Caesar,  as  a 
partisan  of  Pompey,  to  a  certain  .distance  from  Rome. 


>  J 


232  The  LETTERS        Book  VIII. 

insensibility^-    but  which,  under  our  present 
afflictions,  should  be  the  object  of  our  constant 

wishes 

*  Cicero  expresses  himself  to  the  same  purpose,  in  two  or 
three  other  ot  these  letters.     Thus,  in  one  to  Torquatus  ;  si 
nontro,  sensu  omnino  carebo :  and   in  another  to  Toranius  • 
Una  ratio  videUr,  quicquid  ei merit  f err t  moderate; pr(Eser4im 
cum  omnium  rerum  mors  sit  extremum.     From  whence  it  has 
been  inferred,  that  Cicero,  in  his  private  opinion,  rejected 
the  doctrine  of  the  sourg  immortality.     In  answer  to  which 
It  niay  be  observed,  in  the  first  place,   that  these  passaoes, 
^•Uhout  any  violence  of  construction,  may  be  interpreted  as 
affirming  nothing  more,  than  that  death  is  an  utier  extinction 
of  all  sensibility  with  respect  to  human  concerns  ;  as  it  was 
a  doubt  with  some  of  the  ancients  whether  departed  spirits 
did  not  still  retain  a  knowledge  of  what  passed  in  this  world. 
In  the  next  place,  admittir.g  these  several  passages  to  be  so 
inany  clear  and  positive  assertions,  that  the  soul  perishes  with 
the   body;  yet  it  would   by  no  means   follow,  that  this  wa^ 
Cicero  s  real  belief.     It  is  usual  with  him  to  vary  his  senti- 
ments in  these  letters,  in  accommodation  to  the  principles  or 
circumstances  of  his  correspondents.     Thus,  in  a  letter  to 
Dolabella,  he  does  not  scruplo  to  say,  sum  axidior  quam  satis 
estgloncp:  But  in  writing  to  Cato,  he  represents  himself  of 
a  disposition  entirely  the  reverse  :  ipsam  quidem  gloriam  per 
*e  nunquam  putavi  eipetendam.     In  a  letter  to  Torquatus, 
when  he  is  endeavouring  to  reconcile  him  to  his  banishment 
from  Rome,  he  lays  it  down  as  a  maxim,  that  in  malis  om- 
nibus acerbius  est  videre  quam  audire:  but,  in  another  letter 
to  Marcellus,  written  in  order  to  persuade  him   to   returu, 
to   Rome,  he   reasons  upon  a  principle   directly  opposite, 
and   tells   him,  non  est  tuum  vno   scnsu  oculorum   moveri  : 
cum  idem  illud  auribus  percipias,  quod  etiam  majus  videri 
soUt^&LC.     Other  instances  of  the  same  variation  from  him- 
self might    be   produced:    but  these,    together  with  those 
that    have  already  been  occasionally  pointed    out    in    the  '^ 
course  ot  these  remarks,  are  sufficient,  perhaps  te  evince, 
that  Cicero's  real  sentiments  and  opinii*ns  cannot  be  proved 
by   any    particular  passages  in  these  letters.      In  those  to 
Aiticus,  indeed,  he  was  generally,  though  not  always,  more 
sincere  :    and  Mr.  Ross    has  cited  a  passage  from  one  of 
them,  in  which  Cicero  very  expressly  mentmns  his  expec- 
tations  ot  a  future  state  :  tempus  est  nos  de  ilia  perpetua  Jom, 
says  h^,  nvn  de  hac  cxiguq  vita  cogitare.     But  Cicero's  spc- 

culative. 


Book  VIII.         of  CICERO. 


^ZS 


wishes.  Let  not  any  fears  then,  I  conjure  you 
by  your  affection  for  me,  disturb  the  peace  of 
your  retirement :  and  be  well  persuaded,  no- 
thins:  can  befal  a  man  that  deserves  to  raise  liis 
dread  and  horror,  but  (what  I  am  sure  ever 
was,  and  ever  will  be,  far  from  you)  the  re- 
proaches of  a  guilty  heart. 

I  purpose  to  pay  you  a  visit  very  soon,  if  no- 
thing should  happen  to  make  it  necessary  for 
me  to  change  my  resolution :  and  if  there  should, 
I  will  immediately  let  you  know.  But  I  hope 
you  will  not,  whilst  you  are  in  so  weak  a  condi- 
tion, be  tempted  by  your  impatience  of  seeing 
me,  to  remove  from  your  present  situation :  at 
least,  not  without  previously  consulting  me.  In 
the  mean  time,  continue  to  love  me ;  and  take 
care  both  of  your  health  and  your  repose, 
•  parewel. 

LETTER  XL 

[A.  l>.  707.] 

ToAllienus,  Proconsul. 

A.S  you  are  no  stranger,  I  imagine,  to  the  es- 
teem I  entertained  for  Avianus  Flaccus ;  so  I 
have  often  heard  him  acknowledge  the  gene- 
rous 

pulative  notions  are  best  determined,  by  looking  into  his 
philosophical  writings :  and  these  abound  with  various  and 
full  proofs,  that  he  was  strongly  persuaded  of  the  soul's  im- 
mortality. Epiit,  FamiL  ix.  14.  xv.  4.  vi.  4.  iv.  9»  -^^  '^^^» 
X.  8.  see  also  Life  ofCic,  iii.  341.  8vo.  edit. 


•   I 


234 


The  letters         Book  VIIL 


rous  manner  in  which  you  formerly  treated 
him ;  as,  indeed,  no  man  ever  possessed  a  more 
grateful  or  better  heart.  His  two  sons,  Caius 
and  Marcus,  inherit  all  the  virtues  of  their  fa- 
ther :  and  I  most  warmly  recommend  them  to 
your  protection,  as  young  men  for  whom  I  have 
a  very  singular  affection*  Caius  is  now  in  Sici- 
ly :  and  Marcus  is  at  present  with  me.  I  entreat 
you  to  shew  every  mark  of  honour  to  the  for- 
mer, and  to  take  the  affairs  of  both  under  your 
patronage;  assuring  yourself,  that  you  cannot 
render  me  in  your  government  a  more  accept- 
able service.     FareweL 


LETTER  XIL 

[A.U.707.] 

To  Vakro. 

Though  I  have  nothing  to  write,  yet  I  could 
not  suffer  Caninius  to  pay  you  a  visit,  without 
taking  the  opportunity  of  conveying  a  letter 
by  his  hands.  And  now  I  know  not  what  else 
to  say,  but  that  1  propose  to  be  with  you  very 
soon :  an  information,  however,  which  I  am 
persuaded  you  will  be  glad  to  receive.  But 
will  it  be  altogether  decent  to  appear  ip  so  gay 
a  scene^,  at  a  time  when  Rome  is  in  such  a  ge- 
neral 

^  Varro  seems  to  have  requested  Cicero  to  give  him  a 

meeting  at   Baiae,  a  place  much   frequented  by  the  Romans 

en  account  of  \U  hot  baths :  as  the  agreeabieiiess  of  its  situ- 

^  atioQ 


Book  VIIL 


OF  CICERO. 


235 


neral  flame  ?  And  shall  we  not  furnish  an  occa- 
sion of  censure  to  those,  who  do  not  know  that 
we  observe  the  same  sober  philosophical  life,  in 
all  seasons,  and  in  every  place  ?  Yet,  after  all, 
what  imports  it  ?  since  the  world  will  talk  of  us 
in  spite  of  our  utmost  caution.  And,  mdeed, 
whilst  our  censurers  are  immersed  in  every  kind 
of  flagitious  debauchery ;  it  is  much  worth  our 
concern,  truly,  what  they  say  of  our  innocent  re- 
laxations. In  just  contempt,  therefore,  of  these 
iUiterate  barbarians,  it  is  my  resolution  to  join 
you  very  speedily.  I  know  not  how  it  is,  in- 
deed, but  it  should  seem  that  our  favourite 
studies  are  attended  with  much  greater  advan- 
tages in  these  wretched  times  than  formerly : 
whether  it  be  that  they  are  now  our  only  re- 
source ;  or  that  we  were  less  sensible  of  their 
salutary  effects,  when  we  were  in  too  happy  a 
state  to  have  occasion  to  experience  them.— 

But 

ation  on  the  bay  of  Naples,  rendered  it  at  the  same  time  the 
general  resort  of  the  pleasurable  world.  The  tender  Pro- 
pertius  has  addressed  some  pretty  lines  to  his  Cynthia  at 
this  place,  which  sufficiently  intimate  in  what  manner  the 
Ruman  ladies  were  amused  in  that  dangerous  scene  of  gal- 
lantry and  dissipation. 

7*21  modo  quam  primum  corrvptas  desere  Baias^ 
Multis  ista  dabunt  littora  disaidium : 
lAUora  qutefucrant  castis  inimica  puellis,  SfC» 

1       Flyjiify  my  love,  soft  BaicB*s  tainted  coast, 
IVkeremany  a  pair  connubial  peace  have  lost  ^ 
Where  many  a  maid  shall  guilty  joys  deplore ; 
Ahjly,  my  fair  i  detested  Baiie's  shore  / 


Q36 


The  letters        Book  VIIL 


But  this  is  sending  owls  to  Athens',  as  we  say; 
and  suggesting  reflections  which  your  own 
mind  will  far  better  supply.  All  that  I  mean 
by  them,  however,  is,  to  draw  a  letter  from  you 
in  return,  at  the  same  time  that  I  give  you  no- 
tice to  expect  me  soon.     Farewel. 


LETTER  XIIL 

[A.  U.  707.J 

To  the  same. 

Our  friend  Caninius  paid  me  a  visit,  some 
time  ago,  very  late  in  the  evening,  and  informed 
me  that  he  purposed  to  set  out  for  your  House 
the  next  morning.     I  told  him  I  would  give 
him  two  or  three  lines  to  deliver  to  you,  and 
desired  he  would  call  for  them  in  the  morning. 
Accordingly  I  wrote  to  you  that  night^:  but  as 
he  did  not  return,  I  imagined  he  had  forgotten 
his  promise;  and  should,  therefore,  have  sent 
that  letter  by  one  of  my  own  domestics,  if  Ca- 
ninius had  not  assured  me  of  your  intention  to 
leave  Tusculum  the  next  morning.     However, 
after  a  few  days  had  intervened,   and  I  bg.d 
given  over  all  expectations   of  Canmius,  he 

made 

*  A  proverbial  expression  of  the  same  import  with  that 
of  "  sending  coals  to  Newcastle."  It  alludes  to  the  Athe- 
nian coin,  which  was  stamped  (as  Manuiius  observes)  witU 
^he  figure  of  an  owl. 

•  Probably  the  preceding  letter. 


Book  VIIL        of  CICERO. 


237 


made  me  a  second  visit,  and  acquainted  me  that 
he  waa  instantly  setting  out  to  you.  But,  not- 
withstanding the  letter  I  had  written  was  then 
become  altogether  out  of  date,  especially  after 
the  arrival  of  such  important  news';  yet,  as  I 
was  unwilling  that  any  of  my  profound  lucu- 
brations should  be  lost,  I  delivered  it  into  the 
hands  of  that  very  learned  and  affectionate 
friend  of  yours :  who,  I  suppose,  has  acquaint* 
ed  you  with  the  conversation  which  passed  be- 
tween us  at  the  same  time. 

I  think  it  most  prudent  for  both  of  us  to  avoid 
the  view,  at  least,  if  we  cannot  so  easily  escape 
the  remarks  of  the  world.  For  those  who  are 
elevated  with  this  victory,  look  down  upon  us 
with  an  air  of  triumph ;  and  those  who  regret 
it,  are  displeased  that  we  did  not  sacrifice  our 
lives  in  the  cause.  But  you  will  ask,  perhaps, 
(as  it  is  in  Rome,  that  we  are  particularly  ex- 
posed to  these  mortifications)  why  I  have  not 
followed  your  example  in  retiring  from  the 
city  ?  But  tell  me,  my  friend,  superior  as  your 
judgment  confessedly  is,  did  you  never  find 
yourself  mistaken  ?  Or  who  is  there,  in  times 
of  such  total  darkness  and  confusion,  that  can 
always  be  sure  of  directing  his  steps  aright  ? 
I  have  long  thought,  indeed,  that  it  would  be 

happy 

*  Concerning  Caesar's  defeat  of  Scipio  in  Africa. 


238 


The  letters         Book  VIIL 


Book  VIIL        of  CICERO. 


2n 


happy  for  me  to  retire  where  I  might  neither 
see,  nor  hear,  what  passes  in  Rome.     But  my 
groundless   suspicions   discouraged   me   from 
executing  this  scheme:    as  I  was  apprehen- 
sive that  those  who  might  accidentally  meet 
me  on  my  way,  would  put  such  constructions 
upon  my  retreat,  as  best  suited  with  their  own 
purposes.     Some,  I  imagined,  would  suspect, 
or  at  least  pretend  to  suspect,  that  I  was  either 
driven  from  Rome  by  my  fears,  or  withdrew 
in  order  to  form  some  revolution  abroad  ;  and, 
perhaps,  too,  would  report,  that  I  had  actually 
provided  a  ship  for  that  purpose.     Others,  I 
feared,  who  knew  me  best,  and  might  be  dis- 
posed to  think  most  favourably  of  my  actions, 
would  be  apt  to  impute  my  recess  to  an  abhor- 
rence of  a  certain  party^     It  is  these  appre- 
hensions that  have  hitherto,  contrary  to  my  in- 
clinations  indeed,  detained  me  in  Rome :  but 
custom,  however,  has  familiarized  the  unpleas- 
ing  scene,  and  gradually  hardened  me  into  a 
less  exquisite  sensibility. 
.  Thus  I  have  laid  before  you  the  motives  which 
induce  me  to  continue  here.     As  to  what  re- 
lates to  your  own  conduct ;  I  would  advise  you 
to  Tcmain  in  your  present  retirement,  till  the 

warmth  of  our  public  exultation  shall  be  some- 
what 

•     3  The  Cacsareans. 


what  abated,  and  it  sliall  certainly  be  knowa 
in  what  manner  affairs  abroad  are  terminated : 
for  terminated,  I  am  well  persuaded,  they  are*. 
Much  will  depend  on  the  general  result  of  tbii* 
battle,  and  the  temper  in  which  Gassar  may  re- 
turn. And  though  I  see,  already,  what  is 
abundantly  sufficient  to  determine  my  scntir- 
ments  as  to  that  point,  yet  I  think  it  most  ad- 
viseable  to  wait  the  event  In  the  mean  time, 
I  should  be  glad  you  would  postpone  your 
journey  to  Baiae,  till  the  first  transports  of  this 
clamorous  joy  is  subsided  :  as  it  will  have  a  bet-r 
ter  appearance  to  meet  you  at  those  waters,, 
when  I  may  seem  to  go  thither  rather  to  join 
with  you  in  lamenting  the  public  misfortunes, 
than  to  participate  in  the  pleasures  of  the  place. 
But  this  I  submit  to  your  more  enlightened 
judgment :  only  let  us  agree  to  pass  our  lives 
together  in  those  studies,  which  were  once,  in- 
deed, nothing  more  than  our  amusement,  but 
must  now,  alas !  prove  our  principal  support. 
Let  us  be  ready,  at  the  same  time,  whenever  we 
shall  be  called  upon,  to  contribute  not  only  our 
councils,  but  our  labours,  in  repairing  the  ruins 
of  the  republic.     But  if  none  shall  require  out 

services 

♦  Wb«n  this  letter  was  written,  there  seems  to  have 
been  only  some  general  accounts  arrived  of  Caesar's  suc- 
cess in  Africa ;  but  the  particula^rj  of  the  battle  were  not 
^'et  known. 


£40 


The  letters         Book  VIIL. 


!    I 


services  for  this  purpose,  let  us  employ  our 
time  and  our  thoughts  upon  moral  and  political 
inquiries.  If  we  cannot  benefit  the  common- 
wealth in  the  forum  and  the  senate ;  let  us  en- 
deavour, at  least,  to  do  so  by  our  studies  and 
our  writings :  and  after  the  example  of  the 
most  learned  among  the  ancients,  contribute 
to  the  welfare  of  our  country,  by  useful  disqui- 
sitions concerning  laws  and  government 

And  now,  having  thus  acquainted  ygu  witU 
my  sentiments  and  purposes,!  shall  be  extremely 
obliged  to  you  for  letting  me  know  yours  in 
return.     Farewel.  ^  ^^,^,, 


LETTER  XIV. 

[A.  U.  707.] 

To  the  same. 


.«  ^*^»| 

r 


You  must  know,  my  friend,   that  I'afti  one 
of  those  philosophers  who  hold  the  doctrine  of 
Diodortts  concerning  contingencies^    Accord- 
ingly 

^  Diodorus  was  a  Qreek  philosopher  who  lived  in  the 
court  of  Ptolomaeus  Sotcr,  and  flourished  about  280  years 
before  the  Christian  sera.  He  is  said  to  have  died  with  grief 
for  not  being  able  immediately  to  solve  a  philosophical 
question,  which  that  prince  put  to  him  in  conversation.  He 
maintained  that  nothing  could  be  contingent ;  but  that 
whatever  was  possible  must  necessarily  happen,  Cicero  lu- 
dicrously applies  this  absurd  doctrine  to  the  intended  viiit 
of  his  friend,    Cic.  dcfato,  7. 


Book  VIIL        of  CICERO, 


m\ 


ingly  I  maintain,  that,  if  you  should  make  us  a 
visit  here,  you  are  under  an  absolute  necessity 
of  so  doing;  but  if  you  should  not,  that  it  is 
because  your  coming  hither  is  in  the  number  of 
those  things  which  cannot  possibly  happen,— 
Now  tell  me  which  of  the  two  opinions  you 
are  most  inclined  to  adopt:  whether  this  of  the 
philosopher  I  just  now  mentioned,  whose  sen- 
timents, you  know,  were  so  little  agreeable  to 
©ur  honest  friend  Diodotus^  or  the  opposite 
one  of  Chrysippus'  ?  But  we  will  reserve  these 
curious  speculations,  till  we  shall  be  more  at 
leisure  :  and  this,  I  will  agree  with  Chrysippu^ 
is  a  possibility  which  either  may  or  may  not 
liappen,  jam 

•  Diodotus  was  a  stoic  philosopher,  under  whom  Cicero 
had  been  educated,  and  whom  he  afterwards  entertained  for 
many  years  in  his  house.  He  died  about  thirteen  years  be- 
fore  the  date  of  this  letter,  and  left  his  friend  and  pupil  « 
considerable  legacy.     Cic,  Academ.  li.  Ad  Att.  ii.  2Q. 

*  Chrysippus  was  successor  to  Zeno,  the  celebrated  foun- 
der of  the  Stoic  School.  It  appears,  by  a  list  of  some  of  hi$ 
writings,  which  Laertius  has  given,  that  he  published  a  trea- 
use  on  Fate ;  and  probably  it  was  in  this  book  that  he  op- 
posed the  ridiculous  notions  of  Diodotus.  Seneca  represents 
him  as  a  penetrating  genius,  but  one  whose  speculations  were 
iomewhat  too  subtle  and  refined.  He  adds,  that  his  dictioa 
was  so  extremely  close,  that  he  never  employed  a  superflu- 
ous word  ;  a  character  he  could  scarce  deserve,  if  what  is  re- 
ported of  him  be  true,  that  he  published  no  less  than  311 
treatises  upon  logic,  and  above  400  upon  other  subjects.-* 
One  cannot  hear,  indeed,  of  such  an  immoderate  flux  of  pen, 
without  being  in  some  danger  of  suffering  the  same  fate  that 
attended  this  inexhaustible  genius,  who  is  said  to  have  died 
in  a  fit  of  excessive  laughter.     Laertius  in  9it  Sfnec  deben^ 

/c.  I.  3.  Stanley's  Hist,  of  F kilos.  487. 

Vql.  II.  R 


\, 


242 


Th£  LETtCRS        B66icVnl 


I  am  obliged  to  ^6\x  fobfbvif  good  officer  iik 
HUy  aflfair  with  Cocceius',  which  I  likewise  re- 
commend to  Atticus.  If  i'oti  will  not  make 
me  a  visit,  I  will  pay  you  one ;  and,  as  your  li* 
brary  is  situated  in  your  garden,  I  shall  want 
nothing  to  complete  my  two  favourite  amuse- 
xnents— reading  and  walking.     Farewel. 


LETTER  XV. 

[A.  U,  707.] 

To  Apuleius,  Proquaestor*. 

Lucius  Egvatius,  a  Roman  knight,  is  a 
very  particular  friend  of  mine,  whose  affairs  in 
Asia,  together  with  his  slave  Anchialus,  who 
superintends  them,  1  recommend  to  you  with 
as  much  zeal  as  if  they  were  my  own.  For  be 
assured  we  are  united  to  each  other,  not  only 
by  a  daily  intercourse  of  the  highest  friend- 
ship, but  by  many  good  offices  that  have  been 
mutually  exchanged  between  us.  As  he  has 
not   the   least  doubt  of  your  disposition   to 

oblige 

«  In  the  text  he  is  called  Costiui  ;  but,  perhaps,  (as  one 
of  the  commemalors  imagines)  it  should  h^  Cocceius.  For 
Cicero,  in  a  lerter  to  Atticus,  supposed  to  have  been  wntten 
about  the  ^ame  time  with  the  present,  requests  his  assistance 
in  procuring  the  payment  of  a  sum  of  money,  owing  to  hira 
from  Cocceius;  which  is  not  unliitely  to  be  the  same  iflair 
ke  al  udes  to  m  this  passage.     Ad  Att.  xii.  13. 

»  It  is  wholly  uncertain  both  who  this  person  was,  and 
vhen  he  exercised  the  office  of  pruciuaestor. 


.Pdoic  Vm.  OF  CICERO. 


MM 


^blig^mq,  l^tm^  earnestly  entreat  you  tocpn- 
.yinq^  him,  by  your  services  in  his  favour^  t;^ 
|,|warmly  reques^ted  them.     Fajrewd. 


WTTER  XVL 


It 


[A.U.707.] 

To  Varrq, 
The  7th  seems  to  be  a  very  proper  time,  not 
only  in  consideration  of  publiq  affairs,  but  in 
regard  also  to  the  season  of  the  year :  I  ap- 
prove, therefore,  of  the  day  you  have  named, 
jand  will  join  you  accordingly. 

I  should  be  far  from  thiukin^  we  had  reason 
to  reproach  ourselves  for  the  part   we  havfe 
lately  acted,  even  were  it  true  that  those  who 
pursued  a  different  conduct  had  not  repented 
of  their  measures.     It  was  the  suggestions  of 
duty,  not  of  interest,  that  we  followed,  When 
we  entered  into  the  war;  and  it  wst^'i  (!ranfee 
utterly  desperate,  not  the  duty  we  owed  our 
"Country,  that  we  deserted,  when  wc  laid  down 
bur  arms.     Thus  we  acted,  on  the  one  hand, 
with  greater  honour  than  those  M'ho  would  not 
leave  Italy,  in  order  to  follow  the  war  abroad  ; 
and,  on  the  other  hand,   witli  more  prudence 
than  those  who,  after  having  suffered  a  total 
defeat^  would  not  be  prevailed  upon  to  return 

home^ 

^  At  the  battle  of  Pharsalia.. 

Ra 


•*■ 


244 


The  letters         Book  VIII, 


home.  But  there  is  nothing  that  I  can  bear 
with  less  patience  than  the  afFected  severity  of 
our  inglorious  neuters :  and,  indeed,  whatever 
miffht  be  the  final  event  of  affairs,  I  should  be 
much  more  inclined  to  venerate  the  memory 
of  those  mistaken  men  who  obstinately  perish-, 
ed  in  battle,  than  to  be  in  the  least  concerned 
at  the  reproaches  of  those  who  only  lament 
that  we  afre  still  alive. 

If  I  should  have  time,  I  purpose  to  call  upon 
you  at  Tusculum  before  the  7th  :  if  not,  I  will 
follow  you  to  Cumx,  agreeably  to  your  ap- 
pointment. But  I  shall  not  fail  to  give  you 
previous  notice,  that  your  bath  may  be  pre- 
pared.    Farewel. 


LETTER  XVn. 

[A.  U.  707.] 

To  the's&me. 

Your  letters  to  Seius  and  myself  were  deli- 
vered to  us,  whilst  we  were  at  supper  toge- 
ther, in  his  house.  I  agree  with  you  in  think- 
ing that  this  is  a  very  proper  timg'for  your  in- 
tended expedition;  which,  to  own  my  artifice^ 
I  have  hitherto  endeavoured  to  retard' Dj^'a 
thousand  pretences.  I  was  desirous,  indeed, 
of  keeping  you  near  me,  in  case  any  favour- 
able 


HP 


Bi^ofiYlll       OF  CICERO.  245 

^tilpljews  should  have  arrived**     For,  as  Ho- 
mer slugs, 
.  Tke  wise  new  wisdom  from  the  wise  acquire"^. 

But  now  that  the  whole  affair  is  decided,  be- 
yond all  doubt  you  should  set  forward  with 
the  utmost  speed. 

When  I  heard  of  the  fate  that  has  attended 
Lucius  Caesar*,  I  could  not  forbear  saying  to 
myself,  with  the  old  man  in  the  play,  "  What 
^jjjfenderness  then  may  not  I  expect^ !"  For 
this  reason  I  am  a  constant  guest  at  the  tables 
of  our  present  potentates :  and  what  can  I  do 
better,  jou  know,  than  prudently  swim  with 

the 

*  Concerning  the  success  of  the  Pompeian  party  against 
Caesar,  in  Africa ;  an  event,  if  it  had  taken  place,  that 
Would  extremely  have  embarrassed  Cicera.  For  which  rea- 
son he  was  desirous  of  keeping  Varro  within  his  reach,  that 
he  might  immediately  have  consulted  with  him  in  what  man* 
ner  to  act.     See  rem.  3.  p.  155.  of  this  vol. 

^  II.  X.  224.  Pope's  transl. 

*  He  was  a  distant  relation  of  Julius  Caesar ;  whom,  how- 
ever, he  had  constantly  opposed  throughout  the  civil  war. — 
Lucius,  being  taken  prisoner  at  the  late  battle  of  Thapsus, 
where  Caesar  gained  a  complete  victory  over  the  combined 
troops  of  Scipio  and  Juba,  obtained  the  conqueror's  pardon  ; 
but  Caesar  afterwards  changed  his  mind,  and  gave  private  or- 
ders to  have  him  assassinated-    Dio^  xliii.p.  219. 

; .  '  This  alludes  to  a  passage  in  the  Andria  of  Terence, 
where  Simo,  the  father  of  Pamphilus,  giving  an  account  of 
his  son's  tender  behaviour  at  the  funeral  of  Cbrysis,  could 
not  fprbear  reflecting,  he  says,  Quid  mihi  kic'faciet  patri  f 
But  Cicero  applies  it  in  a  different  sense,  and  means  that,  if 
Cswr  acted  towards  his  own  relations  with  so  much  cruelty* 
\\e  bad  little  reason  to  expect  a  milder  treatment. 

E  3 


t.J 


246 


ThI:  L£YT£RS        860K  VIIL 


the  current  of  the  times  ?     littt,  to  be  seriou!^" 
(for  serious,  in  truth,  we  have  reason  to  be) 

Set  vengeance  stalfc  o'er  Afric^s  trembltng  plain ; 
And  one  xvide  waste  of  horrid  rrdn  reign^  I 

A  circumstance  that  fills  i^e  \v'ith  very  uneasy 
apprehensions.  •  '^ 

I  am  unable  to  answer  yoUr  Question,  when 
Csesar  will  arrive,  or  wherfe  he  proposes  to  land. 
Some,  I  find,  doubt  whether  it  will  be  kt  Bai« } 
and  they  now  talk  of  his  coining  home  by  the 
way  of  Sardinia.  It  is  certain,  at  least,  thai  he 
has  not  yet  visited  this  part  of  his  demesnes  : 
and  though  he  has  not  a  worse  farm!'  upon  all 
his  estate,  he  is  far,  however,  from  holding  it 
in  contempt.  For  ^y  own  part,  I  am  more 
inclined  to  imagine  he  will  take  Sicily  in  his 

return. 

7  These  lines  are  quoted  from  Ennius,  a  poet,  of  whom 
some  account  has  been  given  in  the  foregoing  remarks.  The 
troops  of  Ciesar  pursued  their  victory  over  those  of  Sctpio 
with  great  cruelty  :  acrior  CcBsarianorum  impetus  fuit,  says 
Florus,  indignanthm  post  Pompeium  crevisse  bellum.  Num* 
bcrs,  indeed,  of  Scipi  's  army  must  necessarily  have  been 
massacred  in  cool  blood  ;  for  the  historians  a^ree  that  Cib- 
Bar's  loss  amounted  only  to  50  men,  whereas  10,000  were 
killed  on  the  side  of  Scipio,  according  to  the  account  which 
Hirtius  gives  of  this  action;  and  five  times  that  number,  if 
ire  may  credit  Plutarch.  Flor.  iv.  2.  Hirt,  Bel,  Afric,  85. 
Flut.  in  vit.  Cctsar, 

*  The  island  of  Sardinia  was,  in  the  time  of  the  Romans, 
(what  it  still  is)  extremely  barren  and  unwholesome.  Mar* 
tial  has  ft  pretty  allusioa  to  this  latt«r  circumstance,  in  one 
of  his  epigrams : 

.      NuUofata  loco  possis  txcludere :  cum  mors 

Venerity  in  medio  TiOurc  Sardinia  est.        iv.  ^0. 


Book  Vm.        qf  CICERO. 


847 


return.  But  these  doubts  Will  soon  be  cleared 
up,  ^s  Dolabella''  is  every  moment  expected.  I 
believe,  theiiefore,  I  must  take  my  instructions 
from  my  disciple'';  as  many  a  pupil,  you  know, 
has  becom(5  a  greater  adept  than  his  master. 
However,  if  I  knew  what  you  had  determined 
upon,  I  should  chiefly  regulate  my  measures  by 
yours;  for  which  purpose  I  expect  a  letter 
from  you  with  great  impatience.     Farewel. 


:t 


LETTER  XVIII. 
[A.  u.  ror.] 

To  ApuLEius,  Proquaestor. 

■   ;  -  •     • .:" 

Lucius  Zoilus  was  appointed,  by  the  will 
of  his  patron,  coheir,  in  conjunction  with  me. 
I  mention  tliis,  not  only  to  shew  you  the  oc- 
casion of  my  friendship  with  him,  ])\it  as  an 
evidence,  likewise,  of  his  merit,  by  being  thus 

distinguished 

•  Dolabella  attended  Caesar  in  the  African  war. 

*-*^  Cicero  means  tWnt  be  should  lear«  from  DolabdU 
where  Cxsat  purposed  to  land,  and  in  what  temper  he  was 
returning  into  Italy,  together  with  such  other  circumstances 
fts  k  was  necessary  he  should  be  apprised  of,  in  order  to  pay 
his  personal  congratnlations  to  the  conqueror  in  tb«  most 
|)roper  and  acceptable  manner.  It  seems  piTobable,  /ro^ 
this  passage,  that  Uolabella  had  formed  his  eloq\|cvM:e  un^er 
Cicero,  agreeably  to  an  excell€ntcustom  which  prevailed  in 
Home,  of  introducing  the  yoM'h,  upon  their  first  entrance 
into  business,  to  the  acquaintance  and  palrona^«  of  SQm^ 
distinguished  orator  of  the  fprum,  whom  they  constantly  K^ 
tended  m  all  the  public  exercises  of  his  profassioo.  Auct, 
Dialog,  de  caus,  corrupt,  eloquent,  34. 

R  4 


248 


tHz  LETTERS        Book  VIII. 


distinguished  by  his  patFon.  I  recommend 
him>  therefore,  to  your  favour,  as  one  of  my 
own  family ;  and  you  will  oblige  me  in  letting 
him  see  that  you  were  greatly  influenced  to  his 
advantage  by  this  letter.     FareweL 


LETTER  XIX. 


.    l.f'M 


[A.U.707.] 

To  Varro.     ^  ^^ 

Our  friend  Caninius  acquainted  me  with  your 
request  that  I  would  write  to  you  whenever 
there  was  any  news  which  I  thought  it  concern- 
ed you  to  know.  You  are  already  informed 
that  we  are  in  daily  expectation  of  Caesar*;  but 
"^I  am  now  to  tell  you  that,  as  it  was  his  inten- 
^'tion^'lf  seems,  to  have  landed  at  Alsium',  his 

friends  have  written  to  dissuade  him  from  that 

'     •  j  1 1  • 

design.  They  think  that  his  coming  on  shore  at 

that  place  will  prove  extremely  troublesome  to 

hi'niself,  as  well  as  very  much  incommode  many 

'others;  and  have  therefore  recommended  Ostia* 

as 

*  Caesar  returned  victorious  from  Africa,  about  tbe  26th 
df  July,  in  the  present  year;  so  that  this  letter  was  proba- 
bly written  either  in  the  beginning  of  that  month,  or  the  lat- 
ter end  of  June.  Hirt.  dc  Bel,  Afric,  98. 
-  *  Thfe  situation  of  this  place  is  not  exactly  known :  ftome 
geographers  suppose  it  to  be  the  same  town  which  is  now 
called  Severa,  a  sea-port  about  twenty-five  miles  distant  from 
Rome,  on  the  western  coast  of  Italy.  j  ui   - 

^^     ^It  still  retains  its  ancient  name,  and  is  situftted  at  the 
iibiith  of  the  Tiber. 


fiooK  Vin.       OF  jCICEJROs 


^49 


i- fts  a  nrore  cdnvenient  port  Fof  tny  own  part, 
^'I  can  see  no  difference.  Hirtius*^  lioweVef,  as^ 
^stores  me,  that  himself  as  well  as  Falbus**,  and 
Oppius^  (who,  let  me  observe  by  thfe  \Hyi  kre 
every  one  of  them  greatly  in  your  interest)  have 
written  to  Casar  for  tliis  purpose.  I  thought 
proper,  therefore,  to  sen  Jyou  this  piece  of  intel- 
ligence for  two  reasons.  In  the  first  place,  that 
you  might  know  where  to  engage  a  lodgino-; 

,?//^^^^^'  ^^^^  yo^  might  secure  one  in  both 
these  towns ;  for  it  is  extremely  uncertain  at 
which  of  them  Cassar  will  disembark.  And  in 
the  next  place,  in  order  to  indulge  a  little  piece 
of  vanity,  by  shewing  you  that  I  am  so  well 
with  these  favourites  of  Cassar,  as  to  be  ad- 
Tnittecl  into  their  privy  council.  To  speak  se- 
^  riously,  I  see  no  reason  to  decline  their  friend- 
'ship;  for,  surely,  there  is  a  wide  differ^pcebe- 
^^^'^?5"^^^^^^^"&  to  evils  we  cannot  remely,  and 
approving  measures  that  we  ought  to  condemn^ 

Though, 

'  He  lived  in  great  intimacy  with  Caesar,  and  had  served 
under  him  in  quality  of  one  of  his  lieuienants  in  Gaul  It 
appears,  by  this  passage,  ihat  he  did  not  attend  Cajsar  into 
Africa  ;  so  that  if  the  history  of  that  war  annexed  to  Cesar's 
.-commentaries,  was  really  written,  as  is  generally  supposed 
ty  Hirtms,  he  was  not  an  eye-wlineb  of  what  he  rejates  •  a 
circumstance  which  considerably  weakens  the  authoritvof 
irrfcis  account.  ^ 

woi:    «  See  rem.  2.  p.  Sip.  vol;  i.  -44-* 

*     -''  '  See  rem.  9.  p.  134.  of  this  vol. 

..    '  T"",  cultivate  friendships  with  the  feaders  of  a  successful 
^'ffecu.jn,  has  sufely  something  in  it  that  teuch  resembles  the 

aj)proving 


2o0 


The  letters       BookVIIL 


Though,  to  confess  the  truth,  I  do  not  know 
there  are  any  that  I  can  justly  blame,  except 
ihose  which  involved  us  in  the  civil  wars ;  for 
these,  it  must  be  owned,  were  altogether  vo-^ 
luntary.  I  saw,  indeed,  (what  your  distance 
from  Home  prerented  you  from  observing^ 
that  our  party  were  eager  for  war ;  whik  Caesar, 
fm' the  contrary,  appeared  less  inclined  than 
afraid  to  have  recourse  to  aniis.  Thus  far, 
therefore,  our  calamities  might  have  been  pre- 
vented, but  all  beyond  was  unavoidable ;  for 
one  side  or  the  other  must  necessarily  prove  su- 
perior. Now  we  both  of  us,  I  am  sure,  always 
lamented  those  infinite  mischiefe  that  would 
^nsue,  whichever  general  of  the  two  contend- 
ing armies  should  happen  to  fall  in  battle  ;  as 
we  were  well  convinced,  that  of  all  the  compli- 
cated evils  which  attend  a  civil  war,  victory  is 
the  supreme.  I  dreaded  it,  indeed,  even  on 
that  side  which  both  you  and  I  thought  pro- 
per to  join,  as  they  threatened  most  cruel  ven- 
geance on  those  who  stood  neuter ;  and  were 

no 

approving  of  measures  which  wc  ought  to  condemn ;  and 
though  it  raav  be  policy,  most  certainly  it  is  not  patnoUsm. 
It  ill  agrees  at  leasi,  with  that  sort  of  abstracted  life,  which 
Cicero,  in  the  fir^i  letier  of  this  book,  declares  he  proposed 
to  lead,  if  the  republic  should   be  destroyed.     Vid,  Epht. 

Tamil,  vii.  3. 

»  Varro,  at  the  breaking  out  of  the  civil  war,  was  in 
Spain  ;  where  be  resided  m  quality  of  one  of  Pompey's  lieu- 
tenants. 


Book  VIIE        ^f  CICESO. 


S5l 


BO  less  oiFeaded  at  your  sentiments  than  at  my 
speeches.  But  had  they  gained  tliis  last  battle; 
weshoiild  stilt  more  severely  have  experienced 
the  effects  of  their  power,  as  our  late  conduct 
had  incensed  them  to  the  highest  degree.  Yet 
what  measures  have  we  taken  for  our  own  se- 
curity, that  we  did  not  warmly  recommend  for 
theirs ?  And  how  have  they  more  advantaged 
the  republic  by  having  recourse  to  Juba  and 
hi3  elephants^°,  than  if  they  had  perished  by 
their  own  swords,  or  submitted  to  live  under 
the  present  system  of  affairs,  with  some  hopes, 
at  least,  if  not  with  the  fairest.  But  they  may 
tell  us,  perhaps^  {aaid,  indeed,  with  trnith)  tiiat 
the  government  iunder  which  we  diave  chosea 
to  Hve,  is  altogether turbulentaud  unsettled.  Let 
this  objection^  however,  have  weight  with  those 
who  have  treasured  up  no  stores  in  their  minds 
tosuf^oittliemiiflves  under  all  the  possible  vi- 
cissitudes, of  human  affairs;  a  reflection,  which 
brings  me  round  to  what  I  principally  had  ia 
view,  when  I  undesignedly  wandered  into  this 
long  digression.  I  was  going  to  have  said,  that 
as  1  always  looked  upon  your  character  with 

great 


«o 


«« ..""These  elephants  ivere  drawn  up  ih  the  front  of  the  right 
and  lett  wiog  o|  Scipio's  army,  iiut  being  driven  back  upon 
the  rine  behind  them,  they  put  the  ranks  into  great  confusion; 
and,  instead  of  proving  of  any  advantage  to  Scipio,  contri- 
buted 19  facilitate  his  defe;it.     Uirt,  de  IkLJfric.  S3. 


5<2 


The  letters        Book  VIIL 


great  admiration,  so  nothing  raises  it  higher  in 
my  esteem,  than  to  observe  that  you  are  aUnost 
the  only  person,  in  these  tempestuous  days,  who 
has  wisely  retreated  into  harbour,  and  are  en- 
joying the  happy  fruits  of  those  important 
studies  which  are  attended  with  more  public  ad* 
vantage,  as  well  as  private  satisfaction,  than  all 
the  ambitious  exploits,  or  voluptuous  indulgen* 
cies  of  these  licentious  victors.  The  contcm* 
plative  hours  you  spend  at  your  Tusculan  villa, 
are,  in  my  estimation,  indeed,  what  alone  deserve 
t<^*'be  called  life ;  and  I  would  willingly  re- 
nounce the  whole  wealth  and  splendour  of  the 
world,  to  be  at  liberty  to  pass  my  time  ih  the 
5ame  philosophical  manner.  I  follow  your  ex- 
ample, however,  as  far  as  the  circumstances  in 
which  I  am  placed  will  permit,  and  have  re- 
course, with  great  satisfaction  of  mind,  to  my 
favourite  studies.  Since  our  country,  indeed, 
either  cannot  or  will  not  accept  our  services, 
who  shall  condemn  us  for  returning  to  that 
cbTitemptative  privacy  which  many  philosophers 
have  thought  preferable  (I  will  not  say  with 
reason,  however,  they  have  preferred)  even  to 
the  ki6st  public  and  patriot  labours  ?  And  why 
should  we  not  indulge  ourselves  in  those  learned 
inquiries,  which  some  of  the  greatest  men  have 
deemed  a  just  dispensation  from  all  public  em- 
ployment! j 


Book  Vllt        mi:\CICERO. 


25« 


ployments ;  when  it  is  a  liberty,  at  the  saijfie 
time,  which  the  commonwealth  itself  is  willing 
to  allow  us.  But  I  am  going  beyond  the  com**, 
mission  which  Caninius  gave  me,  and  while  he 
only  desired  that  I  would  acquaint  you  with 
those  articles  of  which  you  were  not  already  apr 
prised,  I  am  telling  you  what  you  know  fiur 
better  than  I  can  inform  you.  For  the  future, 
I  ^hall  confine  myself  more  strictly  to  your  le* 
quest,  and  will  not  fail  of  communicating  Uf 
you  whatever  intelligence  I  may  learn,  which  I 
shall  think  it  imports  you  to  know,    FareweU 


LETTER  XX. 


[A.  U.  707.]  '^ 

■^..r^'  'I    Hi 

To  PaPIRIUS  PiETUS*.  ;^ 

Your  letter  afforded  me  a  very  agr^^ah}g  in* 
stance  of  your  friendship,  ji^.thp.qpncern  iV^j 
P^^ssp^M.^I  ^V^ld  bq  im^ft.^jp^f^ 
]Yj}V?h^|iad  been  brought  hither  by  Silius*.  I  wa3 
fey%^9>>i^l^?ed,  perfectly  sensible:  Ijq^^jnugJ^j^Q^i 
were  disturbed  at  this  cifcumstance,  bjr  jour 

'  A>->M  i^^^i  iJcOk  ',H  ow  blifiMS 

^v/  See  vqI.  5.  p.  15,  rem  i.       rrrn?  rl-Mchr         Mupn'r 

li^  Silius,  it  should  seem,  had  brought  an  account  from  th/» 
^rmy,  that  some  witticisms  of  Cicero  had  been  reported  ta^ 
Cawar,  which  had  give^i  him  offence. 

I 


f54 


The  letters        Bao«:  VIIL 


care  in  sending  me  duplicates  of  a  former  letter 
upon  the  same  subject ;  and  I  then  returned 
such  an  answer  as  I  thought  would  be  sufficient 
to  abate,  at  least,  if  not  entirely  remove,  this 
your  generous  solicitude.  But  since  I  perceive, 
by  your  last  letter,  how  much  this  affair  still 
dwells  uj)on'your  mind,  let  me  assure  you,  my 
dear  Psettis,  that  I  have  employed  every  arti- 
fice (for  we  must  now,  my  friend,  be  armed 
with  cunning  as  well  as  prudence)  to  concilia^ 
the  good  graces  of  the  persons  you  mention  ; 
and,  if  I  mistake  not,  my  endeavoiirs  have  not 
proved  in  vain.  I  receive,  indeed,  so  many 
marks  of  respect  and  esteem  from  those  who 
are  most  in  Caesar's  favour,  that  I  cannot  but 
flatter  myself  they  have  a  true  regard  for  me. 
It  must  be  confessed,  at  the  same  time,  that  a 
pretended  affection  is  not  easily  discernible 
from  a  real  one,  unless  in  seasons  of  distress. 
For  adversity  is  to  friendship,  what  fire  is  to 
gold,  the  only  infallible  test  to  discover  the 
genuine  from  the  counterfeit ;  in  all  other  cir- 
cumstances, they  both  bear  the  same  common 
signatures.  I  have  one  strong  reason,  however, 
to  persuade  me  of  their  sincerity ;  as  neither 
their  situation  nor  mine  can  by  any  means  tempt 
them  to  dissemble  with  me.  As  to  that  per- 
^n^  in  whom  all  power  is  now  centered,  I  am 

3  Caesar. 


Book  VIIL        of  CICERO. 


S5« 


not  sensible  that  I  have  any  thing  to  fear  from 
him ;  or  nothing  more,  at  least,  than  what 
arises  from  that  general  precarious  state  in 
which  all  things  must  stand  where  the  fence 
of  laws  is  broken  down ;  and,  from  its  being 
impossible  to  pronounce  with  assurance  con^ 
cerning  any  event  which  depends  Avholly  upon 
the  will,  not  to  say  the  caprice,  of  anotheh 
But  this  I  can,  with  confidence,  affirm,  that  I 
have  not,  in  any  single  instance,  given  him  just 
occasion  to  take  offence ;  and,  in  the  article 
you  point  out,  I  have  been  particularly  can* 
tious.  There  was  a  time,  'tis  true,  when  I 
thought  it  well  became  me,  by  whom  Rome  itself 
was  free^,  to  speak  my  sentiments  with  free- 
dom ;  but  now  that  our  liberties  are  no  more, 
1  deem  it  equally  agreeable  to  my  present  situa- 
tion, not  to  say  any  thing  that  may  disgust  ei- 
ther Csesar  or  his  favourites.  But  were  I  to 
suppress  every  rising  raillery,  that  might  pique 
those  at  whom  it  is  directed,  I  must  renounce, 
you  know,  all  my  reputation  as  a  wit.  And, 
fn'^bd  earnest,  it  is  a  character  upon  which  I 
do  not  set  so  high  a  value,  as  to  be  unwilling 
to  resign  it,  if  it  were  in  my  power.  However, 
I  am  in  no  danger  of  suffering  in  Cassar's  opi- 
nion, by  being  represented  as  the  author  of  any 

sarcasms 

*  Alluding  to  his  services  in  the  suppression  of  Catiline's 
conspiracy. 


t5Q 


The  letters        Book  VIIL 


sarcasms  to  which  I  have  noclaim :  for  his  judg- 
ment is  much  too  penetrating  ever  to  be  deceiv- 
ed by  any  imposition  of  this  nature.     I  remem- 
ber your  brother  Servius,  whom  I  look  upon  tQ 
have  been  one  of  the  most  learned  critics  that 
this  age  has  produced,  was  so  conversant  in  the 
writings  of  ourpoet.%  and  had  acquired  such  au 
excellent  and  judicious  ear,  that  be  could  imme- 
diately distinguish  the  numbers  of  Plautus  from 
those  of  any  other  author.     Thus  Caesar,  I  am 
told,  when  he  made  his  large  collection  ofapoph- 
thegmsS  constantly  rejected  any  piece  of  wit 
that  was  brought  to  him  as  mine,  if  it  happened 
to  be  spurious  ;  a  distinction  which  he  is  much 
more  able  to  make  at  present,  as  his  particular 
friends  pass  almd^t  every  day  of  their  lives  in  my 
company.    As  our  conversation  generally  turns 
upon  a  variety  of  subjects,  1  frequently  strike 
out  thoughts  which  they  look  upon  as  not  alto- 
gether void,  perhaps,  of  spirit  or  ingenuity. 
Now  these  little  sallies  of  pleasantry,  together 
with  the  general  occurrences  of  Rome,  are  con- 
stantly transmitted  to  Caesar,    in  pursuance  of 
his  own  express  directions  ;  so  that  if  any  thing 
of  this  kind  is  mentioned  by  others  as  coming 

/  from 

'  This  collection  was  made  by  Caesar  uhen  he  was  very 
young,  and  probably  it  was  a  perfornnance  by  no  means  to 
bis  honour.  For  Augustus,  into  whose  hands  it  came,  after 
his  death,  would  not  suffer  it  to  b«  published.  Suet,  tn,  viK 
^,uL  66'. 


Book  VIIL        of  CICERa 


^57/ 


from  me,  he  always  disregards  it  You  see,  then, 
that  the  lines  you  quote  with  so  much  propriety 
from  the  tragedy  of  Oenomaus"^,  contain  a  cau- 
tion altogether  unnecessary.  For  tell  me,  my 
friend,  what  jealousies  can  I  possibly  create?  Or 
who  will  look  with  envy  upon  a  man  in  my 
humble  situation?  But  granting  that  I  were  in 
ever  so  enviable  a  state;  yet  let  me  observe, 
that  it  is  the  opinion  of  those  philosophers,  who 
alone  seem  to  have  understood  the  true  nature 
of  virtue,  that  a  good  man  is  answerable  for  no- 
thing farther  than  his  own  innocence.  Now 
in  this  respect  I  think  myself  doubly  irre- 
proachable :  in  the  first  place,  by  having  re- 
<'ommended  such  public  measures  as  were  for 

the 

Written  by  Accius,  a  tragic  poet,  who  flourished  about 
the  year  of  Rome  GlJ.     The  subject  of  this  piece,  probably, 
turned  upon  the  Heath  of  Oenomauj^,  kinj;  of  Elis,  and  the 
marriage  of  his  daughter  Hippodamia.  This  prince  being  in- 
formed,  by  an  oracle,  thac  he  should  lose  his  life  by  his  fu- 
ture son-in-iaw,  contrived  the  following  expedient  to  disap- 
point the  prophecy.     Being  possessed  of  a  pair  of  horses  of 
sucb  wonderful  swiftness,  that  it  was  reported  they  were  be- 
gotten by  the  winds,  he  proposed  to  the  several  suitors  of  his 
daughter,  that  whoever  of  ihem  should  beat  him  in  a  chariot 
race  should   be  rewarded  with  Hippodamia,  upon  condition 
tbai  they  consented  to  be  put  to  death  if  they  lost  the  match. 
Accordingly,  thirteen  of  these  unfortunate  rivals  entered  ihe 
list :  and  each  of  them,  in  their  turn,  paid  the  forfeiture  of 
their  lives.   But  Pelops,  the  son  of  Tantalus,  king  of  Phryjjia, 
being  more  artful  than  the  rest,  bribed  the  charioteer  of  Oe- 
Bomaus  to  take  out  the   lynch  pin  of  his  chariot  wheel;  by 
which  means  Oenomaus  was  da-hed  to  pieces  in  the  course, 
and  Pelops  earned  off  the  beautiful  Hippodamia.     Hygin. 
Fab.  83. 

Vol.  IL  S 


^i 


Thb  letters        feo6K  Vllt 


the  interest  of  the  commonwealth ;  *n4  in  the  - 
next,  that,  finding  I  was  not  sufficiently  sup- 
ported to  render  my  counsels  effectual,  I  did 
not  deem  it  adviscablc  to  contend  for  them  by 
arms  against  a  superior  strength.     Most  cer- 
tainly, therefore,  I  cannot  justly  be  accused  of 
having  failed  in  the  duty  of  a  good  citiacn. 
The  only  part  then  that  now  remains  for  me, 
is  to  be  cautious  not  to  expose  myself,  by  any 
indiscreet  word  or  action,  to  the  resentment  of 
those  in  power :  a  part  which  I  hold  likewise 
to  be  agreeable  to  the  character  of  Uu4  wisdom. 
As  to  the  rest ;  what  liberties  any  man  may  take 
in  imputing  words  to  me  which  I  never  spoke> 
what  credit  Csesar  may  give  to  such  reports ; 
and  how  far  those  who  court  my  friendship, 
are  really  sincere :  these  are  points  for  which  it 
is  by  no  means  in  my  power  to  be.  answerable. 
My  tranquillity  arises  therefore  from  the  con* 
scions  integrity  of  my  counsels  in  the  timeft 
that  are  p^t^  and  from  the  moderation  of  my 
conduct  in  these  that  are  present     Accord*- 
ingly,  I  apply  the  simile  you  quote  from  Ac* 
cius^  not  only  to  Envy,  but  to  Fortune :  that 
weak  and  inconstant  ppwer,  .yrl^9ffl,,^y^ 
and  resolute  mind  should  resist  with  as  iteudh 
Srmness  ajs  a  rock  repels  the  wavea^^,  Jp^fj^ci^ 
story  will  abundantly  supply  examples  df  thfc 

greati^t 

^  The  Po«t  mentioned  in  tli«  preceding  rcmaTlrt'^>  ^^^ 


IfooK  Vllt        or  CICERO. 


^ 


greatest  men,  both  at  Athens  and  Syracusi^ 
who  have,  in  some  sort,  preserved  their  inde- 
,  '|)eiideiicy,  amidst  the  general  servitude  of  their 
respective  communities.     May  I  not  hope  ttea 
to  be  able  so  to  comport  myself,  under  the  same 
circumstances,  as  neither  to  give  offence  to  our 
tuieps,  on  the  one  hand,  nor  to  iiijuie  the  dig* 
Jiity  of  my  character  on  the  othen 
y  But  to  turn  from  the  serious  to  the  jocose 
part  of  your  letter. -r-The  strain  of  pleasantry 
*ytMl    Hreak    int»,    immediately  after  having 
quoted  the  tragedy  of  Oeuonmus,  puts  me  in 
iriirid  of  the  modern  method  of  introducing  at 
the  end  of  those  graver  dmmdtic  piecds;  thfe 
Jiumour  of  our  mimes,  instead  of  the  old  AtS- 
laBf  ftrces*.   Why  else  do  you  talk  of  your  pahry 
polypus',  and  your  mouldy  cheese  ?    In  pure 
gbbd^a^ttre,  it  is  trne,  I  formerly  submitted  t6 
i^'<lown  with  you  to  such  hofnely  fare:  but 
tn^re  refined  company  has  improved  me  into  a 
t>ettcr  taste.  For  Hirtius  and  Dolabdla,  let  me 
^M»you,  are  my  preceptors  in  the  science  of 


tBffeThwfe  AlelUnfarc^,  which,  in  the  earlier  periods  of  the 
Roman  stage,  were  sicted  at  the  end  of  the  more  serious  dra- 
Inatic  performances,  derived  their  name  from  Atella,  a  town 
•b  It«Jy,fro«  whence  ibey  were  first  introduced  ttt  Rbiti^ 
They  consisted  of  a  more  liheral  and  genteel  kind  of  hnnjpiif 
ttrar  t^e  Inimes : '  a  specks  of  cbtnedy,  wiilcli  seems  to  hav6 
^•fqenits  s»abi«ct  frombw  Jife.  .  Fi^»  Manut.  in  hci^  rioU 
*  A  sea  fish  so  extremely  tough  that  it  was  necessary  to 
W%l4i  a'^ronsiderable  time  before  it  could  be  rendered  fit  for 
the  table.     Bruyfr^de  recibar,  xxi.  J 4. 

S   2 


660 


The  letters        Book  VIIL 


the  table  :  as,  in  return,  they  are  my  disciples 
in  that  of  the  bar.    But  I  suppose  you  have  al- 
ready heard,   at  least  if  all  the  town- news  is 
transmitted  to  you,  that  they  frequently  de- 
claim at  my  house'°,  and  that  I  as  often  sup  at 
theirs.  You  must  not,  however,  hope  to  escape 
my  intended  visit,   by  pleading  poverty  in  bar 
to  the  admission  of  so  luxurious  a  guest.  Whilst 
you  were  raising  a  fortime,  indeed,  I  bore  with 
your  parsimonious  humour :  but  now  that  you 
are  in  circumstances  to  support  the  loss  of  half 
your  wealth,  I  expect  that  you  receive  me  in 
another  manner  than  you  would  one  of  your 
compounding   debtors".      And  though  your 
finances  may  somewhat  suffer  by  my  visit,  re- 
member it  is  better  they  should  be  impaired  by 
treating  a  friend,  than  by  lending  to  a  stranger. 
I  do  not  insist,  however,  that  you  spread  your 
!  u  <^.  table 


io 


Cicero  had  lately  Histiiuted  a  kiud  of  academy  for  elo- 
quence in  his  own  hou^e:  at  which  several  of  the  leading 
yoang  men  in  Rome  used  lo  meet,  in  order  to  exercise  them- 
selves in  the  ym  of  oratory.  Cicero  himself  will  acquaint 
the  reader  with  his  motives  for  instituting  this  society,  in  the 
22d  letter  of  the  present  book. 

"  This  alludes  (as  Manutius  observes)  to  a  law  which 
Caesar  passed  in  favour  of  those  who  bad  contracted  debts  be- 
fore the  commencement  of  the  avil  war.  By  this  law,  as  ap- 
pears from  the  passages  which  that  commentator  has  cited, 
commissioners  were  appointed  to  take  an  account  of  the  estate 
and  effects  of  these  debiors,  which  were  to  be  assigned  to 
iheir  respective  creditors  according  to  their  valuation  before 
the  civil  war  broke  out :  and  whatever  sums  had  bteo  paid  for 
interest,  was  to  be  considered  as  in  discharge  of  the  principal. 
By  this  ordinance,  Psetus,  it  seems,  had  been  a  particular  suf- 
ferer.   Cat.  EtL  Civil,  iii.  1.  Suet,  in  vU,  Jul,  42. 


Book  VIIL        of  GICERO. 


26'1 


table  with  so  unbounded  a  profusion,  as  to  fur- 
bish out  a  splendid  treat  with  the  remains :  I 
am  so  wonderfully  moderate,  as  to  desire  no- 
tliing  more  than  what  is  perfectly  elegant  and 
exquisite  in  its  kind.     I   remember  to   have 
heard  you  describe  an  entertainment,   which 
was  given  by  Phameas.  Let  yours  be  the  exact 
copy  of  his  :  only  I  shoidd  be  glad  not  to  wait 
for  it  quite  so  long.     Should  you  still  persist, 
•^fter  all,  to  invite  me,  as  usual,  to  a  penurious 
supper,  dished  out  by  the  sparing  hand  of  ma- 
ternal oeconomy ;  even  this,  perhaps,  I  may  be 
able  to  support.     But  I  would  fain  see  that 
hero  bold  who  should  dare  to  set  before  me  the 
yillanous  trash  you  mention ;  or  even  one  of 
your  boasted  polypusses,  with  an  hue  as  florid 
as  vermilioned  Jove".     Take  my  word  for  it, 
my  friend,   your  pruden<;e  will  not  suffer  you 
to  be  thus  adventurous.    Fame,  no  doubt,  will 
have  proclaimed  at  your  viila  my  late  conver- 
'  iion  to  luxury,  long  before  my  arrival ;  and  you 
''will  shiver  at  the  sound  of  her  tremendous  re- 
port.     Nor  must  you  flatter [  yourselt  with  the 

.te.  SLl^m^'S  %.edge^f  ^^Ef^jte  by 
your  cloying  sweet- wines  before  supper:  a silJy 

.ifii^^^iiMi  I  ^^aiy^;^^tj?^tir^^  reribiincf^d ; 

oj  i^n^uea  o«   uj   ,,>iw   liouiw   ,<;io;d')b  beinff 

loU^rljlJ'l'f^y'  ^^«  naturalist,  menfi^i  ^  statiri)^  Jbpiter, 
l^^cftd  in  the  Capitol,  whtch;  on  certain  festival  days,  it  was 
-t/N*li^^''y  ^^  P*i^^  with  vei  miiioh.     Manut, 


^6i 


The  LfitTERS        Boon  VJlIii 


being  much  wiser  than  when  1  used  to  damp 
my  stomach  with  your  antepasts  of  olives  and 
Leucanian  sausages.— But  not  to  run  on  any 
longer  in  this  jocose  strain ;  my  only  serious 
wish  is,  that  I  may  be  able  to  make  you  a  visit. 
You  may  compose  your  countenance,  there^ 
fore,  and  return  to  your  mouldy  cheese  in  full 
si^ctlrity :  for  my  being  your  gue»t  Will  occasion 
you,  as  usual,  no  othef  expence  than  that  of 
h^zfift^  y out  baths'. "  As  for  all  the  rest,  yoi^ 
ate  to  look  upon  it  as  mer^  pleasantty. 

» The  trouble  you  have  given  yourself  About 
Selrcius's  villa*V  is  extremely  obliging:  as  you|[, 
description  of  it  was  excessively  droll.  I  be^ 
lieve,  therefore,  from  the  account  you  give  mc^ 
I  shall  renounce  all  thoughts  of  making  that 
purchase:  for  though  the  country,  it  seemsy 
abounds  in  salt,  the  neighbourhood,  I  find,  i* 
hnt  insipid,     Fareweh  i  q 

^  In  Naples-  -^^'  '"''• 

LETTER 


•»o  .01  .  "' 


i^:     ' 


B6Bk  Vin,        OP  CICERO. 


863 


III 


LETTER  XXL 

[A.  U.  T07.] 
To  VOLUMNIUS*, 


gnu 

X 

You  have  little  reason,  believe  me,  to  regret 
the  not  being  present  at  my  declamations* : 
and  if  you  should  really  envy  Hirtius,  as  you 
assure  me  you  should  if  you  did  not  love  him, 
it  must  be  much  more  for  his  own  eloquence^ 
than  as  he  is  an  auditor  of  mine.  In  truth,  my 
dear  Volumnius,  either  I  am  utterly  void  of  all 
genius,  or  incapable  of  exercising  it  to  my  sa^ 
tisfectioii,  now  that  I  have  lost  those  illustrious 
fellow-labourers  at  the  bar  that  fii-ed  me  with 
emulation  when  I  used  to  gain  your  judicious 
applause.  If  ever,  indeed,  I  displayed  the 
powers  of  eloquence  with  advantage  to  my  re* 
putation,  let  me  send  a  sigh  when  I  reflect^ 
with  the  fallen  Philoctetes  in^  the  play,  that 

These  potent  shafts,  the  heroes  wonted  dread. 
Now  spend  on  meaner  xcar  their  idle  force; 
4im'd  at  th^  xving'd  inhabitants  of  air  ! 

However, 

*  See  rem.  ».  on  let.  18.  B.  iv. 

*  See  rem.  10.  on  the  preceding  letter. 

^  Philoctetes  was  the  friend  and  companion  of  Hercules, 
ifho,  when  he  was  dying,  presented  him  with  his  quiver  of 
arrows  which  had  b^en  dipped  in  the  hydra's  gall.  When 
the  Grecian  princes  assembled  in  order  to  revenge  the  cause 
of  Menelaus,  they  were  assured  by  an  oracle  that  Troy 

S  \  could 


W 


f64 


The  letters         Bbot  Vill 


however,  if  you  \viH  give  me  your  company 
here,  ciy  spirits  will  be  more  enlivened :  though 
-I-h^ed  not  add,  that  you  will  find  me  engaged 
in  a  multitude  of  very  importafit  occupations 
But  if  I  can  once  get  to  the  end  of  them  (as 
1  most  earnestly  wish)  I  shall  bid  a  long  fare- 
wel  both  to  the  forum  and  the  senate,  and 
chiefly  devote  my  time  ta  you  *  and  some  few 
others  of  our  common  friends.  In  this  num- 
battle  Cassius  and  Dolabella,  who  are  united 
with  us  in  the  same  favourite  studies,  and  to 
whose  performances  I  with  great  pleasure  at* 
tend.  But  we  want  the  assistance  of  your 
refined  judgment,  and  of  that  uncommon 
erudition  which  has  often  struck  me  with 
awe  when  I  have  been  dehvering  my  senti- 
ments befotre  you.  I  have  determined,  theja, 
4{  I  should  obtain  the  consent,  or  at  least  tnc 
permission  of  Caesar,  to  retire  from  that  stage 

could  never  be  taken  without  tke  assistancjc.  of  these  arrows. 

An  embassy,  therefore,  was   gent   to   PhiloCtetes  to  engag* 

him   on   their   side,  who  accordingly  coivsented    lo  attend 

ibeir   expedition.       But    being    disabled    from    proceeding 

with  these  heroes  in  their  voyage,  by  an   accidental  w6und 

ivhich  be  rtceived  in  the  foot  from  one  of  his  own   arxov9is» 

thpy  ungenerou!«ly  left  bim  on  a  desolate  island ;  and  it   was 

here  that  he  was  redored    to  the  mortifying  n€cestity   of 

empK)ying  these   formidable  shafts  in    the  humble  purposes 

of  supplying   himself  with   food.     The    lines    here   quoted 

are  taken  from  Accius,  a  dramatic  poet    who    flourished 

<ab<uit    tbcyear  of  Rome  623,  and    who,   probabl^,^  had 

.formed  a  tragedy  upon  the  subject  of  this  adventure.     SerV;^ 

in  /En.  iii.  40^.  , 


Bbbic  YU».      iiftricuia 


s§i 


tm- which  -I  have  frequently  pef formed  f^p^ 
ijg^atte  hiiosdf.i^^^.  applauded.  .-Itis  ^y  i^m>r 
lix^owy  iudeedf  totally  t(»  QQuee^eiy^elf^ttl? 
ftecmfev^des  ^f  pl^iki^opby,  .>»^^ftmiS.]^I«  i<9 
^oy,  with  you,  and  some  others  /^f^tii^  sfU3^ 
eontej^latiYedispositio|i,  tibe  hou^W^J^fiffti^ 
^  a  studious  leisure.  -    .       ^       .j,^^j  j^,^^^ 

v/^I  am  wnyyoubshortened  your  la^^  letter  iiajtli^ 
apprehension  that  I  should  not  have  patience  to 
!reada  longer;  But  assure  yourself,  for  the^fi^tWife 
that  the  longer  yours  are,  tlie  more  acceptable 
^tiaey  will  always  prove  to  me.  farew^^,  y^cm^w 
ivci\r  to  9'>fTBii=:i>*-  i\H       bn^t 

tiominooj r       LETTER  XXILi .^ i^^f   b^^fiinr 

.(tii^r  vm  -To  Papiriijs  P.^TUS. '^^^^^^  "^'"^^ 

OUR  very  agreeable  letter  found  me  AvnoIIy 

disengaged  at  my  Tusculan  Ylua.     1  retirea 

hither  during  the  absence  of  my  pupil's*,  whom 

Tr  have  sent  to  meet  their  victorious  friend**,  in 

^^  ^iC0nciliate  ^is  good  graces  iff^ 

S'ji^^DionysIustb^  tyyaTif,  afte;;h^)^|kgep 

from  Syracuse,  opened  a  school^  it  is^  said,  Hat 

' CoTinth*;s*u uth|  same  manuei-,,  >eing^riy^ 

'^'''  »  Hirtlils  and  Dplabella.  '^^'^^^  ^^ 

^'^^^C^sar^inhisTeturhfrom  the  African  war.  ^'^^^''  ^]^ 

"^^^rttc  wase^ipelled  from  Sicily  about  340  y^trs  befofe 


I,  1 


,11 


eW?  THt  LETTERS        Book  VIII. 

from  my  dominions  in  the  forum,  I  have  erected 
a  «ort  of  academy  in  my  own  house :  and  I  per-»'^ 
ccive,  by  your  letter,  that  you  approve  the^ 
scheme.    I  have  many  reasons  for  approving  iV 
too,  and  principally  as  it  affords  irte  what  ia 
highly  expedient  in  the  present  conjuncture, -a" 
mean  of  establishing  an  interest  with  those^  in 
whose  friendship  I  may  find  a  protection.  How 
far  my  intentions  in  this  respect  may  be  an- 
swered, I  know  not :  I  can  only  say,  that  I 
have  hitherto  had  no  reason  to  prefer  the  dif- 
ferent measures  which  others  of  the  same  party*^ 
with  myself  have  pursued  ;    unless,    perhaps, 
it  would  have  been  more  eligible  not  to  have 
survived  the  ruin  of  our  cause.     It  would  so. 
I  confess,  had  I  died  either  in  the  camp^,  or  in 
the  field  :  but  the  former  did  not  happen  to  be 
Hiy  fate ;  and,  as  to  the  latter,  I  never  was  en- 
ggi^ed  in  arxy  action.    But  the  inglorious  man-t 

ncF 

W  birth  of  our  Saviour*  on  account  of  bis  oppressive  go- 
yernment ;  when  retiring  lo  Corinth,  he  employed  himself 
in  exercisins;  the  humbler  tyranny  of  a  pedagogue.  It  i». 
supposed  that  he  engaged  in  ibis  office  the  more  eftecluaily 
to  conceal  the  schemes  be  was  still  meditating,  of  recover- 
ing his  a<^nvnions.  Jus^m.  xxi.  5.  tiiusiuQ 
'  Furiicularly  Hirtius  and  Dolabella.  ' 
»'•  Tlie^ expression  in  the  original  is  extremely  coneiM. — 
^  ieciuhf  Jateor:  &ed  uqu  accidit.  This  seems  to  allude 
U>  the^ickues«»  with  which  Cicero  was  attacked.  ii>  the 
camp  of  Dyrrachium^  and  that  prevented  him  froui  being 
preient  At ak«  ImitJe  of  Pbarsalia*  or  at  least  furnished  him 
pnhs*, plausible  excui^  for,  bis  absenc«.\     I'Ut ,  in  vit .  Cin 


Book  VIII^^        qf  CICERO, 


9&P 


ner  in  which  Pompey^,  together  with  Scipio^^ 
Afranius^  and  your  friend  Lentulus'*',  severally 
lo$t  their  lives,  will  scarcely,  I  suppose,  be 
thought  a  more  desirable  lot.  As  to  Cato's, 
death",  it  must  be  acknowledged  to  have  beei^ 
tjruly  noble :  and  I  can  still  follow  his  example, 

wheo^f 

^  An  account  of  the  manner  and  circumstance  of  Pom* 
pey's  death  has  already  been  given  in  rem.  6.  p.  500.  of 
this  vol.  f> 

*  Scipio,  after  the  unfortunate  battle  of  Thapsus  [see 
rem.  7.  p.  245.  of  this  vol.]  endeavouring  to  make  his  escape 
into  Spain,  was  driven  back  upon  the  coast  of  Africa,  whex^ 
he  fell  in  with  a.  squndron  of  Csesar's  fleet,  commanded  by 
Hirtius.  Scipio  was  soon  overpowered  by  the  strength  and 
number  of  the  enemy's  ships  :  and  himself^  together  witU 
the  few  vessels  that  attended  him,  were  all  sunl^  ffirt.  dc 
Bel.  Afric.96.  ^^'*^  h*'^'' 

,1^  Afranius  had  been  one  of  Pompey's  lieutenants  in 
Spain,  and  had  a  Command  in  Scipio's  army  in  Africa.  He 
was  taken  prisoner  in  attempting  to  make  his  escape  afreii 
the  defeat  of  that  general,  and  murdered  ,by,  the  soldiers^ 
mn.  de  Bd.  J/ric  95.  ^^*'"'  ^'  -'^"      "^^''  ^' 

fi*^  This  is  not  the  same  person  to  whom  the  letters  in  the 
first  and  second  book  of  this  collectioi)  are  addressed,  byt 
Ludus  Lentulus,  who  was  consul  with  MarcellUs  tn  nii, 
704,  the  year  in  which  the  civil  war  broke  out.  After  the 
defeat  at  Pharsalia,  he  fled  to  th«  island  of  Cyprus ;  where, 
deceiving  intelligence  that  Pompey  w«s  gone  into  Egypt,  he 
immediately  set  sail  in  order  to  join  him.  He  arrived  oh  the 
next  day  after  that  unfortunate  general  had  been  cruelly  as- 
sassinated :  and  being  seized  the  moment  he  landed,  he  xi^ 
derwent  the  same  fate  with  that  of  his  lllustrioiis  frievxf,  in 
pursuance  of  an  order  for  that  purpose  from  Ptolemy.  Flut* 
in  viL  Pomp.     Casar  de  Bel.  Citil.  iii.  105*.  1041'^'^'^^^*^   ' 

'*  The  manner  and  circumstances  of  Gate's  having  de- 
stroyed himself  are  too  well  known  to  be  particularised  in 
this  pla<ie.  A  late  noble  writer  is  of  opinion,  that  Cato 
abandoned  the  cause  of  liberty  too  soon,  and  that  he  would 
have  died  with  a  better  grace  at  Mmda,  than  at  Utica.  Thi» 
censure,  it  must  be  owned,  has  the  appearance  of  being 

jusii 


.^1 


■\» 


"^66 


T^E  LETTERS         Book  VIU. 


whenever  1  shall  be  so  disposed.  Let  me  orilf 
endeavour,  as  in  fact  I  do,  not  to  be  compelled 
tti  It  by  the  same  necessity":  and  thi^  is -my 

jost,  if  we  comi(!er  it  only  in  respect  to  the  event :  but  if 
there  bad  been  a  real  fouodation  for  the  reproach, ,  it  ,>c^q 
scarce   be  supposed  that  it   should  have  escaped  every  one 
of  thfe  ancient  writers  who  speak  of  this  illustrious  Romae^s 
pxUr(  and  that  Cicero,  in  particular,  who   most  certaialy 
did  not  love  Cato,  bhould  have  made  an  honourable  excep- 
tion of  his  death,  out  of  that  list  which  he  here  condemns^ 
it  is  true,  the  republican  party,  after  the  defeat  of  Scipio 
irt  Africa,  made  a  very  powerful  struggle  against   Caesar 
"under  the  command  of  young  Pompey  in  Spain.     But  it  is 
highly  probable,   that  there  was  not   the  least  rational   ex- 
pectation of  this  circumstance,  when   Cato  thought   it.  be-i 
^came  him  to  put  an  end  to  his  life.     For  it  appears,   from 
^^lutarch,  that   he   would  have  defended  Utica  to   the  last, 
if  he  could  have  persuaded  the  principal   Romans  in    that 
garrison  to  have  supported  him  :  and  it  was  not  till  after 
d)i  his   remonstrances  for   that   purpose  proved   utterly  in^ 
effectual,  and  that  he  had  secured  the  retreat   of  those  who 
did  Rot  choose  to  surrender  themselves  to  Caesar,  that  this 
exemplary  patriot  fell  upon  his  otvn  sword.     Thus  <)ied  tbis 
truly^feat  and  virtuous  Rom^n !  He  had   loiig  stood  forth 
tfire  solt^  uncorrupted  opposer  of  those  vices  that  proved  the 
rufn  of  this  degenerate  commonwealth;  and  suppofttd,   as 
fit  as  a  single  arm  could  support,   the  declining  c^nstitu-. 
lion.     But   when   his  services  could    no  farther  avails  he 
•5t?orned  to  survive  what  bad  beei\  the  labour  of  Ris  whoJe  life 
to  preserve,  and  bravely   perished  with  the  liberties  of  his 
-country.     This  is  the  purport  of  that  noble  eulogy  which 
Seneca,   in   much   stronger  language,   has  ju^ly  bestowed 
*  lip m»  Catd  :  yietverfusvittadcgeneranfhcivtiaiis^  says  he,  a/c- 
''</#j'Sf»liis,  Sf  cadentem  rempitblkam^  qiidntum^  niodo  una  re- 
ifUhi  manu  poitrat^  refinuii  ;  donee  eomitem  sediu  smientaiw 
'  tnirtfp  dedrt :  siinnlque  ecfttHcta  sunt  qnnt  nrfas  ertU  (kvidt. 
N^qu^&nim  Cato  post  libertattm  vMt^  ne'e  liberta^  poht  Ch^ 
^tonem.  Lord  B(^linbroke's  Leueron  Patj4«ti««m,  (yi-*3(>.  "Pfat. 
iiix  vir.  Caton.  Senec.  de  constant.  SWjinent.  ^.  /-    "^  ;i"jrjnt^ 
til  '»*  The  only  necessity  which  Cato  ^i  oi^^f'tlF  putting 
^{rt'ifiid'to  hi)i  life,  arobe  from  that  untfcrrm  t^jspi^tioti  fiHiad 
--*'  given, 


Bp,oK  Jilt         oF;f  ^f(3ERO: 


S69 


first  reason  for  engaging  in  my  present  sclieme* 
My  next  is^  that  I  find  it  an.adyantage,  nptonly 
^^  myhealth'^  which  began  to^  be  impaired  by 
die  intermission  of  exercises  of  this  kind,  but 
also  to  my  oratorical  talents,  if  any  I  ever  pos- 
sessed: which  would  have  totally  lost  their  vi- 
goar,  it  I  nad  not  had  ijecourse  to  thts  methoa 
of  keeping  them  in  play.  The  last  benefit' I 
shall  mention  (and  the  principal  one,  I  dare  say, 
M^oyr  estin^ation)  is,  that  it  has  introduced 
me  to  the  demohshing  of  a  greater  number  of 
dieljpipjus  peacocks''^  than  you  have  had  tb^''(^j4- 
moil  ,?iiisqqf.  '      >:  i^'^i  *>-  vourino* 

jW^'^rt^^  ^<^«  «*"gerous  designs  of  the  conqueror:  and  it 
iWft^^llfc*  aJlowe^,.thnt  Cicero  took  sufficient  care  uolf.lo 
.faUondertMsanae.  ,„^    ,,,,  rjiuonnT  .irt  ili^ 

^fj/;'?^4i'"«re  E4iglj*h  reader  will  be  surprised  to  hear  Cice- 
<fO  talkirof:  eloquence  a»  an  cjrtf/Y«e.     There  is  notiimg,  in- 
deed,, more  indolent  and  immoveable  than  a  British  orat^jr: 
fj!(H",>f  fe8,viJm,u,res  i^to  action,  bis  ge^turt-s  are  generally  such 
3^s  wpuW  render  the  finest  speecht  that  Deino^ihenes  prCi<e- 
^ro  evji^r  4^1ivered,  absolutely  powerless,  or  ridiculous.  ,t*tXou 
A*  w*^y^^e«  war»y  a  sfnart  rhi^torician  (say^  the  inimit^blfe  Hr* 
Q^f  -A|44ison)  Uuoing  his  bat  in  bis  bands,  mouldingit  intost- 
r^ijl  v^t^il  different  cocks,  examining  sometimes  the  lining  atid 
^j*,^  sometimes  the  buttyrv^  during  the  %i hole  course,  pf^iu^jbftr 
^^^*,rangue^,    A  deaf  n>an  would  itink  be  w^,  cheapc^i^ing  a 
l)%bea,\ir :  wben,  perhaps,  he  is  talking  of  ^hefaiq-jukfji^e 
*^Bfifist  oatiou-"     But  among  the  oraiors  of  Qjrep<;p,;^i)d 
Rome  it  was  fi^r  otherwise.     They  stqdi^d.tbe  eloqviexic.evpf 
action  as  po^pcii  as  that  of  diction:  and  tUeir  rbetoricians 
ba»e  laid  dwwn  tujes  for  the  graceful  manageDaeot  gf  the 
shoulders,  tke' arias,  the  hands>  and  the  feet,  wbicb.  wure 
^eiqh  Pf,  them  engaged. by  turns  in  the  emphatical^fj:^?;^^^^  pf 
ancient  elocution.     $pect,Vi.\>.  50.  QuinctiL  xj.  i.  >    ^,,  „, 
rrii.Jtjf  his  bird  WfS^  e^teem^   by  tbe  Romans  arai^ngst  the 
b»WR>56i^,^-^i.cacie5  ofj^t  ,^^^^  po  efltert^iiimnn.t 

was 


270 


YiVE  lETTfiRS      iBooK  VIIL 


vouring  of  paltry  pigeons  in  all  your  life.  TWe 
truth  of  it  is,  whilst  you  are  humbly  sipping 
the  meagre  broths  of  the  sneaking  Aterius,  I 
am  luxuriously  regaling  myself  with  the  sa- 
voury soups  of  the  magnificent  Hirtifls?'^^ 
you  have  any  spirit,  then,  fly  hither,  and  learn, 
from  our  elegant  bill^  of  fare,  hcixv^^trt 'define 
your  own  :  though,  to  do  your  talents  justice, 
this  is  a  sort  of  knowledge  in  which  you  are 
much  superior  to  our  instructions.  However, 
since  you  can  get  no  purchasers  for  your  mort- 
gages, aftd  arc  not  likely  to  fill  those  pitchers 
you  mention  with  denarii'^,  it  will  be  your 
wisest  scheme  to  return  hither :  for  it  is  a  bet- 
ter thing,  let  me  tell  you,  to  be  sick  with  good 
(gating  at  Rome,  than  for  want  of  victuals  at 
Naples'^  In  short,  I  plainly  perceive  that 
your  finances  are  in  no  flourishing  situation, 
a,nd  I  expect  to  hear  the  same  accountof  all  ypur 
neighbours :  so  that  famine,  my  friend,  most 

formidable 

•  fi '  ■),(.''• 

iwas  thought  completely  elegftnt  where  a  peaucock  djd  no^ 
make  one  of  the  dishes.  They  bore  a  most  incredible  priced 
Varro  assures  us,  that  an  hundred  peacocks  pix)duced  iotht 
owner,  the  annual  profit  of  about  three  hundred  pounds  ^toit 
ling.     Far.  A  u  Rustic,  iii.  6.  ""■'"'  ^"^  '-'"  '  ''^ 

>p;  ■'  Tbe^  denarius  was  a  silver  coin,  equivalent  to  about 
eight  pence  of  our  money.  Cicero*s  raillery  alludes  to  the 
loss  which  Paetus  had  suffered  by  the  late  edict  of  Caesar 
concerning  debtors  :  of  which  aa  account  has  been^ven  in 
lerr.  11.  p.  260.  of  this  vol.  xb^^O  K 

^\)*f  Paetus  had  a  house  in  Naples :  where  "be  appdars  to 


have  l)een  when  this  letter  was  written. 


to  iO^Bw 


BooicVni-       -OF  CICEKO. 


sri 


^^rmidable  famine  must  ^, your  fate,-  ifyj9yL4o 
^mtjprovide  against  it  in  due  thne.  And  since 
jyott,have  been  jeduced  to  sell  your  horse,  ^ ea 
mount  your  mule  (the  only  animal,  it  seems,  be- 
longing to  you  which  you  have  not  yet  sacri- 
ficed to  your  table)  and  convey  yourself  imme- 
diately to  Rome.  To  encourage  you  to  do  so, 
^ou  shall  be  honoured  with  a  chair  ami  cushion 
nextto  mine;  and  sit  the  second  great  pedagogue 
in  my  celebrated  schools    FareweL 


^J7 


Uli 


Jw 


b< 


\f 


LETTER  XXIII. 

[A.  U.  707.] 

To  the  same. 


)fl»2 


WO'J 


i7 
t 


X  OUR  satirical  humour,  I  find,  lias  not  yet 
forsaken  you :  and  I  perfectly  well  understand 
your  raillery,  when  you  gravely  tell  me,,  that 
Kalbus  cohtenfe^  hi'mself  with  yoiir  humble 
rare.  You  insinuate,  I  suppose,  that  sincie  t^iese 
oiir  sovereign'  rulers  are  thus  wonderfully  tern- 
berate,  much  more  doe^  it' become  a  disci^fdM 
.consular*  to  practise  the  same  abstemiousness. 
Btit  do  you  know,  my  friend,  tbatlliavfc' a'rf;^ 
fnily  drawn  from  Balbus  himself,  the  whole  his- 
i£c%3  j-;fvtory 

ni  £i*  Qalbus  was  a&ort  of  prime  minister  and  chief  confident 
of  Caesar.  .q  .! 

oj   *  The  consular^  were  those  who  had  passed  tBfuiigh  the 
office  of  consul. 

1 


•>vf:d  * 


? 


f: 


f 


firi 


The  letters        Book  VIIL 


P! 


tory  of  the  reception  you  gave  him  ?  He  came 
directly  to  my  house  the  moment  he  arrived  in 
Rome :  a  circumstance,  by  the  way,  somewhat 
extraordinary.  Not  that  I  am  surprised  at 
his  wanting  the  politeness  to  call  first  at  yours; 
but  my  wonder  is,  that  he  should  not  go  di- 
rectly to  his  own^  However,  after  the  two  or 
three  first  salutations  had  passed^  I  immedi- 
ately enquired  what  account  he  had  to  give  of 
my  friend  PsBtus?  *'  Never,  he  protested,  was 
*'  he  better  entertained  in  his  whole  life."  Now, 
if  you  merited  this  compliment  by  your  wit, 
I  desire  you  to  remember,  that  I  shall  bring  as 
eles:ant  a  taste  with  me  as  Balbus  himself:  but 
if  he  alluded  to  the  honours  of  your  table,  let 
it  never  be  said,  that  the  family  of  tlie  stanj^ 
merers*  were  more  splendidly  regaled  by  Paetus, 
than  the  sons  of  elocution. 

Business  has  prevented  me,  from  time  to  time, 
in  my  design  of  paying  you  a  visit:  but  if  I  can 

dispatch 


i4 


4? 


•  There  is  undoubtedly  some  raillery  in  this  passage,  ei- 
ther upuu  Pstus  or  Balbus  :  but  it  is  impossible  to  discover  rt 
of  what  nature,  as  it  alludes  to  circumstances  utterly  un* 
knoifn. 

4  In  the  original  it  is,  we  p/vn>  es*e  Balbos,  qu^m  diteriot 
pui^ :  a  witticism  which  could  not,  possibly,  be  preserved  ift 
the  translatioB.  For  it  turns  upon  the  equivocal  sense  of  the 
word  Bclbua:  which  was  not  only  the  name  of  the  person  of  * 
whom  Cicero  is  speaking,  but  signifies,  likewise,  a  man  who 
labours  uader  thdt  defect  of  speech  called  stuttering. 


Book  VIIL        op  C^GERd: 


SW 


di^atch  fey  affairs  so  as  to  be  aT)Te  f o  cornt 
into  your  part  of  the  word,  I  shall  take  care  that 
you  shall  have  no  reason  to  complain  of  my  not 
having  given  you  timely  notice.     PareweL 

LETTER  XXIV; 

[A.  U.  7or.] 
To  the  same. 

Abe  you  not  a  pleasant  mortal  to  question 
me  concerning  the  fate  of  those  estates'  you 
mention,  when  Balbus  had  just  before  been 
paying  you  a  visit  ?  It  is  from  him,  indeed, 
that  I  derive  my  whole  fund  of  intelligence  ; 
and  you  may  be  assured,  that  where  heis  igno- 
rant,- 1'  have  no  chance  of  being  better  inform* 
ed,  I  might,  with  much  more  propriety,  de- 
sire  you  would  tell  me  \vhat  is  hkely  to  be  the 
fate  of  my  own  possessiori<  isirice  ybuTiaVe  ^i 
lately  Wad  a  person^  under  your  roof,  from 
whom,  either  in  or  out  of  his  cups,  you  might 
certainly  have  disgayered  tfeat  secret-  .  BMJttbii, 
my'  dear  P«tus,  fe  an  articte'tbat  xfiakes  nb 

pait . 

^?f^\»M^  the  estates  of  the  Pompeiani  that  l*y  «bofit 
Naples,  where  Pastus  stems  to  have  been^  when  this  Jetter 
wa^  wnttea.  It  appeals  that  Psbius  bad  been  alarmed  with 
a  nimour  that  CKsar  intended  to  aeiie  these  estates  ;  and^ 
therefore,  had  applied  to  Cicero^iio  i«aratiie  truth  of  this 
report. 

'  Balbus. 

Vol.  IL 


-*i'niii&  iixa^aj 


Ji^i^ 


ir 


i 


ii^ 


m 


THk  LETTfeKS        Book  VJlfc 


part  of  my  Ibq^iiry  ;  For,  in  the  first  plafcey  4 
fiaVi  f^isOii  b  be  weU  satisfied,  bavitig  liaw 
^o^t  these  ibuV  yeai^s^  been  indulgtet!  with  W;^ 
life ;  if  lift  or  indulgence  il  taay  be  caHcc^  to  be 
the  sad  survivor  of  our  country's  ruin.     In  the 
next  place,  I  beBeVe  it  is  a  ^estibn  I  may  easily 
answer  myself.     F6r  I  know  it  will  be  just  as 
it  shall  seem  meet  to  the  men  in  power ;  and  the 
men  in  power,  my  friend,   will  ever  be  those 
i/)l\6^e  sivords  '^re  tlie  tnbst  'preVaiKng.     1  m\i^ 
ieht  c^onfeftted,  therefore,  with  whatever  gVac^ 
it  shall  be  their  pleasui^e  to  shew  me ;  for  he>ivrlr6 
couW'liot^^^ely  sib'rhit  to  sachSvretched  tertrti, 
b\x0itt6  haVe  taken  refuge  in  the  artns  of  death. 
1sT5t\Vi'thgt^hS%   therefbre,  that  the  estates 
ibout  Veii  and  C^pena»,  ire  Actually  Aivrdirlg 
^ut,  f^ticl  th^e,  ydu^ftdw,  aife  not  fat  distant 
Tfom  TuscutumO  yet  it  gives  me  no  iart  df 

aisqul^tadl?. 

^"'One  of  the  contra entatbfs,  wlio  coitceals  Kis  trufe  name 
-ruwler  that  of  Ragazonius,  collects  from  this-Tiassflige,  that 
the  present  letter  was  written  A.  U.  707-  whereas  it  seems  to 
prove,  on  the  contrary,  thit  its  (iate  cannot  be  placed  ear- 
^ller  than  ihfe  year  709-     For  Cicero  a4)pears,   ev.denUy.   to 
'  allude  to   the  pardon  he  had  received   from  Caesar.     Now 
:*'this'could  not  have  been  till  after  the  battle  of  Pharsalit,  A. 
U.  705  ;  and  the  fourth  year  from  that  period  brings  ysdown 
HoVop*.     In  tlie  begitining,  therefore,  of  that  year,  this  lA- 
^r  dught  to  have  been  pteced  ;  but  the  error  of  its  present 
situation  wiis  not  discovered  till  it  was  too  late  to  be  rectified. 
•  Veil  and  Capena  were  cities  in  thatp^rt  of  Italy  ealled 
Etruria,  which  is  now  comprehended  under  the  name   of 
Tuscany. 

*>  Where  Cicero  had  a  villi. 


JBhiok 


tj  CICERO. 


&7f 


/ 


disquietude.    I  enjoy  my  property  whilst  I  may, 
mnd  please  myself  with  the  hope  that  I  shall 
never  be  deprived  of  that  privilege.    But  should 
it  happen  otherwise,  still,  however,  since  it  wa$ 
my  noble  maxim  (hero  and  philosopher  a3  I 
was  ! )  that  life  is  the  fairest  of  all  possessions,  I 
cannot,  undoubtedly,  but  love  the  man"  by 
whose  bounty  I  have  obtained  the  continuance 
pf  that  enjoyment.     It  is  certain,  at  the  samf 
time,  that  how  much  soever  he  may  be  dispx)^^^ 
4>erhaps,  to  restore  the  republic,  (as  we  ought 
all  of  us  most  certainly  to  wisi)  yet  he  b^  ^a^ 
tangled  himself  in  such  a  variety  of  different 
connexions,  that  he  is  utterly  embarrassed  iu 
what  manner  to  ac^.     But  this  is  going  farther 
into  these  points  th^n  is  i^ecegsary,  considering 
the  per3on  to  whom  I  am  writing.     Neverthe- 
Jes3,  I  will  add,  that  our  chief  himself  is  asah- 
6blutely  ignorant  what  measures  will  finally  be 
?esoiyg(l .j^ppp,  a3  J  am,  who  have  no  share  iu 
\m  cdaticils.     For  Caesar  is  no  less  under  the 
ppntepl^of  cij:ciuii}ist3.nces,  th^n  we  are  under  the 
;,ca]fetf6l  of  Caasar;  apd  it  is  as  much  impos^;blp 
/9f  i)^  to  foresee  what  these  may  require,  as  it 
^  j^r  us  to  p^i^etratp  i^tp  >KJtat  h^  i^  inJg^cL ' 
^?*^,^?«|tAOt  impute  it  ta  neglect,  (a  fault 
^W  ar^'iepsiWe,  ,pf  which  J^m^eiJd9JDj  eu^Ity  in 


^^t 


"  Caesar. 
T2 


ithe 


i 


i 


(276 


The  letters        Book  VIII. 


the  article  of  writing)  that  I  have  not  saicl  t^us 
much  to  you  before.  The  single  reason  for  m jr 
not  sooner  answering  your  inquiry,  was,  that  as 
I  could  only  speak  from  conjecture,  I  was  un- 
willing, without  a  just  foundation,  either  to  in- 
crease your  fears,  or  to  encourage  your  hopesc 
But  this  I  can  with  truth  assure  you,  that  I  have 
not  heard  the  least  hint  of  the  danger  you  ap- 
prehend. A  man  of  your  philosophy,  however, 
ought  to  hope  for  the  best,  to  be  prepared  for 
the  worst,  and  to  bear,  with  equanimity,  what- 
ever  may  happen.     Farewel. 


I  '/  vm;« 


LETTER  XXV. 

[A.  u.  7or.] 
To  the  same. 
Your  letter  gave  me  a  double  pleasure;  for 
it  not  only  diverted  me  extremely,  but  was  a 
proof,  likewise,  that  you  are  so  well  recovered 
as  to  be  able  to  indulge  your  usual  gaiety.  I 
was  well  contented,  at  the  same  time,  to  find 
myself  the  subject  of  your  raillei^y  ;  aiitf,  ^  in 
truth,  the  repeated  provocations  I  had  givea 
you  were  sufficient  to  call  forth  all  the  seventy 
of  yoiir  satire.  My  only  regret  is,  that  I  am 
prevented  from  taking  my  intended  journey 
into  your  part  of  the  world,  where  I  purposed 
to  have  made  myselt;  1  do  not  say'  your  guest,. 

but 


Book  VIII.        of  CICERO. 


277 


butppe,  of  your  family.    You  would  have  found 
me  wonderfully  changed  from  the  man  I  for- 
merly was,  when  you  used  to  cram  me  with 
your  cloying  antepasts'.     For  I  now  more  pru- 
dently  sit  down  to  table  with  an  appetite  alto- 
g^ether  unimpaired,  and  most  heroically  make 
iny  way  through  every  dish  that  comes  before 
me,  from  the  egg"-  that  leads  the  van,  to  the  roast 
veal  that  brings  up  the  rear'.  The  temperate  and 
Ype^Pjensive  guest  whom  you  were  wont  to  ap- 
pUud,  is  now  no  more.     I  have  bidden  a  total 
farewel  to  all  the  cares  of  the  patriot,  and  have 
joined  the  professed  enemies  of  my  former  prin^* 
ciples ;  in  short,  I  am  become  an  absolute  Epi- 
curean.     You  are  by  no  means,  however,  to 
consider  me  as  a  friend  to  that  injudicious  pro- 
fusion, 

'  These  autepasts  seem  to  have  been  a  kind  of  collation 
preparatory  to  the  principal  entertainment.  They  generally 
consisted,  it  is  probable,  of  such  dishes  as  were  provocative* 
to  appetite;  but  prudent  (Economists,  as  may  be  collected 
from  the  turn  of  Cicero's  raillery,  sometimes  contrived  them 
in  such  a  manner  as  to  damp  rather  than  improve  the  sto- 
mach of  their  guests. 

*  The  first  dish  at  every  Roman  table,  was  constantly 
eggs ;  which  maintained  their  post  of  honour  even  at  the 
most  magnificent  entertainments : 

,' Nee  dum  omnis  abaci  a 

^'''Pauperis  epulis  regum:  nam  vilibmovis 

Wy    I         ■    est—fwdie  locus.  HoR.  Sat.  ii.  2. 

The  humble  egg  at  lordly  feasts  we  see  : 

This  still  remains  of  old  simplicity  f 
b-j5  It  appears,  by  a  passage  which  Manutius  cites  from  Ter- 
tuUian,  that  the  Romans  usually  concluded  their  feasts  with 
broifed  or  roasted  meat. 


,  1 


:i|. 


275 


Tni 


Ho  hi  Vllfe 


fusidh,  which  is  no\^  the  pretuilitig  ta^tt  of  biff 
modem  entertainments ;  on  the  contrary,  it  is 
iiiat  more  elegant  luxury  I  admire  which  '^ou 
formerly  used  to  display  when  yOut  finance 
were  most  flourishing^,  though  yout  farm*  Wtre 
not  more  numerous  than  at  present.     Be  pre* 
pired,  therefore,  for  my  rec^ftio'n,  ft8:6rdi^gT5r, 
tod  remember  you  are  to  entertain  a  man  who 
nks  not  only  a  most  enormous  appetite,  hia't"4*iii() 
lias  some  little  knowledge,  let  me  tell  you,  in 
the  science  of  elegant  eating.     You  know  th6re 
is  a  j>eculiar  air  of  self-sufficiency,   that  getie^ 
rally  distinguishes  those  who  enter  late  into  the 
^"Btudy  of  any  art.     You  will  not  wonder,  there-p 
fore,  when  I  take  upon  me  to  inform  you,  that 
you  must  banish  your  cakes  atid  your  sweet-^ 
meats,  as  articles  that  are  now  utterly  discard- 
ed from  all  fasMohiiblfe  bflls  tff  fa1[«.  ''I'km  be. 
come,  indeed,  such  a  proficient  in  this  science, 
fhat  I  frequently  vetitufe  'to  mtite'to  trt^'t'llDle 
those  refined  friends  of  yours,  the  delicate  Verr 
rius  and  Camillus.    Nay,  I  am  bolder  stiH,  and 
have  presumed  to  give  a  supper  even  to  Hirtius 
himself;  though,  I  must  own,  1  could  not  ad- 
vance so  far  as  to'honoUY  him^th^  pealcoik^ 
^  To  tell  you  the  truth,  my  honest  cook  had  4iot 
skill  enough'  to  imitate  any  other  part  of  his 

splendid 

'  See  rem.  11.  p.  260.  of  ibis  vol. 
*  See  rem.  14.  p.  270.  of  this  vol. 


Book  yil^.        cj^  CJf€#Sq. 


279 


splendid  entertainments,  except  only  ^b  spioak- 
ing  soups.  ^^^ 

j^o^But  to  give  you  a  general  sketch  of  my 
manner  of  life ;  I  spend  ):hp  first  part  of  the 
morning  in  receiving  the  compliments  of  sevcf- 
ralboth  of  our  dejected  patriots  and  our  gay 
victors ;  the  latter  of  whom  treat  mc  with  great 
marks  of  civility  and  esteem.  As  soon  as  that 
.^ceremony  is  over,  Ij-etire  to  my  library,  wheirc 
I  employ  myself  either  with  my  books  or  my  pen; 
And  here  I  am  sometimes  surrounded  by  ian 
^diencC;  wlio  look  upon  me  as  a  man  of  most 
profound  erudition,  for  no  other  reasoii,  per* 
haps,  than  because  I  am  not  altogether  so  ig*- 
norant  as  themselves.  The  rest  of  inyMme  1 
-  w;holly  devote  to  indulgencies  of  a  less  intel*? 
lectual  kind.  I  have  sufficiently,  indeed,  paid 
the  tribute  of  sorrow  to  my  unhappy  countiy ; 
the  miseries  whereof  I  have  longer  and  more 

5^,  bitterly  lamented,  than  ever  tender  mother  be- 
wailed the  loss  of  her  only  son, 

l^^^  Let  me  desire  yoii,  as  you  would  secure 

^^,your  magazine  of  pxoy/sions  from  falling  into 
my  hands,  to  take  care  of  y.o^r  ^ealth ;  for  I 

ijl^^ve^jnost  unmercifully  resolved  that  no  pr^- 

^^^ptence  of  indisposition  shall  preserve  yoiir  larder 

gj^^oip.  my  depredations,    farewel, 

i,  ^  ^  T4  LETTER 


11 


.1 


I  |^.*|if  .-|  -  *i  *"  ♦  ^■ 


■  /'\ ' 


:280 


The  letters         Book  VHL 


cyi^f^   ,4^   *. 


^r 


LETTER  XXVI.  it 

-       [A.  U.  707.J  ill 

To  the  same. 

X  ARRIVED  yesterday  at  Cumae^,  and  perhaps 
I  may  pay  you  a  visit  to-morrow  ;  but  I  shall 
take  cafe  to  give  you  a  short  notice  before^ 
*liand;  I  am  determined,  indeed,  not  only  to 
.see  you,  but  to  sup  with  you  too.  For  though 
Iliad  the  mortification  to  be  informed  by  Mar- 
cus Ceparius,  whom  I  met  on  the  road,  that 
you  were  laid  up  with  the  gout ;  yet  I  suppose 
your  cook  is  not  disabled  as  well  as  his  master. 
You  niay  expect,  therefore,  very  speedily  to 
receive  a  guest,  who,  as  he  is  remarkable  for 
having  a  wonderous  puny  stomach,  is  equally 
famous  likewise  for  being  an  irreconcileablp 
enemy  to  all  sumptuous  entertainments. 
FareweL 


LETTER  XXVIL 

[A.  U.  707.] 

To  Marcus  Marius. 

X  ARRIVED  at  Cumae  on  the  24th,  accompa- 
nied by  our  friend  Libo,  and  purpose  to  be  at 
my  Pompeian  villa*  very  shortly  :  but  I  will 

give 

^  Where  he  had  a  country  house. 
•  See  rem.  3.  p.  198.  of  this  vol. 


Book  Vm.       Of  ClCER@cT 


0284 


give  you  previous  notice  when  I  shall  have  fixed 
the  day.  I  wish  yOu  the  enjoyment  of  your 
health  at  all  times;  but  particularly  whilst  I 
am  your  neighbour.  If  you  have  an  assigna- 
tion,  therefore,  with  your  old  companion,  the 
gout,  pray  contrive  to  put  it  off  to  spme  pthjpr 
opportunity.  In  good  earnest,  let  ipe  desire 
you  to  take  care  of  your  health,  and  expect  to 
see  me  in  two  or  three  days*     Farewel. 

"^  "^ '  LETTEBS 


-/*ljr  r^U^s 


^-} 


101 


' 

o-i 

—  -     ^- 

Y 

:•  i>vit 

;,  '9ff^'' 

9 

_; .J      <.     *' 


A   I 


-r;.*-!  "rnr 


I 


I  * 

lb. 


,  » 


-I'fE'v 


•T-nr^'     iSjjO 


ffrrff;^     t 


ft » 


t»? 


<     283     ) 


LETTERS 


OF 


t  ■. 


MARCUS  TULLIUS  CICERO 


TO 


SEVERAL  OF  HIS  FRIENDS. 


tt.ui  r 


.   i.i.ii 


BOOK  IX. 


LETTER  I. 


[A.  U.707.] 

To  Servius  Sulpicius'. 

I  AM  continually  receiving  accounts  from  vari- 
ous hands,  that  you  are  in  a  more  than  com- 
mon degree  affected  by  the  general  calamities 
of  our  country.  This  is  by  no  means  a  matter 
of  surprise  to  me,  as  it  in  some  measure* corres- 
ponds 

'  Some  account  has  already  been  given  of  Sulpicius,  in 
rem.  I,  p.  11^.  of  ^is  vol.    Upon  the  breaking  out  of  th^ 

civil 


II 


284 


The  .LETTER>5  Book  I X, 


sponds  with  what  passes  in  my  own  bosppi. 
Nevertheless,  I  cannot  but  regret  that  a  maa 
of  your  superior  understanding  should  not  ra-^ 
ther  enjoy  his  own  good  fortune,  than  vainly 
disquiet  himself  with  the  misery  of  others.  As 
for  myself,  there  is  none  who  has  more  bitterly 
liwnented  the  general  desolation  of  the  com^ 
monwealth:  yet  there  are  many  reflectionit 
from  which  I  now  derive  great  relief;  particu-j 
larly  from  a  consciousness  of  the  integrity  g£ 
my  former  counsels.  I  long  foresaw,  a,s  from 
sQgie  advantageous  eminence,  the  storm  that^ 
was  gathering  around  us;  and  I  foresaw  it,  not 
Ql^iy  by  the  force  of  my  own  discernment,  but 
much  clearer  by  the  assistance  of  your  pron 
phetic  admonitions.  For  though  I  was  absent 
during  the  greater  part  of  your  consulate^ 
yet  I,  was  not  unapprised  how  often  you  fore- 
told this  fatal  war,  and  what  measures  you  re- 
•  commended  for  its  prevention.  In  the  com- 
n\encement,  indeed,  of  your  consular  admiuis- 


~i 


iv 


tration, 


etfil  tfar  he  was  a  consirferable  time  in  suspense  on  wjiich 
side  to  declare  himself:  [See   rem.   1.  p.  138.  of  this  vol.] 
baiat  length  he  dcicrmined   to  join   Pompey.     However, 
soon  aifter  the  battle  of  Pharsalia,  he  made  his  peace  wiih 
Cawar*  and  was  appointed  by  him  governor  of  Greece.     It- 
was  during  his  adminisiraiion  of  this  province,  that  the  "pt#-v 
sent  letter,   together  with  the  rest  of  those  which  arfe  ad- 
dressed to  him  in  this  and  the  foUowin;^  book,  were  writter>J» 
'^■^Sulpicius  was  consul  in  the  yenr  702  ;  and  it  wa»Jabout^ 
the  latttH*  end  of  April,  or  the  beginning  of  May,  irv  the  same 
year,  that  Cicefo  left  Rome,  in  order  to  proceed  to  bi»  ^»- 
vernraent  inrCilicia.    -AdAtt,  wii  *  ••-c»^  i-  .^.^tu.**  ^oiy*^ 


Boo^lX. 


%u 


tfafioti,  I  was  myself  present  in  the  senate 
when  you  prudently  endeavoured  to  awaken 
oCir  fears,  by  enumerating  those  civil  wars  that 
had  happened  within  our  own  memories^  And 
if  the  authors  of  these,  you  told  the  house> 
unsupported  by  a  single  example  of  the  same 
kind  to  give  a  colour  to  their  conduct,  had  e^ 
ercised  such  dreadful  cruelties*,  whoever  in  ia^ 
tare  times  should  successfully  turn  his  arm¥ 
against  the  republic,  would  most  assuredly 
prove  a  much  more  intolerable  tyrant.  For 
they  that  act  by  precedent,  you  observed,  ge- 
nerally think  they  act  by  right,  and  in  cases  of 
tliis  nature  seldom  fail  of  improving  upon  their 
model.  You  should  remember,  therefore,  that 
those  who  refused  to  follow  your  judicious  ad*4 
vice,  owe  their  destruction  entirely  ta  thei^ 
own  imprudence.  But  you  will  ask,  perhaps^ 
"%hat  relief  can  this  consideration  afford  ttf 
"  your  mind,  amidst  the  universal  wreck  of 
"the  republic  ?"  It  must  be  acknowledged,  \n^ 
deed,  that  our  misfortunes  will  scarce  admit  of 


i\ 


con- 


'-*  Ab<^fit  two-and-twenty  years  before  the  date  of  thi* 
letter,  the  diseentions  between  Marius  and  Sylla  broke  out 
into  au  open  civil  war,  which  terminated  in  ibe.perpetUf^i 
dictatorship  of  the  latter.  t  .   ^  f_  ,  „ 

^  Both  Marius  and  Sylla  perpetrated,  in  their  turns,  tb^ 
most  horrid  outrages  against  the  partisans  of  each  other ; 
biut  parUcularly  Sylla,  whose  sanguinary  proscriptions,  dur- 
ing his  usurpation,  afford  the  most  dreadful  instances,  per«< 
haps,,  of  human  cruelty,  that  are  to  be  met  with  in  the 
whole  annals  of  despotic  power.   Vid^Sallust.  Bel,  CatiL  51. 


'i 


II 


28<5 


The   LETTER& 


]Mas;iK^ 


I 


i 


tonsolation  :  so  total  and  soirreco^eTibte  is  the 
TuiD  we  deplore!  However,  CcBsar.hniwel^ 
as  well  as  every  citizen  of  Rome  befeidffs,  looks 
lipoo  you  as  shining  forth,  amidgt-thisigeneral 
extinction  of  the  great  lights  of  the  republic,  ia 
all  the  lustre  and  dignity  of  wisdom  auci  virto^. 
These  considerations,  therefore,  ought  greatly 
to  alleviate  the  generous  disquietude-  df  your 
heart.  Tis  true  you  are  absent  from  your 
friends  and  family ;  but  this  you  have  tlielesft 
reason  to  regret,  as  you  are  removjed  at  the 
«ame  time  from  many  very  disagreeable  cir- 
cumstances. 1  would  particularly  point  them 
«Bt  tJO  you,  but  that  I  am  unwilling  you  should 
tmve  the  pain  of  lieariwg  Avhat  you  ape  so  biippy 
lis  not  to  see:  aoi  advantage  which  renders 
your  situation,  I  think,  so  much  die  more  elr- 
^ble  than  ours.  >        d> 

'1  have  thus  far  laid  i>eft)re  yoa,  inthe  warm- 
^t  friendship  of  my  heart,  those  reasons  which 
may  justly  contribute  to  tighten  antf  compose 
^'our  wu^siness.  Tl>€  re^t  are  to  be  found 
within  yourself;  and  they  are  consotations 
«*^'hich  I  know,  by  tiaity  OKpcfience,  to  be  of 
the  best  and  most  efficacious  kind.  J  ^'^llj^-- 
member  that  you  passionately  cultiviated  th« 
wliolc  circle  of  sciences  frojn  your  cai)it3jt 
youth,  and  carefully  treasured  up  in  jouf  mintt 
whatever  die  wisest  phUoisophci  s  liave  dohveneiii 


•  jki 


\V  J  ii) 


corictriAi^g 


1iMKl%. 


of  memo. 


SSSf 


ddheWftffif  the  beniiaiid  M{)pim  regulation  of 
BfiiAiitt  lift,  i^bir  lhe6fe  kt6  ct^tttemplation* 
both  ttift^ful  iittd  littterlaining,  tyth  iti  seasoftd 
oFthfe  ^Itatert  talifi  afrd  prosperity ;  bnt inthc 
ptefcAt  tifemitilms  situitioti  of  public  affidrs, 
tftfeit  T»  hotting  the  that  Catt  iootfi  and  t^m- 
pose  our  minds.  I  would  not  be  so  arrosrant 
is  tb  tetke  *iip6ii  ttiysdf  to  exhott  a  man  of 
ybilr  Jr^nse  and  ktaowtedge  to  have  i^cciurte  ttl 
thid^  ittrdie^  to  "which  I  know  y<>tt  have  ytMit 
i^oit  Irfe  been  dcvb^ted.  I  will  i^Iy  -say  witfc 
rt^dtt  to  rtyseff,  (aitd  I  hbpfe  Tsh^Wbe  jnstiiifid 
hyfotLT  ^pptbbiition)  that  I  CO(Bfsec?al^*ilI  jny 
thnfc  ^d  a^ttentioil  to  ^Ib^Orp^hy,  >ivhen  I  pet*- 
lxi\tA  tVere  i^a^  too  fartJifer^taipTcfytw?tit'eitte9i' 
iii  the  fornm  br  the  senate  fot  my  favourite  «Tt\ 
Scarcfe  infiftt  tdotnis  there  for 'the  ttcevcis©<cff 
1ftia:t  excellent  science,  in  which  you,  my  friend^ 
iate  s6  eMftexrtly  di^tiliguished^  I  am  ^eN 
riDidv/ ?rio?e^rf  •        suaded^ 

^*  Sulpicius  distinguished  himself  by  his  superior  skill  in 
the  laws  of  his  country;  to  the  knowledge  and  practice  of 
which  science  he  principally  devoted  the  studies  and  the  la- 
bours of  his  life.     He  was  the  first,  indeed,  among  the  Ro- 
mans who  seems  to  have  traced  and  explained  the  principles 
of  civil  law  ;  and  to  have  reduced  that  branch  of  knowledge 
from  the  vague  and  confused  manner  in  which  it  had  been 
formerly  treated,  into  a  regular  and  rational  system.     The 
number  of  treatises  which   he  is  said  to  have  composed, 
^Amount  to  above  an  hundred  and  fifty;  but  nothing  of  his 
.hand,  remains,  except  two  very  elegant  and  interesting;  let- 
ters, addressed  to  Cicero,  in  the  eleventh  book  of  the  present 
icDllection.     See  p.  6,  and  28.  of  vol.  iii.    Cicer,  de  Qar. 
Ora^,152.    Fompm,  dt  Orig,  Juri*.  . 


11 


The  letters  B^qtlX; 


4 

t 


i 


iuaded,  therefore,  that  I  havd  no  occasion  to 
admonish  you  to  apply  your  thoughts  to  the 
$ame  philosophical  contemplations ;  which,  if 
they  were  attended  with  no  other  advantage, 
would  have  this,  at  least,  to  recommend  them^ 
that  they  divert  the  mind  from  dwelling  on  its 
anxieties. 

Your  son  applies  himself  to  all  the  polite 
arts  in  general  with  great  success :  but  he  par- 
ticularly excels  in  those  philosophical  studies 
from  whence  I  just  now  professed  to  derive  the 
principal  consolation  of  my  life.     I  know  not ' 
any  man,  except  yourself,  for  whom  I  have 
conceived  a  stronger  affection  :  and,  indeed,  he 
very  amply  returns  the  warmth  of  my  friend- 
ship :  but  he  evidently  shews,  at  the  same  time^ 
that,  in  distinguishing  me  with  the  marks  of 
his  respect  and  esteem,  he  imagines  that  he  is' 
acting  in  the  most  agreeable  manner  to  your'^ 
inclinations.     Farewel. 

LETTER  " 


Book  IX;^ 

OF  CrCEHO.  t 

'#f  lMiNMR> 

n-'r^fT' 

mi 

LETTER  IL^  f  "^ 
[A.  u.  ror.]   ' 

■(.  WL:. 


To  Publics  Servilius  Isaubicus^, 

Proconsul. 

I  RECEIVED  the  account  you  sent  me  of  your 
voyage,  with  much  pleasure,  as  it  was  a  proof 
that  you  are  not  unmindful  of  our  friendship  i 
th^n  which  nothing,  be  assured,  can  afford  me  ^ 
more  real  satisfaction.  Would  you  still  oblige  me 
more  !  let  it  b?  by  freely  communicating  to  me 
the  state  of  your  province,  and  the  plan  of 
government  upon  which  you  proceed.    Fqi, 
though  the  fame  of  your  administration  wiU 
U|idoubtedIy  reach  me  by  many  oUier  ways» 
y^.'  ^  *M^^^  ™o«t  pleased  in  being  made  ac- 
quainted with  it  by  your  own  hand.    As  % 
myself,  the  hazards  to  which  my  letters  are" 
exposed,  ^iU  not  suffer  me  to  be  so  frequent  in 
giving  you  my  sentiments  of  public  affairs,  as 
I  shall  be  in  apprizing  you  of  what  palses 
amongst  us.     I  have  hopes,  however,  that  our 

colleague 

»  Cmn  nominated  hira  joint  consul  with  himself,  in  the 
ye«r  705;  and  Servilius  exercised  the  consular  functions  at 
Korae,  wh.lM  his  colleague  was  employed  in  carrying  on  the 
war  agamst  Pompey  in  Macedonia.  He  was,  at  this  time 
proconsul  of  Asia  Minor;  to  which  province  he  succeeded 
at  the  expimtion  of  bis  consulate.    Cms.  B«L  Civil,  iii.  i 

V  01.  II.  ,  u 


t 


sm 


Th£  letters         Book  IX^ 


Book  IX: 


OF  aCERQ,  •- 


29^ 


colleague  Caesar'  intends,  and,  indeed,  that  he 
actually  has  it  under  his  consideration,  to  esta- 
blish a  repuhlican  form  of  governn.ent  of  some 
kind  ;  and  it  is  of  much  importance,    that  you 
should  be  present  in  his  council  for  this  pur- 
pose.    But  if  it  be  more  for  your  own  glory  to 
preside  over  Asia,  and  preserve  that  ill-affecte4 
part  of  the  republic  in  its  allegiance,   I  ought 
to  reirulatc  mv  inclinations  by  yours,  and  pre- 
fer  what  will  most  contribute  to  the  advance- 
ment of  your  interest  and  your  honour.     Be 
assured,  I  shall  employ  my  utmost  zeal  to  pro- 
mote both,   by  every  mean  that  shall  appear 
conducive  to  that  end  ;  among  which,    it  shall 
t)c  my  principal  care  to  distinguish  your  illus- 
trious father^  with  all  possible  marks  of  my 

observance. 


r   • 


«  Cxsar  was  a  follow  member  of  the  college  of  auguri 
with  Cicero  and  Servilius. 

5  Servilius  the  father,  after  havinp  pa^^sed   through   lh« 
office  of  consul  in  ihe  year  073,  was  elected  gi»vernor  of  C^- 
licia,  where  he  greatly  distint^u  shed  himself  in  several  obsti- 
nate and  succesbful    enj;iieements   with   ihe  piratic  nations, 
that  infested  the  Roman  commerce  in  this  part  of  ihe  eastern 
world.     He  particularly  tuned  his  arms  against  the  Isauri  ;^ 
a  people  situated  between  Cilicia  and  Lycaonia ;  and  having 
penetrated   as  far  as  iheir  capital,  he  not  only  laid  it  level 
with   tin?  ground,  but  demolished  several  strong  fons  which 
the  pirates  possessed  in  the  maritime  parts  of  that  kingdom. 
It  was  upon  this  occasion,  that  he  obtained  the  title  of  Isau- 
ricus ;  and,  at  his  return  to  Rome,  he  was  hon<  urod,   like- 
wise, with  a  triumph.     He  died  not  long  after  this  letter  was 
written,  in  an  extreme  old  age,  and  is    said  to  have  pre- 
served his  health  and  senses  entire  to  his  last  moments.    1aV4 
Epit.  93.     Flor.  ill.  6.     V'lo^  xlv.  p.  277. 


observance.  This,  indeed,  is  what  I  justly 
owe  him,  not  only  in  regard  to  his  high  cha-; 
racter,  and  the  friendship  in  which  we  have 
been  long  united,  but  in  return,  likewise,  to 
the  many  favours  whicli  you  and  he  have  cou- 
fcrred  upon  me.     Farewel.  ,  . 

• 

LETTER  III. 


[A.  u.  7or.] 
To  Njgidius  Figulus\ 


ffw 


1  HOUGH  I  have  long  been  looking  out  for  an 
occasion  of  writing  to  you,  yet  I  have  not  only 
been  unable  to  meet  with  any  particular  sub- 

Nigidius  Figulus  was  a  person  of  great  distinction,  not 
only  in  the  civil,  but  literary  world.     He  had  passed  through 
the  offices  of  tribune  and  praetor,  with  much  honour;  and 
was  at  this  time  in  the  number  of  those  who  were  suffering 
exile  for  having  taken  up  arms  on  the  side  of  Pompey.     He 
was  extremely  well  versed  in  all  the  liberal  sciences,  but  his 
studies  were   principally  consecrated  to  moral   and  natural 
knowledge ;  in  the  latter  of  which  he  seems  to  have  made 
such  extraordinary  discoveries,  as  to  have  occasioned  a  sus- 
piciou  that  he  practised  the  magic  art.     He  was  much  ad- 
dicted to  judicial  astrology;  and,  it  is  said,  that  being  in- 
formed  of  the  birth  of  Octavius,  he  immediately  pronounced 
that  he  was  destined  to  empire.     Lucan  has  celebrated  him 
for  his  learning  of  this  kind,  and  represents  him  as  prophetic 
pally  declaring  the  future  calamities  of  his  country  • 

At  Figulusy  cui  cura  Deos  secretaque  cceli 
Kossefuit,  SfC, 

One  of  the  commentators  asserts,  (though  it  does  not  appear 

^  2  upon 


292 


Thx  letters         Book  IX. 


ject  for  that  purpose,  but  find  myself  utterly 
jrt:  a  loss  even  to  furnish  out  a  common  letter. 
The  calamities  of  our  country  have  spoiled  me- 
for  those  jocose  epistles  with  which,  in  happier 
days,  I  used  to  entertain  my  friends ;  as  fortune 
has  rendered  me  incapable  of  writing,  or,  in 
truth,  of  thinking,  upon  any  subject  of  a  cheer- 
ful nature.     Theie  remains  another  species  of 
letters  of  a  grave  and  serious  cast,  peculiarly 
adapted  to  these  miserable  times.  But,  as  a  let- 
ter of  this  kind  ought  to  contain  either  some 
promise  of  assisting  you  to  surmount  your  mis- 
fortunes, Of  some  arguments  to  support  you 
under  them  ;  from  these,  too,  I  am  hkewise  ex- 
cluded.     Sunk,  indeed,  as  I  am,  into  the  same 
^abject  fortune  as  yourself,  what  assistance  can 
-I  possibly  oifer  you?     In   sad  truth,  I   am 
^obliged  to  have  recourse  myself  to  the  aid  of 
others,  and  I  have  much  more  reason  to  lament 
that  I  live  upon  tl^ese  disgraceful  terms,  than 
to  rejoice  that  I  am  still  in  being.     1  say  not 
this  from  any  extraordinary  injuries  which  I 
have  suffered  in  my  own  person ;  indeed,  there 
]§  nothing  which  in  the  present  conjuncture  I 
could  wish  for  myself^    that  Caesar  has  not 

Toluntarily 

upon  what  «athority)  tftat  Figulire  Mc6  in  exile,  the  year 
foUowmg  the  date  of  this  letter.  Jd  Q.  F.  Y.  2.  Cic,  Fragm. 
d€  Uiutcr.  in  Prinei^.  Dio.  xlv.  p.  270.  Su€t,  m  yhig.3i»^ 
Lucan,  i.  693. 


Book  IX. 


OF  CICERO: 


^ 


voluntarily  offered  me.    Nevertheless,  the  sor- 
rows that  oppress  my  heart,  are  of  so  severe  a 
iaature,  that  I  think  myself  guilty  of  a  crime 
in  sti^l  continuing  to  live.    For  i  live  deprived 
ef  many  of  my  most  intimate  friends,  whom 
deatli,  or  those  public  calaimrtes  which  Yojn 
driven  them  from  their  country,  have  sepaiated 
from  me ;  as  I  have,  likewise,  iost,  by  the  same 
means,    all  those  whose  good-will  I  formerly 
conciliated,  when,   by  your  assistance*,  I  suc- 
cessfully stood  forth  in  defence  of  the  republiev 
I  have  tl^  unhappiness,    at  the  same  time,  t^ 
be  placed  in  the  midst  of  the  ger>eral  wi^eck  an^ 
plutider  of  their  fortunes ;  and  not  only  have 
the  pain  to  hear,  (but  wbirt  is  itit  more  aflfect- 
feg)  am  a  spectator  of  the  dissipation  of  the 
estates  which  belonged  to  tliosiefflustrlous  asso- 
ciates, who  assisted  me  in  extiiiguishmg  the 
fiai^  '"^f  that  dangerous  conspiracy.    Fn  a  word, 
I  have  the  mortificatioa  to  find  -myself  utterfy 
*  ffiwked  of  air  credit,   authority,  aiVd  hcmoiirs 
in  that  republic,   where  I  once  flourt^lied  m 
tKb'ftflrpossessi^n  of  those  glorious  distiiactteiis. 
Cteiaf,  ?tis  >trlic,  acts  towards  me  with  the  ut- 

most 

•^^^^^^lliifles  to  the  affair  of  CatfHne's    conspiracy;  in 
which,  as  u^  ^ver^', other  Arcide.of  pubJjc  corijcorg,  .Cicero 
was  principally  determined  in,  his,con5uct  by  the  sentiin^ts 
.  aaU  advice  of  Nigi^i  us.  .  Plut.  invito  €icer. 

U3 


294 


The   letters 


Book  IX. 


Book  IXi 


OF  CICERO. 


295 


most  generosity  ;  but  his  generosity  cannot  re- 
store what  I  have  lost  by  the  general  violence 
and  confusion  of  the  times.    Thus  bereaved  of 
those  advantages  to  which  I  was  habituated  by 
genius,  by  inclination,  and  by  custom,    I  ima- 
gine that  the  world  is  no  less  dissatified  with 
me,  than  I  am  with  myself.     Formed,  indeed, 
as  I  was  by  nature,  to  be  perpetually  engaged 
in  the  noblest  and  most  important  occupations, 
I  am  now  deprived  of  every  mean,  not  only  of 
acting,  but  of  thinking  to  any  public  purpose^^ 
There  was  a  time  when  my  assistance  could 
have  raised  the  obscure,  and  protected  even 
the  guilty;  but  now  I  cannot  so  much  as  send 
a  favourable  promise  to  Nigidius ;  to  the  vip*^ 
^uous,  the  learned  Nigidius  ;  to  the  man  who 
once  flourished  in  the  highest  credit,  and  wha 
-^as  always  my  warmest  friend  !    Thus  you  see 
that  I  am  totally  disqualified  from  writing  let* 
ters.  to  you  of  this  kiixl. 

The  only  subject  that  remains  to  me,  then, 
is  to  endeavour  to  draw  off  your  mind  from  its 
inquietudes,  by  laying  before  you  such  argu- 
ments as  may  afford  you  a  well-grounded  con-s 
solation.  But,  if  ever  any  man  was  peculiarly 
qualified  to  employ  tlie  strongest  reasonings  of 
this  nature,  either  for  his  own  use,  or  for  that 
of  others,  most  undoubtedly   it  is  yourself. 

Such, 


Such,   therefore,  as  may  b^  drawn  frbm  the' 
refined  sources  of  philosophy,   I  av^II  not  pr^- ' 
tend  to  touch ;  but  shall  teav^  them  entirely  td  • 
your  own  suggestions.     Whatever  is  worthy  of 
a  man  of  true  wisdom  and  fortitude;  whatever 
is  agreeable  to  that  character  you  have  sustain- 
ed in  the  world,  and -to  those  studies  iii..wj>kh  ^ 
you   so  early  excelled;  whatever,  ii;i  shoit,iiiaj 
expected  from  a  great  and  exalted  minicl»in,the' 
circumstances   wherein  you<  arc  pliiced,  youri^ 
own  reflections  wilti  best  supply.  :  1  will  oqiiyT 
take  upon  myself,   therefore,  to  inform  yon  of 
what  I  have  been  able?  to  discover  from  my^ 
being  situated  in  Rome,  and  giving,  a  parti^^ 
cular  attention  to  every  occurreiiite  that  pas^sy 
ImwiU  venture,  then,  -with  confidence^  to  9LSh^ 
sure  you,  that  your  present  troubles  (perhaps,* 
too,   I  might  add,  that,  those  of  tlie^jepublio 
itself)   will  not  be  of  kng  continuance.   .  Foiy 
in  the  first  place,   C£e8a^^e6ms  well  iheiinedto- 
recal  you  from  exile;  'and,  trust  me, ^ I   speak 
this  from  no  hasty  conjecture.     On  the  otm^^ 
trary,r.  I)  examine  his  sentiments  and- disposi- 
tions so  much  the  more  strictly,   as  I  am  less 
biassed  in  his  favour  by  any.  particular  coti- 
nexions.     I  am  persuaded,  then,  that, ^the^-^i^^i 
gle  reason  for  his  delayiaig  toir^feore.yot^^a^ 
tlathe  may  with  a  better  giace,  refuse  tliq'saii^^ 

U  4       •  fstvoui? 


296 


Thz  letters 


Book  IX. 


Bo OK  IX, 


OF  CICERQ. 


a^ 


favour  to  others    against  whom  he  h  HEOffe 
waxi»ly  ificensed.  I  am  sxux,  at  least,  tkat  althil 
most  intimate  friends  and  favourites  bodi  ifliink 
and  speak  of  you  highiy  to  your  Advantage  :£ 
In  the  next  place,  the  populace,  or  rather,:! 
should  say,  the  whole  commniiity  in  general,  arfe 
strongly  in  your  interest.    And  let  me  adx^ 
that  the  republic  herself,  whose  power  ^i^tf^ 
sent,  it  must  be  confessed,  iAx5ertainiy  incoi^ 
siderable,  but  who  must  neceks^nVy,  Howevei; 
recover  some  degree  of  cfiedit;  thejfepuWic 
herself,  believe  me,  will  soon  obtain  >5^nP>^' 
tomtion  from  those  who  at  this  time  hold  her 
in  subjection.    In  this  respect,  therefore,  liftay 
v£nture  even  to  promise  you  some  assistance. 
With  this  view,  I  sliall  closely  attach  myself  to 
Gaesar's  favourites,  who  are  all  of  them,  iadeoi, 
extremely  fond  of  me,  and  spend  much  of  tlieir 
time  in  my  company ;  as  I  shall  insinua«te  myself 
into  an  intimacy  with  Caesar,  to  which  my  own 
modesty  has  hitherto  proved  the  single  obstruc- 
tion^     In  short,  I  shall  pursue  every  probable 
Uiean  of  this  kind  (and  some,  too,  that  I  dare  not 

commit 

'•^  '  ItrecfUires,  perhaps,  no  ordinary  portion  of  faith,  to  believe 
It  was  modeHy  that  kept  Cicero  at  a  distance  from  Caesar. 
The  true  reason,  indeed,  appears  from  Cicero's  own  account 
In  the  tut  paragraph  of  the^Uovring  fetter,  w^iere  he  touches 
upon  this  article  in  a  more  ingenuous  manner,  than  he 
thought  proper  in  the  prtsent  iiatance.  See  the  I7th  and 
9^  Letters  of  this  book. 

1 


tXMmmit  to  paper)  in  order  to  obtain  yowrret 
tumu  As  to  other  articles  of  tsgistance^  I  am 
sensible  there  are  many  who  are  perfectly  weil 
inclined  to  o&ryon  their  services;  butytmnii^ 
dqmid  upfon  me  as  the  first  and  forwaidcat  in 
Aat  nuaabcr.  Th«  mo&t  tratU  is,  tbere  as  lib 
part  of  my  estate  which  is  aot  as  jfi^jatryoac 
disposal  as  it  is  at  mine.  But  I  will  say  the  less 
upon  this  subject,  as  I  would  ratlier  encourage 
you  to  hope  (what  I  am  wejl  persuaded  will  be 
the  case)  that  you  will  soon  h^ve  itin^your  pow* 
cr  to  make  use  of  your  own.  In  the  mean  while 
let  aoc  conjure  you  to  preserve  a  firm  and  fia# 
feroken  spirit,  ranembering  not  only  th^  sob* 
Buie  ptrecepts  you  Iwivc  necciyedfrom  olher  ce.^ 
iebrated  philosophers,  but  those  likewise  which 
have  been  the  produce  of  ycwr  own  judicious  re- 
flections. If  you  attend  to  these,  they  will  teach 
you  to  hope  the  best,  and  at  the  same  time  to 
meet  whatever  may  happen  with  a  wise  compof 
«ure  of  miad*     But  these  are  sentiments  which 


;oia.''/'' 


-jff#»T 


illD 


'•n-*N%ifliu8  published  manytj^atises  on  different  ^bi^anches 
of  human  and  theological  science,  the  subjects  of  which  Ma- 
nntius,  >ith  his  usual  learning  and  industry,  has  collected 
from  the  several  ancient  writers  wherein  they  are  cited;  It 
is  probable,  from  the  present  .passage,  that  he  had>  published 
tmlso  some  treatise  concerning  fortitude,  upon  th«  Pyih^gork 
principle*.  It  is  certain,  at  least,  that  Ni^idius  (aad  i|;  is  ^. 
circOTBstance  greatly  to  the  honour  of  his  character)  at- 
^^empted  to  bring  the  piiyjosophy  of  Pythagoras  into  credit 

with 


2pa 


The  XETTERS 


B6oit  IX. 


no  man  is  so  capable  to  suggest  tb  you  as  your* 
self*  I  will  only  add,  then,  that  you  inay  be^ 
assured  of  my  carefully  and  zealously  embracing^ 
every  opportunity  of  promoting  your  welfare  ;.* 
as.  I  shall  always  retain  a  grateful  remembrance 
of  the  generous  services  youxonferred  uponm© 
during  my  severe  afflictions^     FareweL 


'  <  ^ 


1    t.     *  Ju 


i 

^^•4) 


LETTER  IV. 

[A.U.707.] 


:  uc 


To  Marcus  MarcelIus^,  .  ,^    ..,^ 

X^kWII*^  not  venture  to  condemn,  though- 1, 
have  not  myself  pursued  those  measured '-iti 
which  I  find  you  still  persevere^,  as  I  have  toci 

high 

witk  his  countrymen  ;  wbicli,  after  having  flbuFishedtTi  Italy 
durin'»  some  centuries,  was  now  grown  almost  enlir^jly  out  of 
repute.  It  is  no  wonder,  indeed,  that  a  system  which,  in 
many  of  its  precepts,  seems  to  have  approached  very  near, 
to  the  divine  morality  of  th^  Christian  in^titutioi^,  was  re- 
jected in  an  age  in  which  the  only  fashionable  principles 
were,  to  acquire  wealth  by  ^very  means  of  avdrice  and  in- 
justice, and  to  dissipate  it  by  every  method  of  luxury  and 
profusion.     Cic.  Fragm.  de  Univ.  in  Princip, 

5  This  alludes  to  Cicero's  banishment,  in   tfee  year  694?, 
at  which  time  Nigidius  was  prajtor.     Pigh,  Annal.  ii.  36 1. 

*  For  a  particular  account  of  the  character  and  conduct 
of  Marcejlus,  see  rem.  3.  let.  31.  of  book  iii.       .     ,-  .^  ,.,  .- 

^  This  alludes  to  the  different  conduct  of  Cicfeh)  ini 
Marcellus,  after  the  battle  of  Pharsalia ;  the  former  (as  hai 
already  been  remarked)  having  immediately  rfcturned  into 
Italy,  in  order  to  throw  himself  at  the  feet  of  the  conqueror, 
the  latter  retiring  to  Mitylenip,  the  capital  of  Lesbos,,  l^, 
this  city  Marcellus  probably  resided,  when  the  present  leiler 
was  written. 


Book  IX. 


■:  *": 


t)^  CICERO, 


S9Sf 


high  an  bpttlion  of  your  judgment,  to  think  the 
preference  is  due  to  my  own.     The  friendship^ 
however,  in  which  we  have  so  long  been  inti-» 
mately  united,    together  with  those  singular 
mai*ks  of  affection  you  have  shewn  towards  me, 
from  your  earliest  youth,  induce  me  to  recom- 
mend to  you  what  seems  conducive  to  your  in- 
terest, at  the  same  time  that  it  appears  by  no 
means  inconsistent  with  your  honour. 
•    I  am  sensible  that  you  long  foresaw,  no  less 
than  myself,   tliose  calamities  that  have  fallen 
upon  our  country :  and  I  well  remember  the 
patriot  conduct  fon  displayed  during  your  glo- 
rious administration  of  the  consular  office.  But 
r  remember,  too,  that  you  disapproved  of  the 
manner  in  which  the  civil  war  was  conducted  ; 
and  that,  far  from  being  satisfied  either  with  the 
strength  or  nature  of  Pompey's  forces,  you  >yere 
always  extremely  diffident  of  their  success;  in 
which,  I  need  not  add,  I  entirely  agi:ced  with 
you.     In  conformity  to  these  our  mutual  sen-* 
timents,  as  you  did  not  enter  very  far  into  the 
war  on  your  part,  so  I  always  endeavoured  as 
much  as  possible  to  avoid  it  on  mine.   The  point 
in  contest  between  the  adverse  parties  was  not  to 
be  decided  indeed  by  the  force  of  their  counsels," 
andthe  justice  of  their  cause,  in  which  w^  I>a4 
undoubtedly  iht  atdvantage,  but  by  the  single 

strength 


soo 


The  letters 


Book  IX. 


Boojc  IX.       OF  CICERO. 


301 


strenjrth  of  their  swords,  wherein  we  were  evi- 
dently  inferior.  Vanquished,  therefore,  we  ac- 
cordingly are:  or,  if  virtue  never  can  be  van- 
quished, yet  certaifily,  at  least,  we  are  fallen. 
Your  conduct  cannot  but  be  greatly  and  uni- 
versally applauded,  in  having  renounced  the 
spirit  of  contention,  when  you  lost  the  hopes 
of  success  ;  and  you  shewed,  by  jx)ur  own  ex- 
ample, that  as  a  wise  and  honest  patriot  Avill  al- 
ways enter  into  a  civil  war  with  reluctance,  so 
he  will  never  choose  to  carry  it  on  to  its  last 
desperate  extremity.  Those  who  did  not  pur- 
sue the  same  measures  formed  themselves  into 
two  different  parties ;  and  while  some  retreated 
into  Africa,  in  order  to  renew  tlic  war,  others, 
and  myself  among  the  rest,  submitted  to  the 
conqueror.  But  you  thought  proper  to  steer  a 
middle  course,  unagining,  perhaps,  that  it  was 
mean  to  yield,  and  obstinacy  to  resist.  In  this, 
I  must  confess,  you  are  thought  by  many  (I 
might  say  by  the  world  in  general)  to  have 
given  a  proof  of  your  virtue;  while  there  are 
numbers  who  admire  it  likewise  as  an  instance 
of  great  magnanimity'.     Nevertheless  there  is 

a  time, 

^  It  is  probable  that  Brutus  was  in  the  number  of  those 
who  were  in  Cicero's  thoughts  upon  this  occasion,  as  may  be 
collected  from  a  passage  in  Seneca.  This  noble  moralist 
pelates,  that  Brutus,  in  a  treatise  which  he  wrote  Concern- 
ing virtue,   mentioned  his  having  paid  a  visit  to  Marcellus 

at 


a  time,  it  should  seem,  when  this  measure  may 
cease  to  be  any  longer  justifiable ;  especially  as 
nothing,  I  am  persuaded,  is  wanting  to,  esta- 
blish yau  ]Al»  the  full  possession  af  your  for- 
tunes, but  your  own  concurrence.  For  he  in 
wham  all  power  is  centred*  has  no  otlier  objec- 
tion, I  find,  to  granting  yoa  this  favour,,  but 
that  he  is  apprehensive  you  are  by  no  mean$ 
disposed  to  think  it  one.  What  my  own  sen- 
timents are  as  to  that  point,  is  too  evident  by 
my  conduct,  to  render  it  necessary  to  explain 
them.  Bnt  this,  however,  I  will  say,  that  al- 
;^ugh  you  should  prefer  a  state  of  perpetual 
exile,  rather  than  be  a  spectator  of  what  you 
cannot  but  disapprove,  yet  you  should  reflect, 
that  it  is  impossible,  in  any  part  of  the  world, 
to  be  placed  out  of  the  readfi  of  his  power 
whom  you  desire  to  avoid.     And  even  grant- 

ing 

at  Mitylenc,  where  he  found  him  in  the  utmost  tranquillity^ 

pursuing,  with  all  his  usual  taste  and  spirit,  the  moral  and 

polite   arts.     "And   I  could  not  forbear  thinking,"   added 

Brutus,  **  wh^n  I  took  ray  leave  of  Marcel lus,  in  order  to 

**  return  to  Rome,  that  it  was  I  myself,  and  not  my  friend, 

^  who  deserved  to  be  lamented  as  the  exile.'*     Seneca  takes 

occasion  from  hence  to  introduce  a  soliloquy,  which  be  puts 

into  the  mouth  of  this  illustrious  exile  ;  and  he  concludes  it 

with  a  sentiment  that  raises  the  highest  idea  both  of  Brutus 

and  Marcellus.      "  Let   conquered  nations    (he    supposes 

**  Marcellus  to  have  said  to  himself)  look  with  wonder  upon 

*^^*  Cdesar;  but  live  thou,  Brutd  miratore  contehtus, 

"^satisfied  with  having  gained  the  admiration  of  Brutus  T 

^i^tc.  Consul,  ad  Ihhid,  0. 

^"^*  Caesar.  «*^  ^ 

7e 


302 


Th£  letters 


Book  IX*- 


ing  it  probable  that  he  should  suffer  you  to 
live  free  and  unmolested  in  a  voluntary  banish^' 
ment,  yet  it  deserves  your  consideration,  whe-^ 
ther  it  would  not  be  more  eligitte,  whatever 
the  situation  of  pubHc  affairs  may  be,  to  spend 
your  days  in  Rome,  than  at  Rhodes  or  Mity-*T 
lene.     But,  since  that  power  which  we  dread 
extends  itself  over  every  part  of  the  globe,  is  it^ 
not  better  to  live  securely  under  your  owo^ 
roof,  than  in  perpetual  danger  under  that  of 
another  ?     For  myself,  at  least,  if  even  death 
were  my  resolution,  yet  I  would  rather  choose 
to  expire  in  my  own  country,  and  in  my  ownl 
mansion,   than  at  a  strangers  house,  and  in  a 
foreign  land. 

All  who  love  you  (and  your  illustrious  vir- 
tues have  rendered  that  party  extremely  nume* 
rous)  join  with  me  in  these  sentiments.  In 
this  we  have  a  regard,  likewise,  to  the  preser- 
vation of  your  estate,  which  we  should  be  sorry 
to  see  dissipated.  For  though  neither  that  per- 
son who  governs  the  republic,  nor,  indeed,  the 
republic  itself,  would  suffer  any  injuries  of  this 
kind  to  remain  always  unredressed,  yet  I  would 
not,  in  the  mean  time,  have  your  estate  ex- 
posed to  the  depredations  of  certain  lawless  in- 
vaders, whom  I  should  not  scruple  to  name,  if 
I  Avere  not  persuaded  that  you  perfectly  well 
know  to  whom  I  allude.  Your 


Book  IX.         of  CICERO. 


303 


Your  very  excellent  relation,  Caius  Marcel- 
lus',  discovers  a  singular  zeal  in  his  frequent 
and  earnest  applications  to  Cassar  on  your  be- 
half And  thpugh  I  am  not  in  a  situation  to 
second  these  his  solicitations,  I  claim,  however; 
the  next  rank,  in  my  anxiety  for  your  welfare. 
The  truth  is,  I  have  stood  too  much  in  need 
of  an  advocate  myself,  to  take  the  liberty  of 
acting  that  part  for  another ;  as  all  the  merit  I 
can  plead,  is  to  have  yielded  after  having  beea 
conquered\  Nevertheless,  as  far  as  my  advice 
and  endeavours  can  be  of  any  avail  in  your  af- 
fairs, they  are  not  wanting  to  Caius.  The 
jcst  of  your  family  do  not  think  proper  to  con- 
sult me,  though  they  may  always  be  assured  of 
finding  me  ready  to  exert  my  best  services 
wherever  your  interest  is  concerned.     Farewel. 

LETTER 

"An  account  has  been  given  of  him  in  rem.  4.  p.  322. 
vol.  1.  ^ 

*  See  rem.  3.  on  the  preceding  letter. 


n,  r! 


'I 


.'1 

I, 


T   OJ 


304 


Tbt  lETTERS       Booa  IX. 


_i 


LETTER  V. 
[A.  U.  ror?.] 


A 


4  • 


'To  TrebiajtusX 

•     •  ■  *  ■ 

I  SHOULD  have  written  to  you  sooner,  if  it 
had  been  eithernn  jny  power  to  have  prOTni««i 
you  any  effectual  assistance,  or  necessary  to 
have  offered  you  any  consolation ;  eoietir.the 
other  being  the  part  of  every  friend,  -in  so  un- 
happy a  conjuncture  as  the  present     But  I 
fbrborc  the  latter,  as  I  was  informed  by  many 
hands,  of  the  resolute  and  philosophical  spirit 
\rith  lehich  you  support  the  umjust  persecution 
jrou  arc  suffering  from   the  violence   of  the 
times,  and  of  the  strong  consolation  you  receire 
from  the  consciousness  of  that  integrity  by 
Avhich  all  vour  counsels  and  actions  towardsi 
tkc-  public  were  directed.     If  this  account  bo 
true, .  (and  let.  me  earnestly  exhort  you  to  ve- 
rify it)  you  reap  the  happy . fruits  of  those  noble 
cx>utempktions,in\vbich,.I  well-know,  you  have 
evdr-been  eon\^rsant.  I  will  venture  at  the  same 
tfiiie-Jaa^^ire  you,  (liow  unnecessary  soever  that 

^.:,       ^d.  ^v  -..assurance' 


••-«  • 


^  The  pef^oti  to  wBom  this  letter  is  inscribed  is  mention-^ 
fd-bv  na  oiher*m.Hahl  w.iter  ;  so  ihat  ootl^ing  more  Ukiwiwa, 
oAim  thin  wha*t  roay^be  collected  from  this  and  two  more 
epiille«  «44re%sed  to^iiin  M>tb«  present^^ok.-  4r«ppears  bd 

in  Vhe  cIvTw^r^r^d'nTa'f  he  was  sVon  atierwards  reilo^ed 
lo  fca.^b®M ry  by  the  good  oKces  of  Dolabella.    ♦    -  -^ 


JTtfoxIX.        •.6F-CICER0.  305 

assurance  may  be  to  a  man  so  perfectly  well  at> 
quainted  with  the  present  ftge,  and  so  tho- 
roughly versed  in  the  annals  of  all  the  past) 
that  the  cruel  injuries  under  which  you  are  op- 
pressed cannot  possibly  continue  long.     And 
this,  conjecture  you  may  safely  take  from  ©ne; 
whorifheis  less  a  politician  in  theory,  perhaps' 
than  he  wishes,  is  certainly  much  more  so  by 
experience  than  he  desires.     Cssar,    indeed, 
seems  to  be  every  day  more  and  more  inclined 
fo  adopt  those  equitable  measures,  which  our 
public  circumstances  require.  The  cause,  like- 
wise, for  which  you  suffer,  is  of  such  a  nature, 
that  it  must  necessarily  revive  and  flourish  with 
the  republic ;  which  most  undoubtedly  cannot 
always  remain  in  its  present  state  of  subjection* 
To  which  I  will  add,  thatCffisaris  continually 
giving  proofs  of  greater  moderation  and  gene- 
rosity than  we  once  imagined  he  would-  hav€ 
shewn.     But  as  instances  of  this  kind  are  ge- 
netally  protluced  by  particular  conjunctures, 
and  frequently  too  depend  upon  very  minutB 
circumstances,  I  shall  watch  every  favourable 
moment,  and  endeavour  to  improve  it  to  your 
best  advantage;  for  you  may  be  assured  I  shall 
neglect  no  opportunity  of  assisting  and  alle- 
viating your  Misfortunes.     I  hope,  likewise, 
that  the  time  is  approaching,  when  I  shall  be 
enabled  to  promise  you  some  more  effectual 

Vol  ir  Y  ■' 

**•  ^  service: 


306 


The  letters        Book  IX. 


service:  of  which,  however,  I  had  much  rather 
give  you  proofs,  than  professions.  In  the 
mean  while  be  persuaded,  that,  as  far  as  I  have 
been  capable  of  observing,  there  is  no  man  who 
either  is,  or  has  been,  under  the  same  misfor- 
tune with  yourself,  that  can  boast  of  so  many 
zealous  and  faithful  friends:  in  which  number 
I  claim  the  principal  rank. 

Let  me  conclude  with  entreating  you  to  pre- 
serve a  firm  and  unbroken  fortitude:  for  this  is 
a  possession  which  depends  entirely  upon  your- 
jself.  As  to  what  is  in  the  disposal  of  Fortune, 
it  must  be  governed  by  particular  circum- 
stances :  and  I  shall  exert  all  my  prudence  to 
turn  them  in  the  most  advantageous  manner 
for  your  interest.     FareweL 


LETTER  VI. 

,  [A.  U.T07.] 

To  Gallvs*. 

I  AM  much  surprised  at  your  reproaches :  as 
I  am  sure  they  are  altogether  without  foundai- 
tion.  But  were  they  ever  so  just,  they  would 
come  with  a  very  ill  grace  from  yoli,  who  ought 
r  to 

:.  .♦  Manutius  conjecturci*,  that  this  Gallus  is  the  same  wiA 
Publius  Sesiius,  to  whom  the  fifth  letter  of  the  first  book  is 
addressed  :  whose  family  name,  he  supposes  (from  a  passage 
which  he  cites  j>ut  ^f  the  oration  for  Milo)  to  have  bee* 
Gailus,  That  leurned  commentator  supports  this  opinion 
.,-'-••  -  *  with 


Book  IX. 


Of  CICERO. 


sor 


to  have  remembered  those  marks  of  distinction 
you  received  from  me  during  my  consulate.  It 
seems,  however,  (for  so  you  are  pleased  to  in- 
form me)  thatCassar  will  certainly  restore  you. 
I  know  you  are  never  sparing  of  your  boasts : 
but  I  know  too,  that  they  have  the  ill  luck 
never  to  be  credited.  It  is  in  the  same  apiril 
you  remind  me,  that  you  offered  yourself  as  « 
candidate  for  the  tribunitial  office,  merely  in 
order  to  serve  me^  Now  tx)  shew  you  ho# 
much  I  am  in  your  interest,  I  wish  you  were  a 
tribune  still :  as  in  that  case  you  could  Hot  bu 
at  a  loss  for  an  intercessoi^.  You  go  on  to  ite^ 
proach  me,  with  not  daring  to  speak  my  seirti^ 
ments.  In  proof,  however,  of  the  contrary,  I 
need  only  refer  you  ta  the  reply  I  made,  whea 
you  had  the  front  to  solicit  my  assistance. 

wlt^  soilie  very  plausible  reasons :  but  as  the  pWAi  iti  tjues^ 
tion  is  of  little  consequence,  the  reader  will  readily  excusp 
me  that  1  save  him  the  trouble  of  considering  them.  Gallus 
item  to  have  been  in  the  number  of  the  Pompeian  exiles: 
and  to  have  drawn  upon  himself  this  letter,  in  answer  lo  one, 
wherein  he  had  reproached  Cicero  with  ingratitude,  in  re- 
fusing to  assist  him  with  his  good  offices. 

*  Probably  during  Cicero's  exile. 

*  Cicero's  witticism,  in  this  passage,  turns  upon  the  double 
sense  of  the  word  intercessor:  which,  besides  its  general  mean- 
ing, has  relation  likewise  to  a  particular  privilege  annexed  to 
the  tribunitial  office.  For  every  tribune  had  the  liberty  of 
interposing  his  negative  upon  the  proceedings  of  the  senate  : 
aifhich  act  was  called  infercessio,  and  the  person  who  executed 
it  was  said  lo  be  the  intercessor  of  the  particular  law,  or  oth.r 
matter  in  deliberation. 

X  2 


308 


The  letters 


Book  IX. 


Thus,  (to  let  you  see  how  absolutely  impo- 
tent you  are,  where  you  most  affect  to  appear 
formidable)  I  thought  proper  to  answer  you  in 
your  own  style.  If  you  had  made  your  remon- 
strances in  the  spirit  of  good  manners,  I  should 
with  pleasure,  as  I  could  with  ease,  have  vm- 
dicated  myself  from  your  charge :  and,  in  truth; 
k  is  not  your  conduct,  but  your  language,  that 
I  have  reason  to  resent.  I  am  astonished,  in-*- 
deed,  that  you,  of  all  men  living,  should  ac- 
cuse me  of  want  of  freedom,  who  are  sensible 
it  is  by  my  means  that  there  is  any  freedom 
left  in  the  republic^.  I  say  you  of  all  men 
iiving:  because,  if  the  inforaiations  you  gave 
iie  concerning  Catiline's  conspiracy  were  falser; 
wJiere  are  the  services  oi  which  you  remind  me? 
If  they  were  true,  yotu  yourself  are  the  best 
judge  how  great  those  obligations  are  which  I 
have  conferred  upon  every  Roman  in  genetal. 
Farewel.  f 

LETTER 

^  Alludio^  to  hit  havii)g  suppressed  Catiline's  conspiracj. 


,/*^-i-ii 


.'A 


\'.\jk\ 


'   i\  -'^fi'li 

n6}«i9b 

i>  .  -..J 

■-^mX 

\  ■-.  r  \ 

-    ,4iidVl/[ 

Mi  :*ejdj  io 

•  \*  *    *  rf  ^  *    , 

'  •  '  ^UW  li 

i-i*-<?>H. 

...  >.  }  ^Biil 

.iv>to  ja^m 

..^     s;  JuijBni  f&v» 

4#     ^^ 


Book  IX- 


OF  CICERO. 


309 


\ i^'  'i  I 


'J      '//    :.** 


LETTER  VIL 

[A.  u.  ro7j 


To  P.  Servilius  Isaur^cus,  Proquses'tor. 

Wh  I  lst  I  was  proconsul  of  Cilicia,  (to  which, 
you  know,  three  Asiatic  departments'  were  an- 
nexed) there  was  no  man  with  Avhom  I  entered 
into  a  stricter  intimacy  than  with  Andro,  the 
son  of  Artemon,  of  Laodicea.  I  was  his  guesi 
during  my  residence  in  that  city  :  as  his  temper 
-and  manner  of  life  ej^tremely  well  accorded 
with  mine.  But  my  esteem  for  him  rose  still 
higher  after  I  left  the  province,  baving,  upon 
many  subsequent  occasions,  experienced  the 
gratitude  with  which  he  preserved  me  in  his 
rememrbrance.  Accordingly,  it  was  with  great 
'    ■  pleasure 

■  The  classic  writers  speak  of  Asia  in  three  different  senses, 
which,  if  not  carefully  distinguished,  are  apt  to  create  great 
confusion.  Sometimes  they  comprehend  under  the  denomi- 
nation of  Asia,  that  vast  tract  of  land  which  made  up  the 
third  part  in  their  general  divisioij  of  the  whole  globe:  some- 
times they  mean  only  so  much  of  that  Continent  which  was 
terminated  by  the  bay  of  Issus,  and  the  Pontus ;  and  some- 
times they  confine  it  to  a  still  more  limited  portion,  and  un,- 
derstand  by  Asia  that  kingdom  which  Atalus  Philometor, 
king  of  Pergamus,  bequeathed  to  the  Romans,  containing 
Mysia,  Phrygia,  Ionia,  Lycaonia,  &c.  In  the  two  former 
of  these  senses,  Cilicia  was  a  province  of  Asia;  in  the  latter 
it  was  not.  It  is  with  respect,  therefore,  to  this  last  division 
that  Cicero  calls  the  three  districts  annexed  to  his  govern- 
ment of  Cilicia,  Asiatic;  in  one  of  which  the  city  of  Laodicea 
was  included.    Sigon.  de  Jur.  Provinc.  i.  10^ 

X3 


510 


The  letters        Book  IX. 


Book  IX.  of  CICERO. 


Sli 


pleasure  I  lately  saw  him  in  Rome :  as  you  will 
easily  believe,  who  know,  by  the  many  good 
offices  you  have  yourself  conferred  upon  his 
countrymen,  how  few  of  them  are  disposed  to 
be  thus  sensible  of  obligations.  I  mention  these 
<?ircum5tances  to  shew  you,  in  the  first  place, 
that  it  is  not  without  reason  I  interest  myself 
in  his  concerns :  and  in  the  i>ext,  that  his  merit 
wdl  entitles  him  to  a  generous  reception  under 
your  roof.  I  shall  be  greatly  indebted  to  you, 
therefore,  for  giving  him  a  proof  of  the  regard 
you  bear  me,  by  receiving  him  into  your  pro- 
tection, and  assisting  him  in  all  his  affairs  :  so 
fkr>  I  mean,  as  may  be  consistent  with  your 
convenience  and  your  honour.  And  this  I  most 
earnestly  request,  as  an  instance  of  your  friend- 
ship that  will  be  exceedingly  agreeable  to  me. 
FareweL 

LETTER  VIIL 

[A.  U.  707.] 

ToTrebianus. 

I  AM  no  less  sensible  of  the  share  you  allow  vf\e 
inyourfriendshipjthanlamco^s.ciousofthataf-. 
fection  which  I  have  ever  entertained  for  you  in 
return.  Agreeably  to  these  sentiments,  I  always 
lamented  that  it  was  your  choice,  or  rather,  I 
should  say,  your  fate,  to  persevere  in  our  civil 

wars  : 


wars ;  and  I  now  feel  the  $ame  cpncern  at  the 
unjust  delay  you  meet  with  in  being  restored  to 
your  estate  and  honours,  as  you  have  always 
shewn  in  my  misfortunes.  I  have  frequently  and 
fully  opened  my  heart  upon  this  subject,  not 
only  to  Posthumulenus,  to  Sestius,  and  to  our 
common  friend  Atticus,  but  lately  also  to  your 
freedman  Theuda :  to  each  of  whom  I  have 
given  repeated  assurances,  that  it  is  my  earnest 
desire  to  serve  both  you  and  your  children  to 
the  utmost  of  my  ability.  I  beg,  therefore,  when 
you  write  to  the  latter,  that  you  would  assure 
them  they  may  most  readily  command  me,  upon 
every  occasion,  wherein  my  purse,  my  pains,  or 
my  sincere  advice  (for  these,  at  least,  are  still  in 
my  power)  can  be  of  any  advantage  to  their  af- 
fairs.    If  I  enjoyed  that  influence  and  autho- 
rity in  the  commonwealth,  to  which  the  public 
services  I  have  performed  most  justly  entitle 
me ;  you,  who  deserve  every  honour  that  can 
be  conferred,  as  well  as  are  confessedly  the  first 
of  that  illustrious  order  to  which  you  belong', 
should  retain  the  same  distinguished  rank,  in 
the  republic  you  once  possessed.    BuVsftieewe 
both  of  us  fell  at  the  same  time,  and  In  the 
"  same  cause*,  I  can  only  promise  you  what  yet 

remains 

*  The  equestrian. 

*  That  of  Powpey.  , 

X4  "• 


«♦ 


The  letters  Bqor(I35£ 


remains  in  my  power:  the  small  assi$taricc£lr 
iB|?Rtioned  above,  together  with. that  little  deti 
gree  of  credit  which  I.  still,  perhaps^  htace  in 
some  sort  preserved  from  the  general  wreck 
of  my  former  dignities.  I  have  reason,  indeed, 
from  many  instances,  to  believe,  that  Ca?sar  is 
not  averse  to  me  :  and  almost  all  his  principal 
favourites,  who  happen  to  be  persons  to  whom 
1  have  formerly  rendered  very  considerable  serr 
vfcVsJ*  cfi^tihguish  me  with  peculiar  marks  of 
their  esteem  and  consideration.  If,  therefore! 
1  sTioUia  find  a  favourable  opportunity  of  ap^ 
plying  to  Caesar  in  your  behalf,  (which  1  ain 
inore  ^na  riiore  inclined  to  hope,  from  what  I 


can  discover  by  the  conversation  of , these  my 
friend^;)  I  shall  not  fail  very  strenuously  tp 
solicit  nim  m  person  for  your  restoration,  a^  it 
\i  iipon  the  obtaining  of  this  point  that  the^ 
recovery  6f  your  estate  must  depend.  It  is 
unnecessary  to  enter  into  particulars  upon  ^hLs 
article ;  let  me  only  assure  you,  in  one  word^ 
that  I  am  wholly  and  most  affectionately  de- 
vSt^ffHo  youi^'setvice/  Uut,  as  it  much  im^^^ 
pdh^  me  that  a|l  your  family  should  be 
a|ipfisyH^'6¥  this 'truth,  I  hope  your  letters 
Trill  acquaint  them,  that  Trebianiis  may 
^fSmmand  whatever  is  in  the  power  of  Ci- 
c^rp  to  perform.  I  particularly  jnention  this, 
as  t  am  desirous  they  should  be  persuaded 
^  """that 


Book  XI. 


OT 'CrCERO;  '* 


515 


-diat  there  is  nothing  so  difficult  which  I  should 
Bot  with  pleasure  undertake,  in  Order  to^rendfer 
you  any  service.     Farewel 

jIo  n  ■■'  '  " 

.bf)-)>.  LETTER  IX. 


[A.U.  707.J 
To  QUINTU3  GAJLLIUS^ 


trrof' 

\JL  HOUGH  I  hope  to  receive  many  instances 
hereafter  of  the  regard  \^oubear  me,  (of  which^ 
ihdeed,  you  have  long  since  rendered  me  suf- 
ficiently sensible)  yet  there  is  one  which  at  prcr 
sent  occurs,  wherein  you  may  give  me  a  very 
convincing  proof  of  your  friendship.  Lucius 
Oppius,  the  son  of  Marcqs,  is  a  merchant  in, 
Philomelium^,  with  whom  I  am  extremely  inti- 
mate. But,  besides  warmly  recopimepding  him 
as  a  man  t  love,  I  musf  likewise  qiaim  your 
kindness  to  him,  as  he  is  an  agent  for  EguatJU^ 
Kiifus,  a  Roman  knight,  with  whom  I  an]  most 
affectipnately  connected,  not  only  by^jiydstily 
intercourse,  but  by  many  and  great  good  offices. 
I  beseech  you,  then,  to  take  the  persoji  of  Op- 
pius, together  witli  the  affairs  of  Egjiatius,  into 
your  protection :  a  request  which  J  make  with 

as 

*  Who  this  person  was,  is  entirely  unknown.  He  seems, 
to' fekve  been  setting  out  for  the  government  of  one  of  the 
eastern  provinces,  when  thitJ  letter  was  written, 

^  A  city  of  Phrygia,  upon  the  borders  of  Galatia. 


314 


The  letters  Book  IX. 


aft  much  zeal  as  if  my  own  interest  were  con- 
cerned. Again  and  again,  thejefore,  I  entreat 
your  compliance.  I  beg,  likewise,  that  you 
would  give  two  or  three  lines  to  be  presented 
to  you  as  a  memorandum  when  you  shall  ar- 
rive in  your  province.  But  I  desire  you  would 
express  them  in  such  terms,  as  Inay  strongly 
remind  you  how  very  earnestly  I  applied  in  be- 
half of  these  my  friends.     FareweL 


LETTER  X. 

[A.  U.  707.] 

To  Marcus  Marcellus. 

I  DAHE  not  pretend  to  advise,  or  to  animate 
a  man  of  your  distinguished  judgment  and 
magnanimity;  much  less  shall  I  attempt  to 
send  you  any  consolation.  If  it  be  true,  in- 
deed that  you  bear  the  sad  events  which  have 
lately  happened,  in  the  manner  I  am  informed, 
T  have  more  reason  to  congratulate  your  forti- 
tude, than  to  sooth  your  affliction.  But  wxre 
the  fact  entirely  otherwise,  and  you  had  sunk 
under  the  pressure  of  our  pubUc  misfortunes ; 
yet  I  am  so  far  from  being  qualified  to  allevi- 
ate your  sorrows,  that  I  am  altogether  incapa- 
ble of  assuaging  my  ov/n.  The  single  testi- 
mony, therefore,  that  I  can  give  you  of  my 

friendship, 


Book  IX. 


OF  CICERO. 


315 


friendship,  is  to  convince  your  family,  by  my 
reiaidiness  in  complying  with  all  their  request^ 
that  there  are  no  services  so  great  which  they 
have  not  reason  to  expect  from  me  on  your  ac- 
count. 

But,  notwithstanding  I  just  now  disclaimed 
all  right  of  sending  you  my  admonitions  ;  yet 
I  cannot  forbear  saying  (and  you  may  consider 
it  either  as  my  advice,  my  opinion,  or  what  my 
friendship  would  not  suffer  me  to  suppress) 
that  I  wish  you  would  prevail  with  yourself  to 
adopt  the  same  measures  which  I  have  pursued, 
and   return   to  Italy.      1   wish,    indeed,   you 
would  be  persuaded  to  think,  that  if  the  repub- 
lic should  in  any  degree  subsist,  you  ought  to 
live  in  it,  as  one  who,  though  justly,  and  iu  the 
general  estimation  of  the  world,  is  deserving  of 
the  highest  rank,   yet,  wisely  submitted  to  the 
irresistible  necessity  of  the  times :  and  if  the 
republic  should  be  totally  destroyed,  that  you 
would  look  upon  Rome  as  the  most  proper 
.scene  of  exile.     For,  tell  me,  my  friend,  if  li- 
berty be  the  object  of  our  pursuit,  what  part 
of  the  world  is  exempted  from  the  present  do- 
minion ?  or  if  some  place  of  retirement  be  what 
we  seek,  where  can  we  find  a  more  eligible  re- 
treat, than  in  our  native  country  ?    And,  be- 
lieve me,  he  who  holds  the  supreme  power,  is 

not 


Sl6 


The  LETTERS 


BobK  IX» 


Book  IX* 


o^i  CICEBO. 


817 


not  only  a  friend  to  genius  and  literature,  but 
disposed,  as  far  as  the  circumstances  and  situ- 
atien  of  his  affairs  will  permit,  to  pay  a  particu- 
lar regard  to  those  who  are  distinguished  by  their 
birth^  and  dignities.  But  this  is  going  farther 
than  I  intended.  To  return,  therefore,  to  the 
single  purpose  of  my  letter :  let  me  assure  yon 
that  I  am  wholly  yours,  and  ready  to  co^oper 
rate  with  your  relations  in  every  instance 
wherein  they  shall  approve  themselves  such^ 
B«t  if  they  should  not,  you  may  depend,  at 
least,  upon  my  acting,  upon  allocccisions,  agree* 

ably  to  our  friendship.     Earewel. 

LETTER 


^j  ?  Th*  family  of  Marcellus  was  one  of  the  noblest  ia 
Rome.     See  rem.  3.  p.  320.  vol.  i. 

♦If  appears  from  tbis  and  other  passages  in  tbese  letters, 
that  tome  part  of  Marcellus's  family  discovered  less  warmth 
in  promoting  bis  welfare  tban  seems  to  have  been  due  to  the 
pktui  of  to  illustriouft  a  relation. 

lot  la  i^H 


^im^ni  lit? 

i 

uo/  iloiff^ 

■ 

ll!')/  14(1 

"nLijy  j»oL 

i.}uu  .ii'.uiir.                                - 

itvAdjliii: 

:         ..   '           rv%4'y  to  is'Jfl 

U/il  i.  Jli 

jiii  .        •                            }'.   »r 

-JA    ^  . 

•ri  ili.'/  1  .l»i»i;  ^^iswx  1  *j«;!)iiJ  oi* 

' 

;*-...     5yd    ^  .' 

^;v 


-iili?  ^n^ 


LETTER  XI. 
[A.  u.  7or.] 


'   lilO  lOfl 


AT'. 


To  PaPIRIUS  P^TUS. 


rtf,  ^\a  to  fioiJi 

■\^ni  •  '     ■  .    .'-'■     '   '((1 

I  RECEIVED  a  letter  from  you  some  time  since 
by  your  courier  Phileros,  as  also  another  three 
days  ago  by  the  hands  of  Zethus :  both  wbi<5ll 
I  will  now  answer.  It  was"  with  much  satis- 
faction I  found,  by  the  former,  that  you  w6rc 
extremely  sensible  of  the  concern  I  expressed  fot 
your  health.  Believe  me,  however,  a  lettet 
could  but  faintly  represent  the  uneasiness  I  siaf- 
fcred  upon  that  account.  For  though  I  can- 
not but  acknowledge  that  there  are  many  from 
whom  I  receive  great  marks  of  esteem  and -af- 
fection :  vet  there  is  not  one  in  th^l  litttiib^r 
whom  I  prefer  to  yourself  It  is  a  very  great, 
perhaps  I  might  say,  a  principal  inducement  for 
my  holding  you  in  this  rank,  that  you  have 
lonor  distinguished  me  with  an  unvaried  friend- 
ship:  yet  this  is  a  circunjstance  which  you 
share  in  common  with  many  others.  But  your 
amiable  disposition,  and  those  agreeable  quali- 
ties of  every  kind  which  you  possess,  are  claims 
to  my  heart  in  which  you  are  without  a  rival. 
To  these  I  must  add,  I  will  not  call  it  the  At- 
tic, but  (what  is  far  more  spirited)  the  true 


3 


old 


\ 


318 


The  letters 


Book  IX. 


old  Roman  wit,  which  so  elegantly  enlivens 
your  conversation.  I  will  not  scruple,  indeed, 
to  acknowledge,  (whatever  you  may  think 
pfine  from  the  confession)  that  I  am  wonderfully 
delighted  with  humour;  especially  with  that  sort 
which  is  of  our  own  domestic  growth.  I  esteem 
this  latter  kind  so  much  the  more,  as  it  is  now 
become  extremely  uncommon  :  for,  by  the  adr 
mission  some  years  since  of  the  Latians^  into 
Rome,  and  lately  even  of  the  Gauls^  themselves, 
our  native  humour  has  been  tainted  with  th(j 
inftision  of  foreign  cant,  and  is  almost  entirely 
extinct".  For  this  reason,  whenever  I  con- 
verse 

5  Tbc  i:. habitants  of  Lafium  :  a  part  of  Ilaly  which  is 
now  caHed  the  Campagua  di  Roma.  1  hey  oblained  ihe  ho- 
nour and  advantage  of  being  made  free  of  Rome,  towards 
the  clt»5e  of  the  Italic  war.  A,  U.6^4.  See  rem,  2.  p.  7/. 
of  vol.  i.     Pigfi.  Annal.  ii.  226. 

^  Cacrar,  m  the  wantonness  of  his  power,  had  lately  ad- 
mitted several  of  the  Gauls  into  the  pnvijeges  of  Roman  citi- 
zens :  and  had  even  introduced  some  of  thera  to  a  seat  ia  the 
li^natp.     Sntt,  inxit.  Jul.  16.  -^ 

^  It  is  difficult,  if  not  altogether  impossible,  to  determine, 
with  any  precision,  what  it  was  that  distinguished  the  spirft 
of  this  true  old  Roman  wit  and  humour  which  Cicero  tiere 
represents  as  almost  entirely  extinct.  But,  in  general,  as  far 
as  can  be  collected  from  other  parts  of  our  author's  writ* 
ings,  it  beems  to  have  consisted  in  what  they  C2l\\  Urbanity ; 
a  term,  however,  which  they  themselves  did  not  well  know 
how  to  explain.  For  when  Brutus,  in  the  dialogue  conoern^ 
ing  tlie  most  celebrated  orators,  inquires,  Qui  est  isit  .t<lH(hm 
urbamtatis  color  ?  Cicero  replies,  Ncscio  :  tanfum  esst  quart- 
dam  sqio.  Nevertheless,  it  appears,  by  what  he  inE^n^ed^aifely 
subjoins,  to  have  resulted  from  a  certain  rcfiiienQe^t,  of  exr 
pression  and  elegancy  of  pronunciation,  which  was  to  be 
fodnd  only  amongst  the  most  polite  and  ci^iliv|ited  n;itives 

of 


Book  IX. 


OF  CICERO. 


S19 


verse  with  you  I  imagine  myself  transported 
back  into  former  times,  and  to  be  talking  with 
the  Granii,  the  Lucilii,  or,  in  truth,  even  with 
the  Crassi  and  the  Laelii  of  old'.  There  is  not 
a  single  person,  indeed,  except  yourself,  in 
whom  I  can  discover  the  least  vein  of  that  ori- 
ginal spirit  which  so  agreeably  distinguished 
the  pleasantry  of  our  forefathers.  But  since 
to  these  uncommon  charms  of  wit,  you  add 

the 

of  Rome.  Perhaps,  therefore,  it  was  thi$  inexplicable  grace 
of  language  and  utterrance  tbflt  was  infected  by  the  admis- 
sion of  these  strangers  into  Rome:  who,  probably,  had  i«- 
troduced  among  the  little  pr^fendeni  to  wit  and  humour,  a 
foreign  tone  of  voice,  together  with  an  exotic  turn  of  phrnse- 
ology.  A  prevailing  fashion  of  this  kind,  would  necessarily 
extinguish  that  spirit  which  seasoned  the  old  Roman  pleasan- 
try with  a  nescio  quo  sa  pore  lemacuh  (as  Cicero  somewhere 
calls  it)  a  certain  exquisi.e  tas?e  and  flavour  peculiar  to  its 
oative  soil.     Fide  Vic.  de  Clar,  Orator.  170.  ei  seq. 

The  several  persons  here  mentioned  were  celebrated 
wits,  who  flourished  about  the  time  that  Cicero  was  bprn, 
that  is,  in  the  cons^jlate  of  C.  Aiilius  Serranus  and'Q.  Ser- 
vilirus  C«pio,  U.  C.  ^4.7.  The  reader  has  already  had  some 
account  of  Ltelius  in  rem.  5.  p.  4.  vol.  1.  Crasaus  was  the 
most  disringuished  orator  of  his  times:  and  signalized  his 
eloquence  when  he  whs  only  twenty-one  years  of^'age,  at  the 
trial  of  C.  Carbo,  who  wis  concerned  in  the  disturbances 
which  were  raised  by  the  Gracchi.  Lucilius  was  a  Romaii 
knight,  and  great  uncle  to  Potnpey.  He  considerably  im- 
proved upon  that  kind  of  satirical  poetry,  which  recelveii 
Its  utmost  perfection  in  the  following  century  from  the  hand? 
of  Horace.  Some  fragments  of  his  writings  still  remain. 
Oramus  was  a  person  of  low  rank  ;  being  only  a  praeco,  br 
sort  of  cryer,  in  the  courts  of  justice.  Cicero,  however,  has 
immortalised  his  memory  by  the  frequent  encomiums  he 
passes  upon  the  singular  elegance  and  pleasantry  of  his  wii 
and  humour.  Cic.  de  Clar.  brat.  158,  I69,  ^cl  Dae,  Prafi 
tvr  Ut  Sat,  d'Horact,  v.  10. 


S20 


The  letters 


Book  IX* 


the  attractions,  likewise,  of  so  singular  a  friend- 
ship towards  myself,  can  you  wonder  that  I 
was  greatly  alaimed  at  your  late  very  dange- 
rous indisposition. 

As  to  your  other  letter,  in  which  you  acquit 
yourself  of  all  intention  to  dissuade  me  from  my 
Neapolitan  purchase*,  and  the  assurance  you  give 
me  that  you  only  meant  to  advise  my  continuance 
in  Rome,  I  understood  you  in  no  other  sense. 
But  I  suppose  (and  your  letter  now  before  me 
cf^pfirms  the  supposition)  that  you  did  not  agree 
with  me  in  thinking  I  might  be  justified,  I  will 
not  say  in  wholly  renouncing,  but  in  seldom  tak- 
ing  a  part  in  public  affairs.  With  this  view  I 
imagine  it  was,  that  you  reminded  me  of  those 
times  in  which  Catulus  acted  so  distinguished 
a  part'.  But  tell  me,  my  friend,  what  resem- 
blance 

»  See  the  last  paragraph  in  p.  262.  of  this  vol. 

♦  Q.  L.  Catulus  \Tiis  consul  in  the  year  675,  and  died 
about  the  year  6'93 :  during  which  period  he  had  many  op- 
portunities of  exerting  bis  patrioiisra,  by  rising  up  againsi 
the  i^radttal  encroachments  of  Pompey  and  Csesar  upon  the 
public  liberty.  Thus  he  opposed,  with  a  spirit  worthy  ih« 
best  times  of  ancient  Rome,  that  unlimited  and  unconstitu- 
tional commisgion,  which  was  granted  to  Pompey  under  a 
pretence  of  the  piratic  war  :  and  rendered  himself  so  glori- 
ously obnoxious  to  Caesar,  that  the  latter  endeavoured, 
though  unsuccessfully,  to  blast  bis  well-esubli:ihed  credit,  by 
an  impeachmeat  for  erabezzliog  the  public  treasure.  la 
thort,  the  welfare  of  his  country  was  the  great  and  constant 
object  of  his  unwearied  labours :  in  which  he  persevered  with 
a  «eal  and  resolution  which  no  fears  or  hopes  could  shak«  ; 
and  which  Cato,  of  all  his  contemporaries,  seems  alono  to 
have  equalled.  Pigh.  Antral,  ii.  279-  I>»o-  x»-^>'i-  P;  1^- 
49.  50.     Orat.  pro  Hext.  47. 


dj*  acERa 


jiff 


blfrHce  fs"  there  bet\reen  those  days  and  tlie 
present  ?     I  xras,  at  that  period,  far  from  bein? 
iitfltTietrto  absent  myself  from  the  care  of  the 
republic,  as  I  then  sat  at  the  hefhi  of  the  com-  " 
monxtealth,  and  shared  in  the  direction  of  its 
most  important  motiolls'^      But  now  I  cau^ 
scarce  claim  the  privilege  to  officiate  even  in; 
the  lowest  functions  of  the  state.     Were  f  to 
reside,  therefore,  altogether  at  Naples,  would' 
tiiere  be  a  single  decree  of  the  senate  the  leW 
by  tny  absence  ?     On  the  contrary,  though 't 
live  i^  Rome,  and  appear  publicly  in  the  fbrutn;' 
they  are  settled    by  our  friend*'  in  his  ovsrn^ 
house,  entirely  without  my  partirfpatitin.     If 
I  happen,  however,  to  occur  to  his'hifeftory, 
he  sometimes  does  me  the  honour  to  prefix  mf 
name^*.     Accordingly,  I  am  often  inforih^"^, 
ft-orti  Syria  and  Armenia,  that  a  decree  of  the 
senate  is  published  in   those  provi^ces^  and 
l^ublished,    too,    as  made   on  my  motion,    of 
>jrhich  I  had  never  heard  the  least  mention  be- 
fore.     You  will  suspect,  perhaps,  that  I  am  not 
serious;  but,   be  assured,  I  speak  the  literal 
^.^  truth, 

*»**  The  consulate  of  Cicero  fell  within   the  period   men- 
tioned  m  the  preceding  remark  ;  that  is,  in  the  year^po. 
-  '"  Csesar. 

**  It  was  usual,  irt  drawing  up  the  decrees  of  the  senate,  ^ 
preix  the  names  of  those  senators  who  were  principally  coB-* 
cefned  in  promoting  them. 

Vol.  U.  X 


322 


The  letters 


Book  IX. 


Book  IX. 


OF  CICERO. 


323 


truth,  I  have,  at  this  instant,  letters  in  my 
possession  from  the  remotest  potentates  of  the 
globe,  returning  me  thanks  for  having  procured 
them  an  acknowledgment  of  their  regal  title 
from  the  senate'^ :  when  I  was  so  far  from 
knowing  they  were  honoiu-ed  with  that  appel- 
lation, that  I  was  utterly  ignorant  there  were 
any  such  persons  existing.  Nevertheless,  as 
long  as  this  superintendant  of  our  manrtcvs^ 
shall  continue  in  Rome,  I  will  comply  with  yo^ir 
advice  ;  but  the  moment  he  leaves  us'',  I  sliall 
certainly  set  out  to  join  you  over  a  plate  of 

mushrooms. 

''  It  was  the  ambition  of  foreign  princes  to  obtain  an  ac- 
kno\vledi»meht  of  their  re^al  title  Ircm  the  senate,  and  to  be 
decianrd  friends  and  ailics  of  the  republic;  an  honour,  which, 
in  the  more  rei;uUr  times  of  the  Roman  government,  wab 
but  rarel)'  granted,  and  only  in  consideration  «>f  s  >me  signal 
servicer.  But,  in  that  general  corruption  which  preceded 
the  ruin  of  the  commonwealth,  this  honour  became  venal,  as 
it  supplied  a  very  plentiful  stream  of  wealth  to  titose  le«iding 
men  in  the  »tate,  who  were  not  ashamed  to  prostitute  the 
moit  sacreJ  privileges  to  their  insatiable  avarice.  Cu;^ur,  iti 
parucular,  drew  immen:>c  riches  from  this  ^iii^le  source;  a 
vtrong  insUiice  of  which  h<^s  already  been  produced  in  reni« 
12.  p.  51.  vol.  1.  Ca£$.  Lei.  Gal.  i.  43.     Suet,  in  xit.  Jul.  o4.    • 

**  This  title  had  lately  been  decreed  to  Caspar,  by  which  he 
was  invested  with  all  the  power  of  thecensorial  othce,  wiihou|i 
the  name.  It  does  not  appear  for  what  reason  he  chose  this 
appellation  rather  than  that  of  censor.  Some  have  supposed 
that  it  was  from  at)  affecuition  of  modesty ;  but  they  who 
aissign  this  reason,  seem  to  forget,  that  Cie^ar  did  not  blush 
to  be  associated  with  the  gods  in  the  public  worship  of  his 
degenerate  K  'Uians.  Huet.  iu  vit,  Jul.  70\  Applan.  Bel. 
Civil,  iii.  p.  4i)4. 

'*  Caesar  was  at  this  time  preparing  to  set  out  upon  his 
expedition  against  the  two  soqs  of  Pompey,  who  bad  as^tiu- 
bled  a  very  considerable  army  ia  Spaio. 


mushrooms*'.  If  I  can  procure  a  house  at  Na- 
ples, it  is  my  purpose,  you  must  know,  to  live 
so  abstemiously,  that  what  our  late  sumptuary 
law''  allows  for  one  day's  expence,  shall  suffice 
me  for  ten.  But,  if  I  cannot  meet  with  one 
to  my  satisfaction,  I  intend  to  be  youir  guest, 
and  I  am  sure  it  is  not  in  my  power  to  oblige 
youmore/-  ;x 

Though  I  mentioned  in  my  last,  that  J  al- 
most despaired  of  Syllas  house,  yet  I  have  not 
absolutely  given  up  all  thoughts  of  that  purs- 
chase.  Agreeably,  therefore,  to  your  offer,  I  beg 
you  would  take  some  workmen  with  you  in 
order  to  survey  it ;  for,  if  the  walls  and-  roof 
are  in  a  good  repair,  I  shall  perfectly,  ^^ell^opr- 
prove  of  all  the  rest.     Farewel.       '"^  ^^^"^  '^^"  ^^ 

'•  This  dish  was  in  great  esteem  among  the  Romans. 
.  *'  This  law  was  enacted  by  Ca;sar  soon  after  his  retuni 
fVom  the  African  war.  It  regulated  the  expenCes  of  the  Roi 
mans,  not  only  with  regard  to  their  tables,  but  also  their 
dress,  equipage,  furniture,  and  buildings.  But  Cajsar  seertil 
to  have  found  it  a  much  easier  task  to  corrupt,  than  to  r^ 
form  ;  for  though  he  was  very  desirous  of  enforcing  this  salu- 
tary law  ;  yet,  it  appears  to  have  been  extremely  ill  ob- 
served.    Suet,  in  Jul,  43.     u^^f  Att.  xiii,  7. 


-!,( 


'      Mmi?«    "'* 

^.>i.-':»    t*d    Ol 


tr*. 


*. 


324 


The  letters 


Book  IX. 


LETTER  XIL  ^ 

[A.  U.  707.1 

To  Treboxius- 

Though  I  had  always  a  great  affection  for 
Dolabella,  yet  I  never  received  any  favour  from 
hini  till  now.  Indeed,  be  never  before  bad  an 
opportunity  of  repaying  ibose  good  offices 
he  owed  me,  for  having  more  than  once  stood 
'forth  in  bis  defence.  But  bis  late  zcttf  in  pro- 
tecting you^r  estate,  together  with  bis  present 
assistance  in  promoting  your  restoration,  have 
so  ^abundantly  satisfied  every  claim  I  bare  to 
Ins"  services,  that  there  is  no  man  to  whom  I 
think  myself  more  strongly  obliged.  I  take  so 
sincere  a  part  with  you  in  thejoy  of  this  event, 
that,  instead  of  your  thanks,  I  expect  your 
congratulations.  The  former,  indeed,  I  by  no 
rncans  desire;  but  the  latter  you  may,  with 
great  propriety,  send  me. 

Since  your  distinguished  merit  has  thus  re-» 
moved  all  obstructiqn*  to  your  return,  it  will 
be  agreeable  to  your  good  sense,  and  greatness 
of  mind,  to  forget  all  that  you  have  lost,  and 
reflect  only  on  the  advantages  you  have  reco- 
vered. You  will  remember,  then,  that  you  are 
restored  to  your  family  and  to  your  friends ; 

and 


Book  IX. 


OF  CICERO. 


32^ 


and  that,  whatever  you  have  suffered  in  your 
estate,  is  considerably  o\^er-balanced  by  the 
glory  you  have  acquired ;  which,  I  am  per- 
suaded, would  be  still  more  acceptable  to  you, 
if  the  republic  had  in  any  degree  subsisted. 

I  have  received  a  letter  from  my  friend  Ves* 
torius,  wherein  he  informs  me  of  the  grateful 
mention  you  make  of  my  services.  I  am  ek« 
tremely  obliged  to  you  for  your  professions  of 
^  this  kind  in  general,  but  particularly  for  tnbse 
you  expressed  to  our  friend  Syro* :  as  I  am 
greatly  desirous  to  approve  my  conduct  upon 
all  occasions  to  every  sensible  and  judicious 
man.     I  hope  to  see  you  very  soon,     t'arewel. 

LETTER 

I   a  ..  :i 

*  A  celebrated  Epicurean  philosopher,  who  is  said  to  have 
been  Virgil's  preceptor. 

Y3 


-f^   "'M1    1     J' 

1 

f    ,-^lum 

:n 

iVvff  1:     -r^  .' 

X.     ■•''' 

hdr 

.0^' 

Ti 


=r/nV*^ 


3^6 


The  letters 


Book  IXvi 


cd 


.Of 


A 


baA 


LETTER  XIIL 

[A.  U.  707.] 

To  Marcus  Brutus.' 


1  AM  persuaded  that  your  quaestor,  Marcus i 
Varro*,  who  is  setting  out  to  attend  you^ueeds'i 
no^recommendation  to  your  favour;  fori  doubt 

not,  i^ 

*  Jtfircus  Brutus  was  nephew  to  Cato,  whose  virtues  he 
had  the  just  ambition  to  copy.     He  seems,  however,  in  some 
points,  to  have  fallen  short  of  the  model  he  proposed  to  imi- 
tate ;  as  he  by  no  means  acted  up  to  that  inflexible  unifor- 
mity of  conduct,  which  renders  the  character  of  Cato  so  glo- 
nouslyaingular.     Thus,  though  Brutus,  at  the  battle  of  Phar- 
satia,, -engaged  on   the  side  of  Pompey  ;    yet,    immediately 
after  the  unsuccessful  event  of  that  action,  he  not  only  made 
his  peffce  \wth  Cassar,  but  was  willing  to  contribute  to  the 
ruin  of  that  cause  in  which  he  had  so  lately  engaged.     For, 
when  CaB>ar  was  doubtful  what  route  Pompey  had   taken  in 
his  flight,  it  was  by  the  axfvice  and  information  of  Brutos 
that  he. followed  him  into  %pt.     Caesar,  ju^t  before  he  set 
out  for  Africa,  appointed  Brutus  governor  of  Cisalpine  Gaul, 
wtedi  h«  adminisitered  with  great  moderation  and  integrity. 
It  was  during  hjs  residence  in  this  province,  that  the  present 
andfoUowihg  letters  addressed  to  him  in  this  book,  appear 
to  iiate  been  written.     P^ut.  in  ut.  Brut. 

*  Some  of  the  commentators  have  supposed,  that  this  is  the 
celebrated  Marcus  Terentius  Varro,  to  whom  several  letters 
in  ih«  precedmg  book  are  addressed.  But  Cellarius  has 
justly  observed,  that  the  age  and  dignity  of  that  illustrious 
Kdman,  render  it  highly  improbable  he  should  at  this  time  - 
hate  been  quaestor  to  Brutus,  who  was  a  much  younger  man 
than  himself.  Perhaps  the  person  recommeRded  in  this  let- 
ler,"is  the  same  whom  Horace  mentions  as  an  unsuccessful< 
adventurer  in  satiric  poetry  :  ^^ 

Hoc  erai,  experto  frustra  Vmrone  Ataoirroj  '.'ndj 

Jtquc  quibusdam  atiis,  melius  quod  scriberc  posscm. 

Sat.  X.  lib.  i.  46."* 
For 


Book  IX. 


or  CICERO. 


sar 


not,  that,  in  conformity  to  the  maxims  of  our 
forefathers,  you  look  upon  Tifs  office  as  giving 
him  a  sufficient  title  to  your  regard.  And  I 
need  not  tell  you,  that  it  \vas  tlie  policy  of  anci- 
ent times  to  consider  the  relation  between  a 
proconsul  and  his  quaestor,  as  next  to  that  of  a 
father  and  son.  However,  as  Varro  imagines 
that  a  letter  from  me  will  have  great  weight, 
and  has  pressed  me  to  write  to  you  in  the 
strongest  terms,  I  willingly  perform  an  office, 
M-liich,  he  believes,  will  prove  so  much  to  his 
advantage.  That  you  may  be  sensible  I  ought 
not  to  refuse  this  request,  I  must  inforni  you, 
that  he  cultivated  mv  friendship  from  his  first 
appearance  in  the  forum;  as,  in  his  more  ma- 
tafe  ye^fs,  two  circumstances  concurred,  which 
extremely  increased  the  affection-  I i had  con- 
caved for  him  ;  the  one,  that  he  dis^m^v^sh^4 
himself,  as  you  well  know,  with  great  geniuis 
aiiH'ap>lication  in  that  persuasive  art,  ftflMU?!.. 
I  still  take  particular  pleasure  ;  the  otlier,  that 
he  eai4)'^  became  a  member  of  the  society  for 
zad  <iuv\Hiiti^  ii.o  farming 

For  tbft commentators  upon  these  Imesmfotra  us,  that  the  { 
poet  here  spoken  oj  w^  .Turentjus  Varro.  a  native  of  the  city  ^ 
of  dtav^jn  the  Naibou^jn^sian  Gaul,  from  which  he  w^s 
called  ^faci*«*i  »«id^-^M  was  born  in.the  year  of  Rome  (>73. 
He  must,  consequently,  in  the  present  year,  have  been 
thirty-four,  which  perfectly  well  coincides  with  the  age  one 
may  justly  suppose  {he  person  t,(^  have  been,  in  whose  lavuur 
this  lel^er  IS  wriue^. 

-1    ^ 


988  The  LETTERS  Book  IX. 

farming  Uie  public  revenues.    I  >yisli,  ivideed, 
•that  he  had  never  embarked  in  their  cQiicerns, 
gs  he  has  been  a  considerable  sufterer  by  bi^  en- 
gagements of  this  sort.     However,   his  uuioa 
mth  a  company  for  whose  interests  I  have  $o 
^reat  a  regard,  was  one  means  of  more  strongly 
cementing  our  friendship.     After  having  acted 
>rith  the  highest  integrity  and  applaase,  botj^^^s 
^n  advocate  and  a  judge,  he  turned  his  ambitrpn 
(long,  indeed, before  this  revolution  in  th^qpi^- 
monwealth  had  taken  place)  upon  obtaining 
some  employment  in  the  magistracy;  and  he 
esteemed  the  honours  of  tliis  kind,  which  his 
country  should  confer  upon  him,  as  the  noblj^st 
reward  of  all  his  former  services.     During  my 
fate   residence   at  Brundisium',    he  obli^Wno-lv 
charged  himself  with  carrying  a  letter  and  a 
message  from  me  to  Ca:sar;  and  he  gave  m^.a 
very  strong  proof  of  his  affection,  in  the  zeal 
and  fidelity  with  whicli  he  undertook  and  exe- 
cute<i't1)is  generous  commission. 

I  purposed,  after  having  thus  assigned  therea- 
■  sons  which  induce  me  to  give  Varro  my  frieQd- 
ship,  to  have  particularly  pointed  out  the  viriues 
of  his  heart;  but  I  think  I  must  have  sufficiq^thr 
rendered  you  sensible  of  these,  by  declaring 
tpon  what  motives  he  has  so  strongly  engagecj 

n>y 

3  Cicero,  upon  his  return  to  Italy,  after  the  battle  of 
Fhar$alia,  rtiided  at  Br undisium  till  Cssar's  arrival. 


^6ooK  IX. 


OF  CICERO. 


329 

my  affection.  Nevertheless,  I  Avill  here,  19*  a 
more  distinct  and  explicit  manner,  assiire  you, 
that  you  will  receive  much  satisfaction  and  ad- 
vantage from  the  company  and  assistance  of  my 
friend.  You  will  find  him,  indeed,  to_be.aman 
of  singular  modesty  and  good  sense,  as  well. ^« 
*^of  indefatigable  application  to  business- ajt.t^e 
same  time  that  he  is  an  entire  stranger  to  im- 
'tnoderatc  desires  of  every  kind.  I.  know  not 
whether  I  ought  to  promise  thus  far  in  Iiis  be- 
half, as  his  character,  after  all,  must '^i;^- 
ferred  to  your  own  experience.  But  in  fonn- 
Ing  new  connexions  of  every  sort,  it  is^ol^ipii^ch 
importance  in  what  manner  the  first  approaches 
are  made,  and  by  whose  hands  the  avenuesj  0f 
friendship  (if  I  may  so  express  niyself)^^^^^l^id 
open.  It  is  this  office  that  I  have  here  unjlei;- 
taken;  and  though  the  employment  in^Yhkii 
Varro  stands  related  to  you  may  well  render 
my  services  unnecessary,  yet  they  c^rta,ija,ly 
cannot  render  them  prejudicial.  If,  thei?,  I 
possess  that  share  in  your  esteem  which  ^axrp 
imagines,  and  which  I  myself  am  persuaded  I 
enjoy,  let  me  soon  have  the  satisfaction^^ 
hearing  that  my  friend  has  received  all  the  ad- 
vantages  from  this  letter  that  are  agreeable  to 
hiy'own  hopes,  and  to  my  firm  expectations. 
Fiirewel. 

'LETTER 


330 


The  letters 


Book  IX. 


LETTER  XIV. 

[A.  U.  707.] 
To  LiGARIUS*. 

Though,  agreeably  to  the  friendship  wnicli 
subsists  betvv^een  us,  I  ought  to  have  offered 
you  either  assistance  or  consolation  under  your 
misfortunes;    yet   I   have   hitherto    forborne 
writing,    in  the  belief  that  it  was  not  in  tlie 
power  of  mere  words  to  remove  or  alleviate' 
your  afflictions.     But,  as  I  have  now  reason  to' 
entertain  the  strongest  hopes  of  shortly  seeing 
you  restored  to  your  country,  I  cannot  any 
longer  omit  to  acquaint  you  with  my  senti- 
ments and  inclination  concernino^  vour  affairs. 
In  the  first  place,  then,  I  am  well  convinced 
that  you  will  by  no  means  find  Caesar  inexo- 
rable.    The  situation  of  public  circumstances, 
a  regard  to  his  character  in  the  world,  length 
of  time,   together  with  what  appears  to  me  to 
be  his  natural  temper,  these  all  concur  to  sof- 
ten  his  resentment  every  day  more  and  more. 

This 


' J  r  J  r  I 


♦  Quinlus  Ligarius  was  lieutenant  to  C.  Considius,  pro- 
consul of  Africa,  in  the  year  703  ;  in  which  post  he  gained 
the  general  esteem  of  the  whole  province.  Accordingly,  al 
their  unanimous  request,  Considius,  upon  bis  departure 
from  Rome,  resigned  the  administration  into  the  bands  of 
Ligarius.  During  his  residence  in  that  station,  the  civil 
war  broke  out ;  and  he  was  at  this  time  suffering  exile,  for 
having  acted  upon  that  occasion  on  the  side  of  Pompey. — 
Orat,pro,  Ugar,  i.     See  rent,  i.  p,  366,  of  this  vol, 

I 


BdoK  IX. 


OF  aCERO. 


SSi 


This,  I  imagine,  will  appear  to  be  his  disposi- 
tion towards  all  in  general  who  have  offended 
him ;  but  that  it  is  particularly  so  with  respect 
to  yourself,  I  Mill  assure  you  upon  the  autho- 
ritv  of  his  most  intimate  friends.  I  have  never 
ceased  to  solicit  them  in  your  behalf  ever  since 
we  received  the  first  news  from  Africa':  and 
your  brothers  have,  with  equal  assiduity,  joined 
me  in  these  applications.  Their  virtues,  in- 
deed,  together  with  that  affectionate  and  un- 
wearied zeal  with  which  they  enter  into  your 

of   '  ,  .  ,       ^ 

Cause,  are  so  extremely  engaging,  that  1  am 

persuaded  even  C-jesar  himself  cannot  refuse 
any  thing  to  their  requests^  But  if  we  do 
not  advance  with  all  the  expedition  we  wish, 
it  must  be  imputed  to  those  numberless  and 
important  occupations  which  render  Caisar  dit-  * 
ficult  of  access ;  as  it  is  to  him  alone  that  every 
suft  isnow  preferred.  To  this  I  must  add, 
that,  as  he  was  particularly  incensed  by  tlie 
late  war  fomented  agamst  him  in  Arnca,  he 
was  inclined  to  keep  those  so  much  longer  in 
suspqnse  concerning  their  tate,  to  whom  he 
imagines  it  was  owing  that  he  had  so  many  ad- 
ditional 


i.'>^nih 


.fl- 


^^  Concerning  Ca?sar*s  victory  over  Scipio. 

/^We'two  bn)thers  of  Li;:arius  swm  to  have  stood  neutersd^ 
in  the  civil  wkV.    But  one  of  them  had  something  more  than 
a  niere  pegativ(*  merit  to  plead,  as  he  had  distinguished  him- 
sef^'durifn^  jji's'  c|utP«'f"6fship,  by  promoting  ihe  honours  and 
interest  of  C>sar.     VrdL  pro.  IJgar.  l":. 


i3t 


The  letters 


Book  IX. 


ditional  difficulties  to  encounter.  But  his  re- 
sentment, even  upon  this  article  also,  appears 
*W?(f^titly  to  be  cooling ;  and  I  desire  yon  would 
both  believe  and  rememljer  the  assurance  I  here 
give  you,  that  you  will  soon  be  removed  from 
your  present  uneasy  situation. 

Having  thus  acquainted  you  with  my  senti- 
ments  of  your  affairs,  I  had  rather  leave  it  to  my 
actions  than  professions,  to  declare  how  much  I 
wish  to  assist  you  in  them.  Let  me  assure  you, 
however,  if  I  possessed  that  influence  in  the  com- 
monwealth, which  you  are  pleased  to  think  I 
-have  merited  by  my  services,  you  should  have  no 
reason  to  regret  your  present  circumstances. — 
But,  alas !  the  same  cause  for  which  you  are  suf- 
fering in  your  person,  has  impaired  me  in  my 
credit  But  whatever  remains  to  me  of  my 
former  authority ;  whatever  shadow  still  attends 
me  of  that  dignity  I  once  enjoyed  ;  in  a  word, 
as  far  as  my  advice,  my  assistance,  or  my  in- 
terest can  avail,  they  shall,  upon  all  occasions, 
be  faithfully  employed  in  seconding  the  pious 
zeal  of  your  excellent  brothers.  In  the  mean 
time,  preserve  that  manly  composure  of  niind 
which  you  have  always  possessed.     You  ought 

Tto  do  ^o,  indeed,  in  the  first  place,  for  the  rea- 
sons I  have  abready  assigned ;  and  in  the  next, 

^because  your  public  conduct  has  ev^r  been 

such 


Bllois:  IX. 


OF  CICERO. 


S5S 


^uch  as  to  afford  you  a  just  ground  to  entertaiu 
the  most  favourable  hopes.  But  were  your 
prospect  entirely  the  reverse,  yet  a  consciousness 
of  the  integrity  of  all  your  counsels  and  actions, 
with  regard  to  the  commonwealth,  should  eur 
able  you  to  support  the  worst  that  can  happea 
with  a  firm  and  unshaken  fortitude.     Farewel^ 


1 


i'> 


rrm'>'i:<t  ♦■: 


I 


Tn^j/r>r 


'lOllf 


LETTER  XV. 

[A.  U.  707.] 

To  Marcus  Brutus. 

I  ttAVE  alwavs  had  the  satisfaction  toobsci^c 
that  you  were  particularly  inquisitive  into  eve- 
ry circumstance  relating  to  me.  I  doubt  "niA:, 
therefore,  of  your  being  apprised,  not  only  that 
Arpinum  is  the  place  of  my  nativity,  but  that, 
"•tiji^^H  all  occasions,  1  zealously  patronise  the 
interests  of  this  city.  The  whole  of  their  rev^^- 
liues  for  religious  purposes,  as  also  for  the  re- 
pairs of  their  temples  and  other  public  build- 
W^,  arises  entirely  from  their  estates  in  Gaul. 
Accordingly  we  have  dispatched  Quintus  Fu- 
fldiusi  Marcus  Faucius,  and  Quintus  Mamer- 
cus,  each  of  them  persons  of  equestrian  rank,. 
Itt'ot^fer  to  Collect  the  rents,  and 'to  inspect  onr 
affairs  in  that  province.  I  therefore  recommend 
tliefm  to  your  particular  protection,  entreating 

3  you. 


'334 


The  letters 


Book  IX; 


Book  IX. 


OF  CICERO. 


335 


i   t 


you,  by  our  mutual  friendship,  to  assist  them  in 
the  speedy  and  successful  discharge  of  their 
commission,  and  to  distinc^uish  their  persons, 
agreeably  to  your  usual  politeness,  with  every 
possible  mark  of  honour.     You  will,  by  these 
means,  add  three  very  worthy  men  to  the  num- 
ber of  your  friends,  as  well  as  oblige  a  commu- 
nity extremely  sensible  of  the  good  offices  they 
receive.     Let  me  add,  too,  you  will  perform  a 
service  highly  acceptable  also  to  myself;  who, 
as  I  have  at  all  times  stood  forth  the  patron  of 
the  Arpinates,  am  in  a  more  especial  manner 
engaged  to  take  their  interests  under  my  pro- 
tection during  the  present  year.    For,  in  order 
to  the  better  government  of  this  corporation, 
I  have  procured  my  son  and  nephew,  together 
with  my  friend  Marcus  Cjpsius,  to  be  chosen 
iediles;   the  only  magistrates  which  our  city 
admits.     It  will  be  much,  therefore,  to  the  cre- 
dit of  their  aclministration,  as  well  as  a  parti-r 
cular  honour  to  myself,   if  the  affairs  of  thi.s 
9PUmi unity,  Uijuijig  their  office^  ^bpuld,  by  tjic 
assistance  of  your  generous  services,  be  placed 
in  a  more  advantageous,  posture.     For  whic;t| 
purpose  I  must  again  most  earnestly  conjure 

you  to  comply  with  my  present  ^eqi^e^.TTTxTn 
Farewel.  .- mrH  iM2?r 


rrj  r 


y^fi' 


LETTER  XVI. 

[A.U.  707.] 

To  the  same. 

I  HAVE,  in  a  separate  letter,  recommended  to 
you,  with  all  possible  warmth,  the  commissaries 
appointed  by  the  city  of  Arpinum.  But  I  shall 
here  single  out  one  of  them  in  particular,  and 
desire  your  peculiar  regards  to  Q.  Fufidius,  a 
person  with  whom  I  am  united  by  every  friendly 
tie.  I  do  not  mean,  however,  by  thus  distin- 
guishing him  from  the  rest,  to  lessen  the  weight 
of  my  general  recommendation,  but  only  to  add 
this  as  a  sort  of  supplement  to  what  I  have  there 
requested.  Fufidius,  who  is  son-in-law  to  my 
particular  friend  Marcus  Ca^sius,  acted  under 
me  in  Cilicia,  in  quality  of  mihtary  tribunej 
and  he  acquitted  himself  so  much  to  my  satis- 
faction, that  I  had  reason  to  think  I  received  a 
favour,  instead  of  bestowing  one,  when  I  no- 
minated him  to  that  employment.  To  this  I 
must  add,  what  I  khow  will  considerably  raise 
him  in  your  esteem,  that  he  has  a  taste  and 
genius  for  our  favourite  studies.  Let  me  entreat 
ybu,  then,  to  receive?  my  friend  with  the^^  most 
distinguishing  marks  of  your  politeness,  and  to 
assist  him  in  the  more  effectual  discharge  of  aii 
dtete  Wliifch  he  accepted  merely  in  compliance 

with 


336 


The  letters  Book  IX 


Book  IX. 


o^  CICERO. 


33/ 


ivitb  my  persuasions,  and  contrary  to  his  own 
convenience.  But  as  it  is  the  ambition  of  every 
man  of  a  generous  mind  to  be  approved  in  all 
his  actions,  Fufidius  is  desirous  of  executing 
this  comn.ission  in  such  a  manner,  as  to  merit 
not  only  my  applause  in  particular,  who  en- 
gaged him  to  undertake  it,  but  that,  likewise, 
of  our  whole  community  in  general.  Now  this 
he  will  undoubtedly  receive,  if  my  recommen- 
dation should  procure  hw  your  friendly  of-* 
fices.     Farewcl. 

• 

LETTER  XVII, 

[A.  u.  7or.] 
To  Servius  Sulpicius, 

The  excuse  you  alledge  for  so  frequently 
sending  me  duplicates  of  your  letters,  I  very 
readily  admit;  so  far,  I  mean,  as  it  relates  to 
your  caution  of  guarding  against  the  negligence 
or  treachery  of  those  who  undertake  to  deliver 
them.  But  when  you  add,  that  a  poverty  of 
genius  likewise  (to  use  your  own  expression) 
obliges  you  to  this  continual  repetition,  it  is  an 
apology  I  can  neither  approve  nor  allow.  On 
the  contrary,  I  who  am  enriched,  as  you  ironi- 
cally tell  me  (for  in  that  sense  I  understand  your 
compliment)  witli  all  the  treasures  of  eloquence,' 

and 


and  who,  in  good  earnest,  do  not  think  myself 
wholly  destitute  of  them  ;  even  I  am  far  from 
pretending  to  equal  the  delicacy  and  elegancd 
of  your  compositions. 

I  always  approv^ed  of  your  having  accepted 
the  government  of  Achaia:  but  much  more  so, 
after  I  had  read  your  last  letter.     The  several 
reasons  you  mention  are  every  one  of  them  per- 
fectly just,  and  altogether  worthy  of  that  pru- 
dence and  dignity  which  distinguishes  your 
character.     But  I  can  by  no  means  agree  with 
you  in  thinking,  that  this  affair  has  proved  so 
different  from  what  you  expected  as  to  give 
you  just  occasion  to  condemn  the  step  you 
have  taken.     The  truth  of  it  is,  the  dreadful 
confusion  and  desolation  which  this  detestable 
civil  war  has  universally  J>pread,  inchnes  every* 
man  to  imagine  that  both  himself,  and  the  scene 
ia  which  he  happens  to  be  placed,  are,  of  all 
others,  the  most  completely  miserable.    Hence 
it  ij^jthat  you  repent  of  the  choice  you  have 
made,  and  look  upon  us  as  much  happier  who 
remain  at  Rome:  whereas  we,  on  the  contrary, 
though   we  do  not  suppose  your  situation  is 
wholly  without  its  incQuveniencies,  yet  think  it 
greatly  preferable  to  our  own.     In  one  respect 
I  am  §ure  it  is  so ;  as  you  have  at  least  the  hap- 
piness of  daring  to  write  your  complaints : 
which  is  more  than  we  can  do  wdth  any  safety* 
Voj-II.  Z  This, 


sss 


The  letters  Book  IX. 


This,  however,  is  not  to  be  imputed  to  the  con- 
queror ;  who  conducts  himself,  it  must  be  ac- 
knowledged, with  the  utmost  moderation :  but 
is  entirely  owing  to  that  general  spirit  qf  inso- 
lence, which  victory,  in  all  civil  wars,  ne\Tr 
fails  to  inspire.   The  single  point  in  which  pur 
situation  can  pretend  to  have  had  the  advan- 
tage of  yours  is,  that  it  gave  us  the  satisfactioa 
not  only  of  knowing  somewhat  earlier  than  you 
could,  that  your  colleague  Marcellus^  has  ob? 
tained  hh  pardon ;  but  of  being  witnesses  in 
what  manner  that  whole  aflFair  was  conducted. 
J'pr,  be  assured,  it  is  the  only  honourable  trans- 
action,   of  a  public  nature,    that  has  passed 
aa^oogst  us  since  the  breaking  out  of  this  ca- 
lamitous civil  war.     Caesar,  after  having  com- 
iJained  of  the  acrimony  (as  he  called  it)  with 
which  Marcellus  had  opposed  him,  and  men- 
tioned, with  the  highest  applause,  the  equity 
and  prudence  of  your  conduct  in  the  same  con- 
jltncture' ;  on  a  sudden,  and  much  beyond  our 
expectations,  declared,  that  notwithstanding  he 
had  so  much  reason  to  complain  of  Marcellus, 
he  could  not  refuse  to  pardon  him  at  the  ge- 
neral request  of  the  senate.    For  I  should  have 
told  you,  that  as  soon  as  Lucius  Piso   had 

mentioned 

^  Sulpicius  and  MarceUus  were  .colleagues  in  the  office 
of  consul.     An.  Urb.  702. 

•  That  is,  (luring  the  consulate  of  Sulpicius  and  Marcel- 
lus. See  an  account  of  his  conduct  at  this  critical  period,  in 
rem.  S.  p.  120  of  this  vol. 


Book  IX. 


OF  CICERO. 


33» 


irfehtioned  in  the  senate  the  affair  of  Marcellu^ 
and  his  relation  Caius  Marcellus  had  thrown 
himself  at  Carsar's  feet,  the  whole  house  una- 
nimously rose  up,  and  approaching  toward* 
Caesar,  joined  in  one  common  intercession.  la 
short,  there  was  something  so  truly  glorious  in 
the  transaction  of  that  day,  that  I  could  not 
but  look  upon  it  as  a  sort  of  symptom  that  the 
republic  was  again  reviving.  All  the  senators 
who  had  been  asked'  their  opinion  before  me^ 
severally  returned  their  acknowledgments  to 
<?sesar,  except  Volcatius'** :  who  declared  that 
he  would  not  have  made  them,  even  if  he  had 
been  in  the  place  of  Marcellus  himself.  But 
when  it  came  to  my  tarn,  I  instantly  changed 
a  resolution  which  I  had  long  formed.  I  had 
*^^'''  d<ftermined, 

•  When  a  question  was  moved  in  the  senate,  the  nietho4 
of  debating  upon  it  was,  that  ihe  consul,  after  having  delivered 
his  own  opinion,  proceeded  to  ask  the  opinions  of  all  the  other 
senators  severaUy  by  name,  and  in  their  proper  ord«r ;  be^ 
ginning  always  with  the  consulars,  and  going  on  to  the  pr;e« 
torians,  &c.     Mid,  on  the  R.  S.  p,  150. 
^M  *^  Probably  the  person  here  mentioned,  is  Lucius  Volca^ 
tius  Tullus,  who  was  consul  in  the  year  687.     The  noble 
spirit  which  he  shewed  upon  this  occasion,  in  scorning  to 
thank  Csesar  for  what  the  usurper  ought  to  have  hajd  no  power 
to  bestow,  was  worthy  of  ihe  best  ages  of  the  republic:  and 
though  Cicero  speaks  of  it  without  the  least  approbati<ui,  it 
Wfis  the  only  circumstance  in  this  business  that  merited  his 
applause.     For  must  it  not  have  affected  a  true  patriot  with 
the  utmost  concern  and  indignation,  to  see  the  Roman  senate, 
that  august  council  of  t^e  whole  world  (as  Cirero  hiu.seif 
has  somewhere  called  it)  humbly  supplicating,  at  the  feet  of 
Caesar,  for  the  restoration  of  one  of  the  most  illustrious  citi- 
zens of  the  commonwealth  ? 

Z  2 


340 


The  letters 


Book  IX. 


Book  IX. 


OF  CICERO. 


341 


tletermined,  not  from  indolence,  believe  me,  but 
as  bein<r  sensible  of  the  want  of  that  authority 
which  once  attended  my  eloquence,  to  preserve 
a  perpetual  silence  in  public.   But  the  greatness 
of  mind  which  Caesar  discovered  upon  this  oc- 
casion,  together  Avith  that  noble  zeal  which 
broke  forth  at  the  same  time  in  the  senate,  en- 
tirely overcame  the  strength  of  my  resolution : 
and  I  addressed  my  acknowledgments  to  Caesar 
in  a  long  harangue".  This,  I  fear,  may  prove  the 
occasion,  in  other  instances,  of  drawing  me  out 
from  that  literary  retirement,  which  affords  the 
single  consolation  I  receive  under  our  general 
misfortunes.  Nevertheless,  since  I  have,  by  this 
mean,  avoided  giving  Caesar  offence,  who,  per- 
haps, would  have  interpreted  my  silence  into 
a  proof  that  I  considered  the   republic  as  no 
longer  subsistini^ ;  I  shall,  now  and  then,  re- 
sumethis  practice:  I  shall  resume  it,  however, 
extremely  seldom,  and  only  just  enough  to  com- 
ply with  his  inclinations,  without  interrupting 
my  philosophical  studies.     For  though  I  was 
early  devoted  to  all  the  liberal  arts  and  sciences, 
'^nd  particularly  to  philosophy,  yet  I  find  my 

passion 

"  This  speech*  is  sfiU  extant :  and  perhaps  it  is  one  of  the 
noblest  monuments  that  remains  ut  ihe  grace  and  energy  of 
vancient  eloquence.  It  abounds  with  the  most  spirited  and 
best  turned  compliments,  that  wit  ever  paid  to  power  :  for 
Fhich  the  severcbt  patriotism  could  scarce  condemn  Uccro. 
as  t'-ey  all  artfully  tend  to  induce  Cxsar  to  restore  the  re- 
public. 


passion  for  her  growing  still  stronger  upon  me 
every  day  I  live :  perhaps  it  is,  because  age  has 
rendered  me  more  mature  for  the  lessons  of  wis- 
dom, and  that  the  misery  of  the  times  have  de- 
prived me  of  every  other  relief  I  perceive  by 
your  letters  that  you  are  called  off  by  number- 
less occupations  from  studies  of  this  kind :  I 
hope,  however,  that  the  long  nights  will  now 
afford  yoU  some  leisure  to  resume  them. 

Your  son  (and  let  me  call  him  also  mine) 
distinguishes  me  with  great  marks  of  his  con- 
sideration :  as  in  return  I  admire  him  not  only 
for  his  probity  and  virtue,  but  for  his  learning 
and  genius.  He  frequently  confers  with,  me  in 
relation  to  your  resigning,  or  continuing  in 
your  government:  and  I  still  remain  in  the  same 
opinion,  that  we  should  neither  of  us  take  any 
measures  but  such  as  shall  be  perfectly  agree- 
able to  Caesar.  Affairs  are  so  situated  at  Rome, 
that  you  could  find  no  other  satisfaction  in  be- 
ing here,  than  what  would  arise  from  enjoying 
the  company  of  your  friends  and  family.  For 
though  Ceesar's  conduct  is  unexceptionable, 
yet,  with  respect  to  all  the  rest,  both  of  persops 
and  circumstances,  I  am  sure  you  would  much 
rather  (if  one  or  other  must  necessarily  be  your 
choice)  receive  an  account  of  them  from  others, 
than  be  a  spectator  of  them  yourself  When  I 
say  this,  it  is  in  preference  of  your  interest  to 

Z  3  my 


S4C 


The  letters         Bdoit  IX, 


own:  as  upon  all  other  considerations  I  am 
txtremely  desirOut  of  seeing  you  amongst  us. 
Farcwel. 


LETTER  XVIIl. 

[A.  U.  707.] 

To  Marcus  Brutus. 

J-iUCius  Castronius  Partus,  is  by  far'^fie 
most  considerable  person  in  the  city  of  Lucca : 
but  not  more  distinguished,  however,  by  his 
birth  and  rank,  than  by  the  solidity  of  his  un- 
derstanding, and  the  friendliness  of  his  dispo- 
sition. In  one  word,  he  is  in  every  respect  a 
most  worthy  man.  I  might  add  too  (if  it  were 
of  any  importance  to  his  character)  that  he  15 
^ot  only  conspicuous  for  his  eminent  virtues. 
But  for  his  affluent  fortunes.  I  converse  with 
him  upon  terms  of  the  most  unreserved  inti- 
macy ;  and,  indeed,  there  is  no  man  of  sena- 
torian  rank  whom  he  treats  with  greater  marks 
of  esteem.  I  therefore  recommend  him  to  you, 
not  only  as  my  friend,  but  as  worthy  of  being 
yours.  And  I  am  very  sure,  that,  whatever 
service  you  shall  render  him,  will  afford  a  sa- 
tisfaction to  yourself,  as  well  as  confer  an  obli- 
gation upon  me.     Farewel  n,  iuu.>jo« 

LETTER 

>  1-    ■ 


BooKlXrf        OF  CICEHaH 


oP|ij3^ 


flit-    i 


>X' 


LETTER  XIX. 

[A.  U.  707.] 


r,-!iiirf« 


To  Marcus  Marcellus. 

I  SENT  you  a  long  letter',)t|Tcry  few  days  ago, 
by  Quintius  Mucins;  wherein  I  fully  explained 
my  sentiments  with  respect  to  the  disposition 
and  conduct  which  I  thought  would  become 
you  in  the  present  conjuncture.  .N^verthejessf 
as  your  freedman  Theophilus  (of  whose  faithful 
affection  towards  you  I  have  been  a  witness)  is. 
setting  out  for  Greece,  I  was  unwilling  h^ 
should  wait  upon  you  without  brin^inj;  a  let^ 

terfromme.  .^^.,,  ^^,,  ,t       „,,;.fj 

^,  To^repeat  what  I  urged  in  my  M^  kt  me 
again  most  earnestly  exhort  you,  wbateyer  t^e 
form  of  our  government  be,  to  ret^^^^ 
as  soon  as  possible.     'Tis  true, 'you  wm 
tlie  mortification,  perhaps,  to  see  manj^^^A^ 
that  will  o-ive  you  pain  :  but  not  more,  how- 
ever,  than  you  every  day  leara  from  com moij 
report.     Now  it  would  be  unworthy  a  man  pf 
youX  character,  to  be  affected  onjywi* 
nasses  .before  his  view :  when  h^  can  hear  the 
very  sam^  tacts  related^  (and  probably  magni- 
"^"^  ;^  "    '       fiea 

*  This  letter  is  not  extant :  bu|  it  probably  contained  aa 
account  of  what  had  passefd*  in  the  ^enat^  coociwrnng  tlw  re*- 
stoTation  pf,  Marcellus.     See  p.  338  of  this  vol. 

Z4 


^344 


The  letters         Book  IX. 


fied  too)  with  less  concern. — But  you  will  tell 
me,  perhaps,  that  should  you  return  to  Rome, 
you  must  submit  either  to  act  or  to  speak  in 
contradiction  to  the  sentiments  of  your  heart. 
In  answer  to  which,  I  must  observe,  in  the 
first  place,  that  it  has  ever  been  deemed  the 
part  of  true  wisdom,  to  yield  to  the  circum- 
stances of  the  times ;  or  to  express  the  same 
thing  in  other  words,  to  comply  with  unavoid- 
able necessity  :  and,  in  the  next  place,  that,  aa 
matters  now  stand,  the  constraint  you  fearis  in 
no  sort  among  the  number  of  our  present  griev- 
ances. Tis  possible,  indeed,  that  you  m;iy  not 
be  at  liberty  openly  to  declare  your  opinions  : 
but  totally  silent  you  may,  undoubtedly,  be.  . 
For  the  sole  cognizance  of  all  affairs  is  cen- 
tered in  a  single  person^ :  and  he  determines  as 

iiseems  good  to  himself,  without  consulting  any 
of  his   party.      And   this  would   have    been 

t  pretty  much  the  case,  had  that  other  chief '^, 
whose  cause  we  chose  to  follow,  been  now  in 
possession  of  the  commonwealth.  For  at  a 
time  when  we  were  all  embarked  with  him  in 
the  same  common  danger,  he  admitted  none 
into  his  council,  but  those  that  were  ill  qua-^ 
lified  to  be  his  advisers.  And  can  it  be 
supposed  that  he  would  have  placed  himself 

more 

^  C»sar.  '.J 

♦  Poinp#y.  * 


Book  IX.  of  CICERO. 


MS 


jmore  upon  a.  level  with  us  after  victory,  than 
when  his  success  was  altogether  doubtful?  la  it 
to  be  imagined,  that  he  who  rejected  those 
most  prudent  measures  you  recommended  in 

f  your  consulate,  and  refused,  Ukewise,  to  follow 
the  concurrent  sentiments  of  you  and  ypur  re- 
lation^ who  succeeded  you  in  that  office,  and  • 
administered  it  by  your  counsels — is  it  to  be 
imagined  that  such  a  man,  were  he  now  at  the 
head  of  the  commonwealth,  would  consult  either 
your  opinion  or  mine  ?  All  civil  wais  abound 
with  numberless  calamities :    a  truth,   which 
though  our  ancestors  were  so  happy  as  never 
once  to  have  experienced,  the  present  genera- 
tion too  frequently  has^     But  amidst  its  many 
miserable  consequences,  none  is  more  justly  to 
be  dreaded  than  victory  itself     For  though  it  , 
should  turn  on  the  more  meritorious  side,  yet  it 
will  be  apt  to  inspire  even  these  with  a.spirit 
of  insolence  and  cruelty:  and  if  they  should 
not  be  so  by  inclination,  they  at  least  ^ill  by 
necessity.     For,  in  many  instances,  the  victor 
must  find  himself  constrained  to  comply  vnih 

'  the  will  of  those  who  assisted  him  in  his  con- 
quest.    Tell  me,  my  friend,  did  we  not  both 
ill  .         foresee 

'      '  *  Gaiu'5  Marcel lus.  ^'*    ^\ 

-^lo  ^  The  first  civil  war,  in  the  strict  acceptation  of  that 
icfm,  which  Rome  had  ever  seen,,  was  between  Marius  and 
Sy\\& :  about  forty-two  yeajs  before  the  date  of  this  letter. 


3i6 


The  letters 


Book  IXi 


foresee  what  cruelties  would  have  been  exer- 
cised, if  our  party  had  proved  successful  ?  And 
would  you,  in  that  case,  have  lived  an  exiie 
from  your  country,  that  you  might  not  have 
been  a  spectator  of  so  sad  a  scene  ?  I  know  you 
will  reply  in  the  negative:  and  will  assure  me, 
that  you  should  then  have  remained  in  theunn 
disturbed  possession  of  your  estate  and  honooisj 
Yet  certainly  it  would  have  become  a  man  of 
youT  patriotic  spirit  to  have  been  far  less  con-* 
cerned  for  his  own  interest^  than  for  that  of 
the  republic.  ai.u£ 

But  to  what  purpose,  let  me  farther  ask,  should 
you  persevere  inbanishingyourself  from  Rome? 
Hitherto,  indeed,  the  world  has  approved  your 
conduct,  in  having*  entered  into  the  civil  war 
with  reluctance,  and  in  having  wisely  declined 
pushing  it  to  its  last  desperate  extremity.  The 
world  admires,  too,  your  good  fortune  (as  it  may 
justly  be  called,  considering  the  distracted  state 
of  the  times)  in  having  been  able  to  maintain 
your  dignity  and  reputation  in  an  honourable  re^ 
treat.  But  the  time  is  now  arrived,  when  you 
uughtto  think  no  place  more  desirable  thanyoujf 
nativecountry.  If  she  appears  less  beautiful  thaa 
formerly,  this  circumstance  should  not  diminish 
yonr  aflfection,  but  rather  raise  your  compassion: 
and,  as  there  are  so  many  illustrious  citizens 

whose 


Book  IX. 


OF  CICERO. 


347 


whose  loss  she  deplores,  you  should  spare  her 
the  additional  sorrow  of  being  deprived  Hkewise 
of  you.  If  you  discovered  a  true  greatness  of 
spirit  in  scorning  to  be  the  suppliant  of  Cae- 
sar's power,  may  you  not  betray  too  much  pride 
in  contemning  the  offers  of  his  clemency  ?  And 
if  you  acted  wisely  in  withdrawing  from  your 
country,  may  it  not  be  thought  insensibility, 
should  you  shew  no  desire  of  returning?  In  a 
word,  though  you  should  take  no  satisfaction 
in  pubhc  affairs,  yet  surely  it  is  imprudent  to 
abandon  your  own.  But,  above  all,  let  me  en- 
treat you  to  consider  whether  your  present  si- 
f  nation  is  as  secure,  as  it  may  perhaps  be  agree- 
able. Violences  are  every  where  committed 
with  great  licentiousness :  but  more  partictt^* 
larly  in  foreign  countries,  where  villany  is  less 
restrained  by  awe  and  shame  from  its  cruel 
purposes.  I  mention  this  from  my  concern  for 
your  welfare :  which  is  so  great,  indeed,  that 
if  it  be  not  equal,  it  is  certainly,  at  least,  infe- 
rior only  to  that  of  your  relation  jMarcellus^. 
Beheve-me  then,  it  becomes  you  to  act  agreea- 
bly to  the  circumstances  of  the  times,  and  with 
a  rational  regard  to  the  preservation  of  your  life 

and  fortunes.     Farewel. 

LETTER 


?Jf>Stlf'J  81JOJ 


7  Caius  Marcellus. 


cil 


54S 


The  letters 


Book  IX, 


Book  IX. 


0^  CICERO. 


349 


LETTER  XX. 

[A.r.  707.] 


Ul)i« 


i       Marcus  AL\rci:llus'  to  Cicero. 

I  11  AVE,  upon  every  occasion,  shewn  you,  but 
particularly  in  the  present,  that  I  pay  the  high- 
est rejrard  to  vour  sentiments  and  advice.  Ac- 
cordingly,  notwithstanding  my  very  affection- 
ate relation  Caius  ^larccllus,  had  not  only  en- 
treated, but  earnestly  conjured  me  to  act  in  the 
manner  you  recommend,  yet  his  persuasions 
could  by  no  means  prevail,  till  I  found  them 
supported  by  yours.  ] 

I  am  indebted  to  your  letter  for  a  particular 
account  of  the  manner  in  which  this  affair  has 
been  transacted  :  and  I  am  extremely  obliged  to 
you  for  your  congratulations  thereupon,  as  I 
know  they  proceed  from  an  excellent  heart.  But 
among  the  very  few  friends  and  relations  who 
^^tYP  ?i^^cr^ly  endc^yonred  to  pr^mpte  my  re- 
cal,  notlunir  in  this  whole  transaction  affords 
me  so  true  a  joy,  as  to  have  experienced  your 
singular  zeal  and  ofood-will  towards  me.  Every 
thing-  else,  indeed,  the  calamities  of  the  times 
liave  taught  mc  to  resign  with  great  tranquillity 

and 

*  This  \i\U\  >ooms  to  be  an  answer  to  that  which  is  nieu- 
tioiicd  in  the  lii-t  reinaik  on  the  preceding  epibllc. 


and  indifference :  but  to  be  deprived  of  the 
friendship  of  men  of  your  worth  and  character, 
would  render  life,  under  every  circumstance, 
altogether  insupportable.  It  is  upon  the  en- 
joyment, therefore,  of  this  privilege,  that  I 
chiefly  congratulate  myself:  and  I  shall  endea- 
vour to  convince  you,  that  you  have  conferred 
your  good  offices  upon  one  who  is  most  sin- 
cerely and  warmly  your  friend.     Farewel. 

LETTER  XXI. 

[A.U.707.] 

To  Marcus  Brutus. 

Lucius  TiTius  Strabo  is  one  of  the  most 
illustrious  and  most  distinguished  of  our  Ro- 
man knights.  I  live  with  him  in  the  strictest 
familiarity:  as,  indeed,  we  are  united  by  every 
kind  of  friendly  connexion.  He  claims  a  debt 
xi^rhich  is  owing  to  him  in  your  province,  from 
Publius  Cornelius  :  but  Volcatius,  who  presides 
in  our  court  of  justice'  at  Rome,  having  refused 

to 


<:.!>  ixMli* 


Jl    .,1     \.     ■     i       i       .,M    i.    ■ 


9  The  person  who  so  presided  was,  according  to  ib©  con- 
stitution of  the  Roman  government,  the  Frcetor  Urbanus,  or 
city  praetor:  but  Ca,^sar  would  not  suffer  the  people  to  pro- 
ceed this  year  to  the  usual  election  of  their  magistrates,  ex- 
cepting only  with  respcrt  to  the  tribunes  and  aedjles.  Instead 
of  prSBtors,  therefore,  he  arbitrarily  appointed  a  certain  num- 
ber of  persons  to  administer  the  civil  jurisdiction  of  the  city, 
which  is  the  reason  (as  one  of  the  commentators  conjectures') 
that  Cicero  does  not  call  Volcatius  by  the  proper  title  of  his 
office.  Su€f.  in  Jul.  76. 
1 


350 


The  letters         Book  IX. 


Book  IX. 


OF  CICERa 


351 


to  take  cognizance  of  the  cause,  has  directed 
it  to  be  tried  in  Gaul.  I  request  your  assist- 
ance, therefore,  in  bringing  this  affair  to  a 
speedy  determination  :  and  I  request  it  so  much 
the  more  earnestly  than  if  it  were  my  own,  as  a 
man  may,  with  a  better  grace,  be  anxious  for 
the  pecuniary  concerns  that  relate  to  his  friend 
than  to  himself.  Let  me  entreat  you,  then,  to 
take  the  whole  conduct  of  this  busifi^/^^u^^qr 
your  immediate  direction.  And  I  hope  you 
will  endeavour,  as  far  as  justice  shall  permit, 
that  Strabo's  freedman,  who  is  employed  to 
manage  this  suit,  may  recover  the  money  in 
question  with  as  httle  trouble  and  expence  as 
possible.  In  this  you  will  greatly  oblige  me  : 
and  you  will  find,  likewise,  that  Strabo  is  ex- 
tremely deserving  of  your  friendship.  Again 
and  again,  therefore,  I  conjure  you  to  take  his 
interest  under  your  protection,  with  the  same 
care  you  arc  wont  to  exert  in  every  instance 
that  you  know  will  be  agreeable  to  me. 
FareweL 


^  >     LETTER  XXIL 

^  [A,U,707.] 

ibuni        To  L.  Papiritts  PjCTtrs. 

I  ^ KITE  this  letter  in  great  haste  upon  my  ta* 
blets,  in  the  midst  of  an  entertainment*  at  tlic 
ntiuse  of  Volumnius.  We  lay  down  about  the 
ninth  hour* :  and  1  am  placed  with  your  friends 
AtHcus  on  my  right  hand,  and  Verrius  on  my 
left  You  will  wonder  to  find  that  I  can  pass 
my  time  thus  jovially  in  the  midst  of  servitude. 
Yet  tell  me,  my  friend,  you  who  are  the  disci- 
ple of  a  philosopher,  what  else  should  1  do  ? 
And  to  what  purpose  should  I  torment  myself 
with  endless  disqaretudes  ?  ^'  Spend  your  days,'' 
you  will,  probably,  reply,  *'  in  literary  occupa- 
tions." But  can  you  imagine  I  have  any  other  ? 
m*  that,  witliout  them,  my  very  being  would 
not  be  utterly  insupportable?  However,  though 
employments  of  this  kind  cannot  satiate,  there 
is  a  certain  time,  nevertheless,  when  it  is  proper 

to 

*  The  time  of  meals  seems  a  very  extraordinary  season 
for  the  purpose  of  writing  letters.  However,  it  was  cus- 
tomary with  the  Romans  to  employ  themselves  in  this  man- 
ner between  the  several  courses :  and  they  usually  carried 
tablets  about  them  for  that  use.  Plutarch  informs  us,  that 
C«sar  generally  signed  his  dispatches  at  table.  Vlut,  in  vit, 
Cas. 

*  The  Romans  reclined  themselves  upon  couches  at  their 
meals.  The  ninth  hour  answers  to  our  three  o'clock  in  the 
Afternoon,  and  was  the  usual  time  wii«n  thej  made  their  la^t 
and  principal  meal. 


'♦' 


■  A 


S 


d 


352 


The  letters 


Book  IX- 


feooK  IX.  OF  CICERO. 


353 


to  lay  them  aside.  Now,  at  such  intervals, 
though  a  party  at  supper  is  not  altogether  a 
point  of  so  much  importance  to  me,  as  it  was 
to  you,  when  you  made  it  the  single  subject  of 
your  arch  query  to  the  philosopher';  yet  I 
know  not  m  what  manner  I  can  more  agreea- 
bly  dispose  of  myself  till  the  hour  of  sleep.  But 
I  was  going  to  name  the  rest  of  our  company, 
and  to  tell  you  that*  Cytheris  is  reclined^  at  the 
left  hand  of  Eutrapelus.  You  will  be  asto- 
nished, I  suppose,  to  find  your  grave  and  phi- 
losophical friend  in  such  society :  and  will  be 
apt  to  cry  out  with  the  poet^ 

Jnd  is  tliis  he,  the  man  so  late  renown' d  ? 
Whom  virtue  honoured,  and  zvhom  glory  crowned : 
This  thtfavi'd  chief,  of  exeiy  tongue  the  praise  : 
Of  Greece  t/iewondery  and  of  crowds  the  gaze  : 

The  truth  of  the  matter  is,  I  had  not  the  least 
suspicion  that  this  fair  lady  was  to  be  of  our 

party. 

5  The  story  to  which  Cicero  here  alludes,  is  more  expli- 
citly mentioned  in  a  subsequent  part  of  this  letter. 

♦  A  celebrated  courtesan,  who,  a  few  years  before  the 
date  of  this  letter,  had  been  a  very  favourite  mistress  of  Mark 
Antony.  If  the  authority  of  Servius  may  be  relied  upon, 
she  is  the  Lycoris  whose  infidelity  to  the  poet  Gall  us  is  the 
subject  of  the  last  of  Virgil's  pastorals.  Flut.  in  vit.  Ant. 
Serv,  Virg.  Eclog.  10. 

5  The  reclining  posture,  at  talble,  was  esteemed  indecent 
for  wemen,  and  only  practised  by  those  of  a  loose  character : 
as  the  Roman  ladies  of  modesty  always  sat  at  their  meals. 

•  Manutius  supposes  that  the  verses  here  quoted  are  from 
a  tragedy  of  the  poet  Ennius,  entitled  Telamon :  which  is 
frequently  mentioned  by  the  ancient  grammarians. 


))arty.  However,  I  have  the  example  of  the  So* 
fcratic  Aristippus^,  to  keep  me  in  countenance : 
who,   when  he  M'as  reproached  whh  having  a 

commerceof  gallantry  with  theCorinthiancour- 
tcfsari,  'tis  true,  replied  the  philosopher,  (without 
being  in  the  least  disconcerted)  I  possess  Lais; 
but  Lais  possesses  not  me.     The  expression  is 
touch  stronger  in  the  original;  and  I  leave  you, 
if  you  think  propef,  to  render  it  in  its  full  import. 
In  the  mean  time,  let  me  assure  you,  that  I  never 
had  any  passion  of  this  sort,  even  when  I  was  a 
young  fellow,  and  much  less  now  that  I  am  an 
old  one.    But  my  great  delight  is  in  these  festive 
meetings,  where  I  throw  out  just  what  comes 
Uppermost,  and  laugh  away  the  sighs  and  sor- 
rows of  my  heart.     Nor  were  you  yourself  in  a 
more  serious  mood,  my  friend,  when  even  a  ve- 
nerable philosopher  could  not  escape  your  mil- 
lery ;  to  whom,  when  he  was  enquiring  if  the 
company  had  any  questions  to  propose  to  him^, 
you  replied,  with  great  gravity,  that  "it  had  been 

"  a  question 

^  He  was  a  disciple  of  Socrates ;  but  either  mistaXiug  or 
perverting  the  lessons  of  his  excellent  master,  he  maintained 
that  "  sensual  pleasure  was  the  supreme  and  ultimate  good.'' 
His  practice  was  agreeable  to  his  docirir<e,  and  he  spent  h'ia 
life  (a  great  part  of  which  he  passed  at  the  court  of  Dionv- 
sius,  the  Sicilian  tyrant)  in  every  kind  of  luxurious  indul- 
gence.    Cic.  de  Orat.  iii.  \6.  XJ,  Athen,  Deipn.  12. 

•  Exu  AatJa  MX  txof^M,  was  the  ani^wer  of  Aristippus  ; 
where  the  verb  fij^w,  a^  Manutius  observes,  conveys  a  more 
obscene  sense  than  the  word  kabeo,  into  which  CicerQ  trans- 
lates it. 

^  The  conceitedness  of  the  ancient  Sophists  was  so  extra- 
vagant, that  they  pretended  to  be  possessed  of  all  knowledge. 
Vol.  II.  A  a  human 


^ 


^ 


354 


The  LETTERS        Book  IX. 


Book  IX- 


t>F  CICERO.  $55 


"  a  question  with  you  the  whole  morning,  where 
*'  you  should  find  a  party  to  sup?"     The  formal 
pedant  expected,  perhaps,  that  you  were  going 
to  ask  him,  whether  there  was  one  heaven  only, 
or  heavens  innumerable ;  whereas  it  was  at  that 
time,  it  seems,  much  more  your  concern  to  be  re- 
solved in  the  humourous  problem  you  proposed. 
Thus  you  see  in  what  manner  I  pass  my  time. 
i  devote  part  of  every  day  to  reading  or  writ- 
ing ;  after  which,  that  I  may  not  entirely  se- 
clude myself  from  the  society  of  my  friends,  I 
generally  sup  in  their  parties.     But  upon  these 
occasions  I  am  so  far  from  transgressing  our 
'Sumptuary  law,  (if  any  law,  alas  !  can  now  be 
said  to  subsist)  that  I  do  not  even  indulge 
-myself  to  the  full  extent  it  allows.     You  need 
not  be  alarmed,  therefore,  at  my  intended  vi- 
•it :  you  will  receive  a  guest  who  jokes  much 

more  abundantly  than  he  eats.     Farewel. 

LETTER 

-  jiuman  and  divine;  insomuch  ibat  one  of  tbem  publicly 
'  boasted,  at  tbe  Olympic  games,  that  he  was  not  only  master 
••of  the  whole  arcle  of  liberal  arts  and  sciences,  but  of  the 
t  meanest  mechanic  crafts.  Accordingly,  it  was  customary  with 
'them  to  call  upon  their  audience  to  propose  any  question 
.whatever,  in  which  they  were  desirous  to  be  informed  ;  which 
was  no  sooner  delivered  out,  than  these  philological  mounte- 
banks harangued  upon  it  in  that  fluent  jargon  with  which 
-  school-men,  in  all  ages,  have  been  so  liberally  endowed.— 
.  The  first  who  assumed  these  impious,  shall  they  be  termed, 
or  ridiculous  pretensions  to  omniscience,  was  one  Gorgias,  a 
Grecian:  and  this  man,   who,  in  more  enlightened  days, 
would  have  been  looked  upon  with  the  utmost  contempt  by 
all  true  philosophers,  was  held  in  such  high  esteem  by  hit 
countrymen,  that  they  erected  a  statue  to  his  memory,  of 
solid  gold.    Cic.  dc  Orat.  iii.  32.  d€  Finib.  ii. 


LETTER  XXIIL 

[A.u.ror.]      V 
To  Ampius', 

Believe  me,  my  dear  Appius,  it  is  with  the 
utmost  reason  that  I  congratulate  you  on  the 
success  of  your  affairs,  I  am  by  no  means, 
indeed,  so  imprudent,  as  to  flatter  ypu  with 
false  hopes ;  for  an  unexpected  disappointment 
would  probably  so  depress  your  spirits,  that  no- 
thing would  ever  be  capable  of  raising  them 
again. 

I  have  solicited  your  cause  with  more  freedom 
than  was  altogether  suitable,  perhaps,  to  a  man 
in  my  circumstances ;  as  the  invariable  friend- 
ship which  I  have  ever  borne  towards  you,  and 
which  you  have  always  most  faithfully  culti- 
vated, taught  me  to  surmount  the  difficulties 
that  fortune,  by  impairing  my  credit,  had 
thrown  in  my  way.  Accordingly  the  promise 
of  your  pardon  is  obtained,  and  all  prelimina- 
ries 

'  Titus  Ampios  had  gradually  risen  through  the  several 
employments  ot  the  state,  till  he  arrived  at  the  prKtor»hip: 
from  which  post  he  was  elected,  in  the  year  696y  to  the  go- 
vernment of  Cilicia.  As  he  had  dist^ngui^hed  himself,  dur- 
ing his  tribunate,  by  promoting  the  interest  and  honours  of 
Pompey,  so  be  appears  to  have  been  a  warm  partisan  of  his 
<:ause  in  the  civil  wars;  in  consequence  of  which,  he  Was  at 
this  time  in  exile.     Pigh,  Annal.  iii.  ^76, 

A  a  2 


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Book  IX. 


I/. 

1  !■ 


'1 


ties  are  adjusted  and  confirmed  that  relate  to 
your  restoration.     I  speak  this  upon  my  own 
certain  knowledge,  having  been  a  witness  to 
the   whole   transaction.     It  happens,  indeed^ 
very  luckily,  that  I  am  connected  with  all  Cae- 
sar's favourites ;  insomuch  that,  next  to  Csesar, 
there  is  no  one  who  stands  so  high  in  their 
friendship  as  myself.    Pans^,  Hirtius,  and  Op- 
pius;   Balbus,  Matius,    and  Postumius,    have 
each  of  them  distinguished  me  with  particular 
marks  of  their  esteem.     If  I  had  eiideavoured 
to  establish  this  interest,  merely  with  a  view  of 
serving  you  in  the  present  conjuncture,  I  should 
by  no  means  think  I  had  reason  to  be  ashamed. 
But  I  did  not  cultivate  their  good  graces  upon 
any  motive  of  this  temporizing  kind  :  on  the 
contrary,  every  one  of  these  whom  I  incessantly 
solicited  in  your  behalf,  are  my  old  friends.     In 
this  number  we  are  principally  obliged  to  Pansa; 
who,  as  he  has  the  greatest  credit  and  influence 
with  Caesar,  so  he  shewed  himself  extremely 
zealous  for  your  interest,  and  very  desirous 
likewise  of  obliging  me.     I  must  mention  Tul- 
lius  Cimber*  also,  as  one  with  whose  good  of- 
fices, 

*  This  person,  though  greatly  in  favour  with  Caesar,  was 
afterwards  one  of  the  principal  conspirators  against  him. — 
It  was  he  that  gav«  the  signal  to  the  rest  of  his  associates, 
when  they  assassinated  Cssar  in  the  senate  ;  and  Cimber 
held  him  by  the  gown,  while  Cassius  gave  him  the  firs]^ 
sub.     Suet,  in  Jul,  82. 


Book  I'M 


OF  CICERO. 


357 


fices,  upon  this  occasion,  I  have  great  reason 
to  be  satisfied.  He  employed  them  more  suc- 
cessfully upon  your  account,  than  he  possibly 
could  in  favour  of  any  other  man ;  for  it  is  not 
interested  solicitations  so  much  as  those  which 
proceed  entirely  from  friendship  and  gratitude, 
that  prevail  with  Caesar.  Your  warrant,  howr 
ever,  is  not  yet  actually  signed  ;  for  there  are 
certain  malevolent  spirits  (who  affect  to  talk  as 
if  they  were  not  secretly  pleased  that  this  civil 
war  broke  out,  and  who  represent  you  as  the 
principal  fomenter  of  it,)  that  would  be  exr 
ceedingly  offended  if  they  knew  you  liad  obr 
tained  your  pardon.  It  was  thought  advisable, 
therefore,  to  manage  this  affair  with  great  caii-p 
tion  and  secresy  ;  nor  by  any  means,  at  present, 
to  suffer  our  success  to  be  pubUcly  known.  It 
soon,  however,  will ;  and  I  doubt  not  that  every 
thing  will  be  ripe  for  that  purpose,  before  this 
letter  shall  reach  your  hands  :  for  Pansa,  whose 
word  may  be  depended  upon,  has  promised  me, 
in  the  strongest  terms,  that  he  will  in  a  very 
few  days  procure  your  warrant.  In  the  mean 
time,  I  thought  proper  to  send  you  tliia  previ- 
ous account  of  the  prosperous  state  of  your  af- 
iairs.  For  I  find,  by  talking  with  your  wife 
Epulia,  and  by  the  tender  tears  of  your  daugh- 
ter Ampia,  that  you  are  more  di$pirited  than 

'  A  a  3  youT 


h 
1- 


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Book  IX: 


O'F'CtCERa 


m 


your  letters  intimate ;  and  they  are  apprehen- 
sive that  your  uneasiness  will  be  increased  by 
their  absence,  In  order,  therefore^  to  compose 
this  anxiety  of  your  mind,  I  thought  it  incum- 
bent on  me  thus  to  anticipate  a  piece  of  good 
news,  which  most  assuredly  will  be  verified. 
You  aie  sensible  that  in  my  former  letters  I  have 
father  employed  such  arguments  of  consolation 
ils  were  proper  to  affect  a  man  of  your  philo- 
sophical magnanimity,  than  encouraged  you  to 
entertain  any  other  certain  hopes  than  those  of 
being  restored  with  the  republic,  when  these 
flames  should  subside.  And  here  let  me  remind 
you  of  your  letters  to  me,  in  which  you  have 
always  discovered  the  most  heroic  determination 
to  meet  with  firmness  and  fortitude  whatever  it 
mi^^ht  be  vour  fate  to  suffer.  I  was  by  no  means 
surprised  to  find  that  you  were  animated  with 
these  manly  sentiments,  when  I  reflected  that 
you  had  been  conversant  in  the  affairs  of  the 
world  from  your  earliest  youth  ;  that  you  had 
exercised  son>e  of  the  most  important  employ- 
ments of  the  commonwealth,  at  a  time  when  our 
Kves  and  hberties  were  in  the  utmost  danger*; 

and 

♦Ampiu*  was  tribune  in  the  consulate  «f  Cicero,  wb«» 
Ibfl  conspiracy  of  Catiline  was  discovered  j  and  was  praetor 
in  the  year  695,  when  Clodius,  who  at  the  same  time  was 
tribune,  raised  so  much  disturbance  by  bis  seditious  laws; 
particularly  by  that  which  occasioned  Cicero'b  banishment. 
Pigk,  Annal.  ii.  363. 


and  that  you  entered  into  the  preseat  war,  not 
merely  with  the  pleasing  prospect  of  victory, 
but  with  a  mind  prepared  to  bear  the  reverse, 
with  a  wise  and  philosophical  resignation.     In 
fine,  as  you  are  employed  in  recording  the 
deeds  of  illustrious  heroes^,  it  particularly  con-, 
cerns  you  to  copy  out,  in  your  own  conduct^ 
that  magnanimity  which  you  are  celebrating  iu 
others.     But  this  is  talking  in  a  style  more 
suitable  to  your  late  circumstances  than  to  your 
present.     Let  me  only,  then,  exhort  you  to 
come  prepared  to  endure  those  calamities  which 
you  must  suffer  here  in  common  with  every  ci-. 
tizen  of  Rome :  calamities,  for  which,  if  I  hadi 
discovered  any  remedy,  I  should  most  certainly 
impart  it  to  you.     The  only  refuge  from  then^ 
B  in  those  philosophical  studies,  in  which  w^ 
have  both  of  us  ever  been  conversant ;  ^a4 
these,  though  in  more  prosperous  days  they 
were  only  our  amusement,  must  now  prove 
Kkewise  our  strongest  support.     But^^  ti:^  ^^r^ 
I  began,  let  me  desire  you  to  be  well  persuaded 
that  all  things  are  completely  settled  concern- 
ing your  full  pardon  and  restoration.     Fare wel 

LETTER 

-  >  *  Thk  work  seems  to  have  been  of  the  biographical  kind, 
and  to  have  included  the  life  of  Julius  Caesar  ;  as  Suetonius 
quotes  a  passage  from  it,  concerniiig  the  conduct  of  that 
emperor.     Vid.  Suet,  in  Jul.  11, 

A  a  4 


H 


\- 


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360 


Thje  letters 


Boos  IX. 


Book  IX, 


OF  CICEBO. 


361 


^ 


LETTER  XXIV. 

[A.  U.  707.] 

To  P.  Servilius  IsAt  ricus,  Proconsul. 

As  the  friendship  that  subsists  between  us, 
and  the  singular  affection  you  bear  me,  arc 
circumstances  universally  knovrn  :  I  find  my- 
self under  a  frequent  necessity  of  applying  to 
you  in  behalf  of  those  who  solicit  my  recom- 
mendations. But  thoueh  I  am  a  oeneral  well- 
wisher  to  all  whom  I  thus  introduce  to  your 
favour,  yet  I  do  not  pretend  to  be  equally  in- 
terested in  the  success  of  every  one  of  them. 
I  am  particularly  so,  however,  in  that  of  Titus 
Egnatius,  as  lie  was  the  generous  companion 
of  my  exile,  and  shared  with  me  in  all  the 
pains,  the  difficulties,  and  the  dangers  which  I 
underwent,  both  by  sea  and  land,  during  that 
most  unfortunate  period  of  my  life.  Nor 
would  he,  without  my  consent,  have  left  me  at 
this  juncture.  I  recommend  him  to  you,  there- 
fore, as  one  of  my  family  for  whom  I  have  the 
greatest  regard  ;  and  you  will  much  oblige  me 
by  convincing  him  that  this  letter  shall  have 
proved  greatly  to  his  advantage.     Farewel. 

LETTER 


LETTER  XXV. 

[A.  U.  707.] 
-  TQCURIUS^ 

There  was  a  time  when  I  thought  you  made 
a  very  injudicious  choice,  by  preferring  a  fo- 
reign country  tq  your  own.  I  imagined  that 
Rome  (while  yet,  alas!  it  was  Rome)  must  be 
far  more  suitable,  I  will  not  only  say  than  Pa- 
trse,  but  even  than  the  noblest  city  in  the  Pelo- 
ponnesus, to  a  man  of  your  amiable  and  elegant 
turn  of  mind.  But  now,  on  the  contrary,  I 
look  upon  your  having  retired  into  Greece, 
when  our  affairs  were  well  nigh  desperate,  as  a 
strong  proof  of  your  great  penetration  ;  and  I 
consider  your  absence,  not  only  as  a  very  judi- 
cious, but  a  very  happy  resolution.  Yet,  why  dol 
call  it  happy  ?  when  it  is  impossible  that  hapr 
piness  should  be  the  portion  of  any  man,  in 
these  wretched  times,  who  possesses  the  least 

degree 

*  He  was  one  of  the  city  quaestors  in  the  year  69 1,  and 
about  five  years  afterwards,  was  elected  into  the  post  of  tri« 
bune.  It  does  not  appear  that  he  advanced  any  farther  in 
the  offices  of  the  state.  On  the  contrary,  it  seems  probable 
that  he  turned  his  pursuits  into  an  humbler  channel,  and 
engaged  in  some  branch  of  commerce.  It  was  for  this  pur- 
pose, perhaps,  that  about  the  time  when  the  dissentions  be- 
tween Pompey  and^Caesar  broke  out,  he  retired  into  Greece, 
and  settled  at  Patrae,  See  let.  2,  of  the  foUowipg  book.  Figk, 
4nnal,  li.  334. 


568 


The  letters        Book  IX. 


"I 
-I 


II 


degree  of  sensibility.     However,  that  desirable 
privilege  which  you,  who  wejre  at  liberty  to 
leave  Italy,  ^njoy  by   travelling,  I  have  pro- 
cured by  another  method ;  and  I  can  in  some 
soft  say,  no  less  than  yourself,  that  I  live 

Where  nor  the  name  nor  deeds  accitrs'd  I  hear 
Of  Pelops"  impious  ract'^. 

For,  as  soon  as  my  levee  is  over,  (which  is 
somewhat  more  frequented  tlian  formerly,  a 
patriot  being  now  looked  upon  as  a  sight,  of  all 
others,  the  most  uncommon*)  I  shut  myself  up. 
in  my  library.  And  it  is  there^  my  friend,  that 
I  am  employed  in  compositions  which  you  will 
find,  perhaps,  to  be  animated  with  all  that  spi- 
rit you  once  said  so  ill  agreed  with  my  dejec- 
tion and  despair,  when  you  reproached  me,  at 
your  house,  for  not  acting  up  to  the  fortitude 

that 

^  The  sons  of  Pelops  were  Atreu^  and  Thyestes,  whose 
impious  and  cruel  aicl*  are  recorded  in  fabulous  history. 
The  dramaiic  poet,  Aiiius,  wrote  a  tragedy  «ntitled  Atreus, 
from  which  play,  it  is  probable,  this  line  was  quoted,  and 
which  Cicero  leeros  to  apply  to  the  violences  committed  by 
some  of  the  leading  men  in  the  successful  party.  That  Ci- 
cero, however^  by  no  means  lived  the  recluse  he  here  repre- 
sents himself,  has  already  appeared  by  several  letters  in  the 
pre^jent  and  preceding  book,  by  which  il  is  evident  that  he 
mixed,  wiih  cftat  freedom  and  gaiety,  among  the  chiefs  of 
ibf  victorious  faction. 

■  A  true  patriot  was  a  sight  in  all  ages  too  uncommon,  il 
must  be  owned,  not  to  have  been  worth  remarking;  bur^^ 
whether  those  who  visited  Cicero,  in  order  to  view  so  singu- 
lar a  curiosity,  were  disappointed  or  not,  is  a  question  which. 
every  reader,' by  this  time,  perhaps,  may  be  able  very  clearly 
to  determine. 


Book  IX.  of  CICERO. 


365 


that  appeared  in  my  writings.  I  must  confess, 
I  could  not  at  that  time  forbear  lamentinsc  the 
wretched  fate  of  the  repubhc ;  to  which  I  was 
the  more  tenderly  attached,  as  I  had  not  only 
been  distinguished  with  its  honours,  but  had 
greatly  assisted  it  by  my  services.  And  even 
now,  that  time  (which  wears  out  the  sorrows 
of  the  weakest  minds)  together  with  reason, 
(which  ought  to  have  the  strongest  influence 
for  that  purpose)  have  jointly  contributed  to 
compose  my  breast ;  yet  I  still  lament  to  see 
the  commonwealth  thus  fallen,  without  a  hope 
of  ever  rising  more  !  There  is  nothing,  how- 
ever, that  can  at  present  be  justly  imputed  to 
Him,  in  whom  all  power  is  now  vested  ;  unless, 
perhaps,  it  be  that  he  has  more  than  be  ought. 
And  as  to  what  is  past,  our  fate  and  our  follies 
have  had  so  large  a  share  in  all  that  has  hap- 
pened, that  we  cannot  complain  with  a  good 
grace.  As  little  reason  is  there  to  hope  that 
affairs  will  mend.  I  cannot,  therefore,  but  con- 
clude my  letter  as  I  began  it,  with  admiring 
your  judgment  if  it  were  choice,  or  your  for- 
tune if  it  were  chance,  that  led  you  froBi  this 

vnpkasing  scene.     FareweL 

LETTER 


364t 


The  letters         Book  IX, 


LETTER  XXVL 


Book  IX. 


bF  CiCERO. 


365 


[A.  U.  707.] 
To  LiGARlUS. 

Be  assured  that  I  am  exerting  my  utmost 
efforts  of  every  kind  in  order  to  procure  your 
restoration.  In  truth,  the  singular  and  pious 
affection  of  your  brothers,  for  whom  I  bear  the 
same  warm  friendship  that  I  entertain  for  ybur- 
self,  will  not  suffer  me  to  neglect  any  opportu- 
nity of  employing  my  best  offices  in  your  be- 
half But  I  had  rather  you  should  learn  from 
their  letters  than  from  mine,  what  I  have  al- 
ready performed,  and  what  I  am  still  endca- 
Touring  to  perform,  in  your  affairs.  I  will 
only,  therefore,  acquaint  you  myself  with  the 
strong  and  well-grounded  hopes  I  have  con- 
ceived, that  your  restoration  will  soon  be  effect- 
ed. Let  me  previously  observe,  that  my  fears 
in  all  doubtful  cases  of  hnportance,  are  ever  apt 
to  be  much  superior  to  my  hopes;  a  fault,  if 
it  be  a  fault,  which  I  am  very  ready  to  acknow- 
ledge. Nevertheless,  the  last  time  I  waited 
upon  Caesar,  I  came  away  with  a  full  persua- 
sion, that  there  was  not  the  least  reason  to 
doubt  of  his  granting  you  a  pardon.  I  attend- 
ed him  for  this  purpose,  at  the  request  of  your 
brothers,  on  the  26th  of  November  last,  in  the 

morning 


morning,  not  without  encountering  all  the  usual 
difficulties  and  indignities,  before  I  could  g-ain 
admittance.  Your  brothers^  and  the  rest  of  your 
relations,  having  thrown  themselves  at  his  feet,  I 
supported  their  petition  with  such  arguments  as  I 
thought  suitable  to  the  occasion^*    And  I  could 

plainly 

*  Cicero  had,  shortly  afterwards,  a  more  public  occasioa 
of  testifying  his  zeal  for  his  friend.  For  Tubero,  though  he 
had  himself  engaged  in  the  same  party  with  Ligarius,  having 
from  private  pique  opposed  the  recal  of  Ligarius,  Cicero  de- 
fended him  before  CjKsar  in  the  forum,  in  a  noble  oration^ 
which  is  still  extant.  It  was  upon  this  occasion,  that  the 
pomp  and  energy  of  the  Roman  orator's  rhetoric  is  said  to 
have  had  such  a  wonderful  effect,  that  it  not  only  made 
Caesar  tremble,  but  what  is  yet  more  extraordinary,  it  made 
him  change  his  determined  purpose,  and  acquit  the  man  he 
had  resolved  to  condemn^  This  story  has  often  been  alledged 
in  proof  of  the  power  of  ancient  eloquence  ;  and  the  trans- 
lator confesses,  that  he  has  himself,  in  the  letters  published 
under  the  name  of  Sir  Thomas  Fitzosborn,  produced  it  for 
that  purpose.  But,  upon  a  stricter  enquiry,  the  supposed 
fact  seems  to  be  extremely  questionable.  For,  in  the  first 
place^  there  is  not  the  least  trace  of  it  in  any  part  of  Ci- 
cero's writings.  Now  this  his  total  silence  seems  to  furnish 
a  very  strong  presumptive  argument,  to  destroy  the  credit 
of  the  story ;  for  it  is  altogether  improbable,  that  a  man  o£ 
Cicero's  character  should  have  omitted  any  opportunity  of 
displaying  a  circumstance  so  exceedingly  to  the  honour  of  his 
oratorical  powers.  In  the  next  place,  it  is  very  observable, 
that  Valerius  Maximus,  who  has  a  chapter  expressly  to  shew 
the  force  of  eloquence,  and  who  mentions  a  particular  in- 
stance of  this  kind  with  regard  to  Caesar  himself,  yet  takes 
not  the  least  notice  of  the  fact  in  question.  But  if  it  had 
been  true^  is  it  credible  either  that  it  should  never  have 
reached  his  knowledge,  or  that,  knowing  it,  he  should  have 
passed  it  over  in  silence  ?  especially  as  it  afi'orded  him  a  much 
stronger  instance  for  his  purpose,  than  any  he  has  thought 
proper  to  enumerate.  It  is  remarkable,  likewise,  than  Quin- 
lillian,  though  he  frequently  cites  the  very  passage  in  this  ce- 
lebrated 


r 


■A 


566 


The  letters         Book  IX. 


Book  IX. 


OF  CICERO. 


367 


I 


plainly  perceive,  not  only  by  the  gracious  an- 
swer which  Caesar  returned,  but  by  the  whole 
air  of  his  countenance,  together  with  several 
other  little  circumstances,  much  easier  to  re- 
mark than  describe,  that  he  was  extremely  well 
inclined  in  your  favour'.  Preserve  then,  my 
friend,  a  firm  and  vigorous  frame  of  mind ; 
and,  if  you  bore  the  dark  and  tempestuous 
season  of  your  affairs  with  fortitude,   let  their 

present 

lebrated  oration,  which  is  supposed  to  have  raised  the 
strongest  emotions  in  Caesar's  breast;  yet  gives  not  the  least 
intimation  of  the  effect  which  it  is  pretended  to  have  wrought. 
Plutarch  is  the  only  ancient  writer  who  relates  this  story, 
and  he  introduces  it  with  a  Xsyerai  Je,  an  expression  which 
seems  to  imply,  that  he  did  not  copy  it  from  any  earlier 
historian,  but  received  it  only  from  common  tradition.  Now 
It  might  be  sufficient  to  give  rise  to  such  a  report,  if  Ciesar 
bad  been  seized  during  the  course  of  this  trial  with  one  of 
his  usual  epileptic  fits,  which  were  attended  with  that  change 
of  colour  and  trembling  of  the  nerves,  that  Plutarch  ascribes 
to  the  force  of  Cicero's  rhetoric.  And  that  this  is  all  that 
there  was  of  truth  in  the  case,  is  rendered  probable  by  the 
testimony  of  Suetonius,  who  informs  us,  that  Caesar  was 
twice  seized  with  these  fits,  when  he  was  engaged  injudicial 
affairs.  Vaf.  Mar,  viii.  p.  Quint.  Instit.  Orat,  viii.  4.  6. 
jx.  2.     Plut.  in  vit.  Cicer,     Suet,  in  Jul,  45. 

'  Cicero's  presages  in  the  present  instance,  appear  to  have 
been  well  grounde<l ;  for  Ligarius,  shortly  afterwards,  ob- 
tained Caesar's  permission  to  return  to  Rome.  Ligarius,  ne- 
vertheless, entered  into  the  conspiracy  against  him,  and  bis* 
tory  has  recorded  the  very  spirited  answer  which  Ligarius 
made  to  Brutus,  when  that  illustrious  Roman  paid  him  a 
visit,  in  order  to  invite  him  into  a  participation  of  his  scheme. 
Brutus,  finding  him  sick  in  bed,  began  to  lament  that  he 
should  be  confined  at  so  critical  a  coDJuDcture  ;  upon  which, 
Ligarius, raising  himself  on  his  arm,  and  taking  Brutus  by  the 
hand,  "  Oh  my  friend"  said  he,  **  ify»u  are  meditating  any 
"  enterprise  uorthy  of  yourself]  I  am  wcUJ'  Flut,  in  vit.  Brut, 


present  more  serene  and  favourable  aspect  fill 
your  heart  with  cheerfulness.  As  for  myself,  I 
shall  continue  to  act  with  as  much  assiduity  in 
your  cause,  as  if  there  were  still  many  obstacles  to 
surmount.  To  this  end,  I  shall  very  zealously 
persevere  in  my  applications,  not  only  to  Cee- 
sar,  but  to  all  those  who  are  most  in  his  favour; 
every  one  of  whom  I  have  experienced  to  be 
much  my  friend.     Farewel. 

< 

LETTER  XXVII. 

[A.  U.  707.] 

^T^gP.  SfiKViLius  IsAURicus,  Proconsul. 

I  TOOK  occasion,  when  we  were  walking  in 
your  gardens,  to  recommend  to  you,  with  all 
possible  earnestness,  the  Asiatic  affairs  of  my 
friend  Cerellia*.  And,  agreeably  to  your  usual 
disposition,  and  to  those  many  great  and  good 
offices  I  have  perpetually  received  at  your  hands, 
you  very  generously  assured  me  of  your  utmost 

assistance. 

*  This  lady  was  not  only  a  particular  friend  of  Cicero, 
but  a  gr«at  reader  and  admirer  of  hit*  moral  writings.  But 
neither  her  philosophy  nor  her  age,  though  she  was  ten  years 
older  than  Cicero,  could  secure  her  character  from  censure; 
and  slander  has  said,  that  her  intercourse  with  our  author 
did  not  always  turn  upon  matters  of  speculation.  But,  it 
the  reader  has  the  curi^jsify  to  see  this  charge  entirely  over- 
thrown, he  will  find  a  very  satisfactory  confutation  o(  i|  in 
Monsieur  Mongault's  fourth  remark  on  the  5 1st  letter  of  the 
12th  book  to  Atticus. 


368 


TriE  LETTERS 


Book  IX; 


1/ 


Essistande.  This  circumstance,  I  persuade  my- 
self, you  have  not  forgotten;  I  am  sure,  at 
least,  it  is  not  customary  with  you  to  be  un- 
mindful of  my  requests.  However,  the  agents 
of  this  lady  inform  her,  in  their  letters,  that  the 
numerous  occupations  in  which  so  extensive  a 
province  engages  you,  render  it  necessary  that 
you  should  be  reminded,  from  time  to  time,  of 
your  promise.  I  entreat  you,  therefore,  to  re* 
collect  that  you  gave  me  full  assurances  of 
employing  your  good  offices  in  favour  of  Ce* 
rellia,  so  far  as  should  be  consistent  with  your 
honour ;  and  I  think  your  powers  for  this  pur- 
pose are  very  extensive.  For,  if  I  mistake  not, 
the  decree  of  the  senate,  which  passed  in  rela- 
tion to  the  heirs  of  Vannoniiis,  is  expressed  in 
such  terms  as  to  admit  of  an  interpretation 
extremely  'advantageous  to  Cerellia's  interest. 
But  thi/must  be  submitted  entirely  to  your 
own  judgment ;  which,  I  doubt  not,  will  con- 
strue this  decree  in  the  sense  in  which  it  was 
intended  by  the  senate,  as  I  know  the  respect 
you  always  bear  for  the  resolutions  of  that  as- 
sembly. I  will  only  add,  therefore,  that  I  de- 
sire you  would  believe,  that  every  instance  in 
which  you  shall  favour  Cercllia,  will  be  a  sin- 
gular obligation  conferred  upon  myself.   Fare- 

weL 

LETTER 


Book  IX, 


OF  CICERO. 


369 


LETTER  XXVIIL 

[A.U.707.] 

To  AuLus  Cjecina^ 

1  WAS  informed,  by  your  zealous  friend  Lar- 
gus,  that  the  time  limited  for  your  continuance 
in  Sicily,  expires  on  the  first  of  January  next. 
Having,  therefore,  upon  all  occasions,  observ- 
ed that  Caesar  ratifies  whatever  Balbus  and  Op- 
pius  act  in  his  absence*,  I  very  strenuously  so- 
licited them  that  you  might  be  permitted  to 
remain  in  that  island  as  long  as  you  should  think 
proper.  In  all  my  applications  of  this  kind, 
they  have  either  instantly  complied  with  my  de- 
sire, if  it  happened  not  to  be  particularly  disa- 
greeable to  them,  or  have  assigned  their  reasons 
for  refusing:  but,  in  the  present  instance,  they 

did 

.  '  /i\i\u$  Caccina  was  a  person  of  great  and  amiable  vir- 
tues in  private  life :  and  he  was  distinguished,  Kkevyise,  ia 
public  for  his  genius,  his  eloquence,  and  bis  erudition.  He 
aeems  to  have  particularly  excelled  in  the  science  of  divina* 
tion  :  up<jn  which  subject  he  wrote  a  treatise,  which  is  oftea 
Tfted  by  Seneca.  In  the  civil  wars,  he  not  only  drew  his 
sword,  but  bis  pen  against  Cssar :  having  publiiihed  an  in- 
vective upon  that  general,  which  appears  to  have  extremely 
offended  him.  Caecina  was  accordingly  banished  :  and  the 
present  ajxd  fdllowing  letters  to  him,  were  written  during  his 
exile  in  Sicily.  Ctc.  Orat,  pro  Ccecin,  35,  $6.  Senec,  Natu* 
ral,  (iwtst.  li.  poMim, 

*  Csesar  was,  at  this  time,  in  Spain,  pursuing  the  war 
against  the  sons  of  Pompey  :  tvhilst  Oppios  and  Balbus  wer« 
actii;»g  ^  his  vicegerents  at  I^ome. 

Vol.  II.  B  b 


370 


The  letters 


Book  IX. 


did  not  give  me  an  immediate  answer.     How- 
ever, they  called  upon  me  again  the  very  same 
day,  in  order  to  acquaint  me,  that,  in  conse- 
quence of  my  request,  you  were  at  liberty  to 
continue  in  Sicily  during  your  own  inclination: 
and  they  would  be  answemble,  they  said,  that 
Cfiesar  would  not  be  displeased.     Thus  you  see 
how  far  your  licence  extends  :  and  I  need  not 
tell  you  what  use  it  would  be  most  adviseaUe 
for  you  to  make  of  it. 

After  I  had  written  thus  far,  your  letter  was 
given  into  mv  hands,  wherein  you  desire  my 
opinion,  whether  you  should  remain  in  Sicily, 
or  go  into  Asia  in  order  to  settle  your  affairs  in 
that  province.     I  do  not  well  know  how  to  re- 
concile this  question  to  the  account  which  I 
jMntioned  above  to  have  received  from  Largus. 
For  be  talked  to  me  as  if  you  were  not  at  li- 
berty to  reside  any  longer  in  Sicily :  whereas, 
your  query  seems  to  imply  the  contrary.     Be 
this  as  it  may,  my  sentiments  are,  that  you 
sboold,  by  all  means,  continue  in  that  island. 
The  nearness  of  its  situation  renders  it  cx- 
treinely  convaiient  for  the  mare  expeditiously 
receiving  and  returning  letters  and  i  eXptesses 
during  the  negociation  of  your  pardon  :  as  you 
will  be  so  much  the  earlier,  likewise,  amongst 
ts,  if  you  should,  as  I  hope,  obtain  leave  to  re- 

3  turn 


Book  IX. 


OF  CICERO. 


371 


turn  to  Rome,  or  at  least,  into  Italy.  For  these 
reasons,  therefore,  I  am  altogetli€r  against  your 
removing  from  your  present  quarters. 

I  shall  not  fail  to  recommend  you,  in  the 
strongest  terms,  to  Fuiianius  Posthumus  and 
his  lieutenants,  when  they  arrive  here :  but,  at 
present,  they  are  all  at  Mwtina.  They  are  every 
one  of  them  my  friends :  and  not  only  persons 
of  singular  merit,  but  great  admirers  of  men 
of  your  character.  You  niay,  without  any  par- 
ticular application  to  me,  depend  upon  my  bes^ 
assistance  in  every  other  article,  \ifhei:ein  I  ima-^ 
gine  my  services  can  avail  you*  And  sho^ld 
there  be  any  of  which  I  Inay  be  ignofant,  if 
you  will  point  them  out  to  me,  you  wii^  find 
that  you  could  not  have  employed  any  other 
of  your  friends  who  would  have  act0d'm  your 
affairs  with  so  warm  a  zeal.  i  cm 

..iThough  I  shall  speak  so  effectually  to  ^  Fmi- 
fenius  that  there  will  be  no  necessity  for  your 
delivering  a  letter  to  him  on  my  part ;  <.  yet^  as 
some  of  your  family  were  desiroiis  you  should 
have  oae^, 1 1  could  not  refuse  the^. request :  and 
4 'have  added,  at  the  bottom  of  this,  a  copy  of 
i»y  l^tterjiiuFarewd. 


■  ( 


.'"  h 


J' I 


-i)!  OS  ^jViiji  niiiJilO 


i 


iM 


f^. 


3!  I 


n  « 


a 

I 


372  The  LETTERS        Book  IX. 

LETTER  XXIX- 

[A.  U.  707.] 

To  Titus  Furfanius^  Proconsul. 

It  is  impossible  to  be  more  intimately  united 
with  any  man,  than  I  have  ever  been  with  Au- 
lus  Csecina.   I  lived  in  great  familiarity  with  his 
illustrious  father :  and  the  early  presages  I  ob- 
served in  the  son,  of  the  most  exalted  probity 
and  eloquence,  won  my  affections  to  him  from  • 
his  youth.    We  were  attached  to  each  other, 
not  only  by  the  mutual  exchange  of  many 
friendly  offices,  but  by  the  same  common  tastes 
and:  studies :  insomuch,  that  there  is  no  man 
for   whom    I   ever  entertained   a  more   ten- 
der regard.     After  this,  I  need  only  add,  that 
I  am  under  the  strongest  obligations,  as  you 
see,  to  protect  both  his  person  and  his  for- 
tunes,   to   the   utmost   of  my  power.    As  I 
know,  by  many  instances,  the  sentiments  you 
entertain  both  of  the   calamities  of,  the  re- 
public,  and  of  those  who  suffer  for  its  sake, 
1  am  sure  your  own   inclinations   will  lead 
yon   to   assist   Ccecina.     I   will  only  entreat 
you,    therefore,    to    suffer  my   recommenda- 
tion to  increase  that  favourable  disposition, 

3  He  was  appointed  by  Oesar  proconsul  of  Sicily  U^f  the 
follo\^g  year  :  in  which  post  he  is  said  to  have  conducted 
himselt  with  great  clemency  and  modcralion.     Quartier. 


BookIXT.       of  CICERO. 


373 


in  proportion  to  the  esteem  w^hich  I  am 
sensible  you  bear  me.  And  be  well  persuaded, 
that  you  cannot  give  me  a  more  sensible  proof 
of  your  friendship.     Farewel.  .,     . 

LETTER  XXX, 

[A.  u.  7or.] 

AuLUs  C-^lCina  to  Cicero. 

I  HOPE  you  will  not  only  pardon  the  fears,  but 
pity  the  misfortunes,  which  prevented  your  re- 
ceiving my  performance  so  soon  as  I  intended  : 
but  my  son  was  apprehensive,  I  hear,  that  the 
piiT)lication  of  this  piece  might  prove  to  my  pre- 
judice. And,  indeed,  as  the  effect  of  composi- 
tions of  this  kind  depends  more  upon  the  tem- 
per in  which  they  are  read,  than  on  that  in 
which  they  are  written,  his  fears  were  by  no 
means  irrational :  especially  as  I  am  still  a  suf- 
ferer for  the  liberties  of  my  pen.  In  this  re- 
spect, my  fate,  surely,  is  somewhat  singular. 
iFor  the  errors  of  an  author  are  generally  either 
reformed  by  a  blot,  or  punished  by  the  loss  of 
his  fame:  Avhereas  banishment,  on  the  contra- 
ryi'  h^s  been  thought  the  more  proper  method 
of  bbrrefcting  mine.  And  yet  the  whole  of  my 
crime  amounts  only  to  this ;  tha;t  I  poured 
forth  my  invectives  against  the  man  with  whom 
I  was  openly  at  war.  Now,  there  was  not  a  sin- 
gle person,  I  suppose,  in  the  same  party  with 

B  b  3  myself. 


374 


The  LETTERS 


Book  IX* 


Book  IX. 


OF  CICERO. 


S75 


il 


myself,  who  was  not  in  effect,  guilty  of  the  same 
oftfence  :  as  there  was  not  one  who  did  not  send 
up  his  vows  for  success  to  our  cause,  or  that  of- 
fered a  sacrifice,  though  upon  an  occasion  ever 
so  foreign  to  public  affairs,  without  imploring 
the  Gods  that  Casar  might  soon  be  defeated. 
.  If  he  imagines  otherwise,  he  is  extremely  happy 
in  his  ignorance.  But  if  he  knows  this  to  be 
fact,  why  am  I  marked  out  as  the  particular 
object  of  his  wrath,  for  having  written  some- 
thing which  he  did  not  approve;  whilst  befor^r 
gives  every  one  of  those,  who  were  perpetually 
invoking  Heaven  for  his  perdition  ! 

But  1  was  going  to  acquaint  you  with  the  rea- 
son of  those  fears,  which  I  mentioned  in  the  be- 
ginning  of  my  letter.  In  the  first  place  then,  I 
have  taken  notice  of  you  in  the  piece  in  question: 
though,  at  the  same  time,  I  have  touched  upon 
your  conduct  with  great  caution  and  reserve. 
Not  that  I  have,  by  any  means,  changed  my 
sentiments  concerning  it ;  but,  as  being  afraid 
to  say  all  that  they  dictated  to  me.  Now,  it  is 
well  known,  that  in  compositions  of  the  pane- 
gyrical kind,  an  author  should  not  only  dieliver 
his  applauses  with  a  full  and  unlimited  freedom, 
but  heighten  them,  Ukewi&e^  witii  a  s^iij^ie 
strength  and  warmth  of  expression.  In  satire, 
indeed,  though  gvG^p  liberties  ai-e  geperjiUy 
thought  allowable,  yet,  a  writer  must  always  be 

upon 


upon  his  guard,  lest  he  degenerates  into  petu-^ 
lance  and  scurrility.  An  author  is  still  more 
restrained  in  speaking  advantageously  of  him- 
self: as  without  much  care  and  circumspec- 
tion he  will  appear  arrogant  and  conceited.  Of 
all  subjects,  therefore,  of  a  personal  nature,  it 
is  panegyric  alone,  wherein  a  writer  may  expa- 
tiate uncontrolled  :  as  he  cannot  be  sparing  in 
the  encomiums  he  bestows  upon  another,  with- 
out incurring  the  imputation  of  envy  or  inability. 

But,   in  the  present  instance,  you  will  think 
yourself,  perhaps,  obliged  to  me.    For  as  I  was 
not  at  liberty  to  represent  your  actions  in  the 
manner  they  deserve,  the  next  favour  to  being 
totally  silent  concerning  them,  was  to  mention 
them  as  little  as  possible.     But  difficult  as  it 
was  to  contain  myself  upon  so  copious  a  sub- 
ject, I  however  forbore:  and,  as  there  were  va- 
rious parts  of  your  conduct  I  did  not  venture 
even  to  touch  upon  ;  so,  in  the  revisal  of  my 
work,  I  not  only  found  it  necessary  to  strike  out 
several  circumstances  I  had  inserted,  but  to 
place  many  of  those  which  I  suffered  to  remain 
in  a  less  advantageous  point  of  view,  But  should 
^h  architect,  in  raising  a  flight  of  steps,  omit 
^ionie,  cut  away  part  of  those  he  had  fixed,  and 
leave  many  of  the  rest  loose  and  ill  joined  toge- 
(ther,  might  he  riot  more  properly  be  said  to  erect 
t  Tuin,  than  an  easy  and  regular  ascent  ?  In  the 
floqji  B  b  4  same 


S76 


Ta£  LETTERS         Book  IX, 


Book  IX. 


OF  CICERO. 


577 


same  manner,  where  an  author  is  constrained 
b^  a  thousand  unhappy  circumstances,  to  break 
the  just  coherence  of  his  piece,  and  destroy  its 
proper  gradation,  how  can  he  hope  to  pro<!uce 
any  thing  that  shall  merit  the  applause  of  a  re^ 
fined  and  judicious  ear?  But  I  was  still  more 
embarrassed,  where  my  subject  led  me  to  speak 
of  Caesar :  and  I  will  own  that  I  trembled  whent 
ever  I  had  occasion  to  mention  his  name.  My 
fears,  however,  did  not  arise  from  any  appre?* 
hension  that  what  I  wrote  might  draw  upon 
me  liis  farther  chastisemeat ;  but  lest  it  should 
not  be  agreeable  to  bis  particular  sentiments; 
with  which,  indeed,  I  am  by  no  means  well  ac- 
quainted«  But  with  what  spirit  can  a  man 
compose  when  he  is  obliged  to  ask  himself,  at 
every  sentence,  **  Will  Cjesar  approve  of  this? 
!*  May  not  this  expression  appear  of  suspicious 
*^  import?  Or  will  he  not  think  it  still  worse 
*^if  I  change  it  thus?"  But,  besides  these  dif- 
ficulties, I  was  perplexed,  likewise,  in  regard 
to  the  applauses  and  censures  which  I  dealt 
out  to  others:  as  I  was  afraid  I  might  apply 
them  where  they  would  not,  perhaps,  be  very 
agreeable  to  Caesar,  though  they  might  not 
actually  give  him  offence.  I  reflected,  t'hat'  if 
his  vengeance  pursued  me  for  what  I  wrotevj 
whilst  I  had  my  sword  in  my  hand ;  what  might: 
be  the  consequence,  should  I  displease  him  now 

that 


that  I  am  a  disarmed  exile  ?  These  fears  en- 
creased  upon  me,  when  I  considered  the  caut 
tious  manner  in  which  you  thought  it  necessary 
to  deliver  your  sentiments  in  your  treatise  en- 
titled the  Orator:  where  you  modestly  apolo- 
gise for  venturing  to  publish  your  notions  upon 
the  subject,  by  ascribing  it  to  the  request  of 
Brutus.  But  if  you,  whose  eloquence  has  ren- 
dered you  the  general  patron  of  every  Roman, 
deemed  it  expedient  to  be  thus  artfully  guarded, 
how  much  more  requisite  is  it  for  your  old 
client,  who  is  now  reduced  to  implore  that  pro- 
tectbn  from  every  citizen  in  general,  which  he 
once  received  from  yourself  in  particular  ?  An* 
author,  who  writes  under  the  constraint  of  so 
many  doubts  and  fears,  though  fears,  perhap^^ 
that  are  altogether  groundless  ;  who  is-  forced 
to  adjust  almost  every  sentence,  not  to  his  own 
judgment,  but  to  the  impression  it  may,.,  pro- 
bably, make  upon  others;  will  find  it  extremely 
difficult  to  execute  any  •composition  with^uci»' 
cess.  And  though  this  is  a  difficulty  which  yon 
have  never,  it  is  possible,  experienced;  as  your 
exalted  genius  is  equal  to  every  undertaking; 
yet  I  am  sure  I  experienced  it  very  sensibly  myv 
self.  Nevertlieless,  I  ordered  my  son  to  read  my. 
performance  to  you ;  but  not  to  leave  it  in  your 
haiuls,  unless  you  would  promise  to  correct  it; 
1  that 


S7« 


The  letters         Book  IX. 


Book  IX. 


OF  CICERO. 


W9 


timt  is,  unless  you  would  new  model  it  in  all  its 

parts. 

As  to  my  Asiatic  expedition  :  notwithstand- 
ino-  my  affairs  require  my  presence  in  that  pro- 
vince ;  yet,  in  obedience  to  your  advice,  1  have 
laid  aside  my  intended  voyage.     And  now,  as 
you  are  sensible  that  my  fate  must  necessarily, 
one  way  or  other,  be  soon  determined ;  I  need 
not,  I  am  persuaded,  particularly  exhort  you 
to  assist  me  with  your  good  offices.     Let  me 
only  entreat  you,  my  dear  Cicero,  not  to  defer 
them  in  expectation  of  my  son's  arrival.     For 
his  youth,  his  tenderness,  and  his  fears,  render 
him  ill  able  to  think  of  every  measure  which 
may  be  proper  to  be  taken  for  my  advantage. 
The  whole  management,  therefore,  of  my  cause, 
must  rest  entirely  upon  you,  as  it  is  upon  you, 
in  truth,  that  all  my  hopes  depend.  Your  judi- 
cious observation  has  enabled  you  to  penetrate 
into  the  recesses  of  Caesar's  heart ;  and  you  are 
acquainted  with  all  the  most  probable  methods 
of  prevailing  with  him  :  so  that  each  successful 
step  that  shall  be  made  in  this  affair,  from  its 
fcommencement  to  its  conclusion,  must  pro- 
ceed altogether  from  you.     I  am  sensible,  like- 
wise, that  you  have  great  interest  with  Caesar, 
,^d.  still  greater  with  all  his  favourites.     I 
doubt  not,  then,  of  your  effecting  my  restora- 
,tion,  if  you  will  exert  yourself  for  that  pur- 
pose 


pose,  not  only  in  such  instances  wherein  1  shall 
particularly  request  your  assistance,  (tliough 
that,  indeed,  would  be  a  very  considerable  ob- 
ligation) but  by  taking  the  whole  conduct  of 
this  matter  into  your  own  hands.  Perhaps  my 
judgment  is  blinded  by  my  misfortunes,  or  I 
expect  more  from  your  friendship  than  in  mo- 
desty I  ought,  when  I  venture  thus  to  impose 
upon  you  so  heavy  a  burthen.  But  whichever 
may  be  the  case,  your  general  conduct  towards 
your  friends  will  furnish  me  Avith  an  excuse: 
for  the  zeal  which  you  exert,  upon  all  occa- 
sions, where  their  interest  is  concerned,  has 
taught  them,  not  only  to  expect,  but  even  tb 
claim  your  services. 

With  regard  to  the  book  which  my  son  wffl 
deliver  to  you ;  I  entreat  you  either  not  to  suf^ 
fer  it  to  be  published,  or  to  correct  it  in  such 
a  manner,  that  it  may  not  appear  to  my  disad- 

>tfir 


vantage.     Farewel. 


>J}.h   -i 


LETTER  XXXI. 

[A.  U.707.] 

To  P.  Servilius  IsAURICUS; 

I  NEED  not  inform  you,  that  Curtilis  Mithres 
is  the  favourite  freedman  of  my  very  intimate 
friend  Postumus:  but  let  hie  assure  you,^  thit 
he  distinguishes  me  with  the  same  marks  of 

respect 


t\ 


580 


The  letters  BookIX;' 


respect  which  he  pays  to  his  patron  himself. 
Whenever  I  was  at  Ephcsus,  I  made  use  of  hiu 
house  as  my  own :  and  many  incidents  con- 
curred, which  afforded  me  full  proofs  both  of 
his  fidelity  and  his  affection.     For  this  reason, 
as  often  as  either  my  friends  or  myself  have 
any  affairs  to  transact  in  Asia,  I  always  apply 
to  Mithres :  and  I  command  not  only  his  ser- 
vices, but  his  purse  and  his  house,  with  the 
same  freedom  that  I  should  dispose  of  my  own. 
I  particularise  these  circumstances  the  more 
minutely,  that  you  may  see  it  is  not  upon  com- 
mon motives,  or  to  gratify  the  purposes  of  any 
ambitious  views,  that  I  now  apply  to  you  :  but 
on  the  contrary,  that  it  is  in  favour  of  one  with 
whom  I  am  united  by  the  strongest  connexions. 
I  entreat  you  tlicn  to  do  me  the  honour  of  as- 
sisting him  with  your  good  offices,  not  only  in 
the  law-suit  wherein  he  is  engaged  with  a  cer- 
tain citi7xn  of  Colophons   but  in  every  other 
instance  also,  as  far  as  shall  be  consistent  with 
your  own  character  and   convenience.      But 
thouoh  I  make  this  exception,  yet  I  am  sure^e 
has,.too  much  modesty  to  ask  any  thing  im- 
popcr  of  you.     Indcecl  it  is  his  utmost  wish, 
that  his  awn  merit,  in  conjunction  ^vith^my 
j^ccom^endalion,  may  procure  him  joui  esteem. 

I;  very'  eariicstly, '  therefore,  conjure  ^"Pl^joflS-^ 

only 

'    \  cftv  of  Ionia,  in  Asia  Minor  :  and  one  of  those  %vhich 
claimed  ihf;  hoi.oiir  of  bring  ibe  birth-place  of  Homer. 


Book  IX* 


OF  CICERO." 


381 


only  to  favour  him  with  your  protection,  butto 
receive  him  into  the  number  of  your  friends. 
In  return,  you  may  depend  upon  my  most  zea- 
lous services  upon  all  occasions  wherein  I  shall 
imagine  either  your  interest  or  your  inclination 
may  require  them.     Farewel. 

LETTER  XXXII. 

[A.  U.  707.] 
To  AULUS  C.ECINA. 

As  often  as  I  see  your  son  (and  I  see  bim  al- 
most  every  day)  I  never  fail  to  assure  him  of 
my  zealous  assistance,  without  any  exception 
of  time,  of  labour,  or  of  business  :  and  I  pro- 
misc  him  likewise  mv  credit  and  interest,  with 
this  single  limitation,  that  he  may  rely  upon 
them  as  far  as  the  small  share  I  possess  of  either 
can  possibly  extend. 

.  I  have  read  yourperformance^  and  still  con- 
tinue to  read  it,  with  much  attention :  as  1 
shall  preserve  it  with  the  greatest  fidelity.  Your 
affairs,  indeed,  of  every  kind,  are  my  principal 
concern  :  and  I  have  the  pleasure  to  see  them 
every  day  appear  with  a  more  and  more  favour- 
able aspect.  You  have  many  friends  who  con- 
tribute their  good  offices  for  this  purpose  :  of 
wtiose  zeal  your  son,  I  am  assured,  has  alf^ady 

acquainted 

•  Sec  the  30ih  letter  of  this  book. 


/iiU' 


.t'2it: 


382 


The  letters 


Book  IX. 


Book  IX. 


OF  CICERO. 


583 


acquainted  you,  as  well  as  of  his  own  hopes 
that  their  endeavours  will  prove  effectual.     In 
regard  to  what  may  be  collected  from  appear- 
ances, I  do  not  pretend  to  discern  more,  than, 
I  am  persuaded,  you  see  yourself:  but  as  you 
may  reflect  upon  them,   perhaps,  with  greater 
discomposure  of  mind,  I  think  it  proper  to  give 
you  my  sentiments  concerning  them.  .  Believe 
me  then,  it  is  impossible,  from  the  nature  and 
circumstances  of  pubUc  affairs,  that  either  you, 
or  your  companions  in  adversity,  should  long 
remain  under  your  present  misfortunes :  yes, 
my  friend,  it  is  impossible  that  so  severe  an  in- 
jtirj'  should  continue  to  oppress  the  honest  ad- 
Tocates  of  so  good  a  cause.    But  my  hopes  are 
particularly  strong  with  respect  to  yourself: 
not  merely  in  consideration  of  your  rank  and 
virtues,  (for  these  you  possess  in  common  with 
many  others)  but  particularly  from  your  sin- 
gular learning  and  genius.     The  man  in  whose 
power  we  all  of  us  are,  holds  these  shining  qua- 
lities  in  much  esteem :  and  I  am  well  persuaded, 
you  would  not  have  remained,  even  a  single 
moment,  in  your  present  situation,  if  he  had 
not  imagined  himself  wounded'  by  those  ta- 
lents lie  admires.     His  resentment,  however, 
seems  daily  cooling :  and  it  has  been  intimated 
to  me  by  some  of  his  most  particular  friends, 

that 

3  See  rem.  3.  on  let.  28.  of  this  book. 


that  you  will  undoubtedly  find  advantage  in 
the  high  opinion  he  has  conceived  of  your  abi- 
lities. Let  me  conjure  you  then,  in  the  first 
place,  to  preserve  a  firm  and  unshaken  forti- 
tude of  mind,  as  what  you  owe  to  your  birth, 
to  your  education,  to  your  learning,  and  tp 
that  character  you  havT  universally  obtained; 
and,  in  the  next  place,  that,  for  the  reasom  X 
have  already  assigned,  you  would  entertain  the 
strongest  and  most  favourable  hopes.  Be  well 
persuaded,  likewise,  that  I  shall  always  most 
readily  contribute  my  warmest  services  both  to 
you  and  to  your  family.  You  have,  indeed, 
a  full  right  to  expect  them,  from  that  affection 
which  has  so  long  subsisted  between  us;  froai 
the  conduct  I  ever  observe  towards  all  my 
friends,  and  from  tlie  numberless  good  offices 
I  have  received  at  your  hands.     FareweL 

LETTER 


o 


i/ 


Ml       '        4>.     y.  ^        *" 


•  morr 


,f      ;>ffr€^f 


«.  .^  '  '   i 


I 


384 


The  letters 


Book  IX. 


LETTER  XXX in. 

[A.U.707.] 

To  P.  Sekvilius  Isauricus,  Proconsul. 

As  the  share  you  allow  me  in  your  friendship 
is  by  no  means  a  secret  to  the  world,  it  occa- 
sions great  numbers  to  apply  to  me  for  recom- 
mendations.    My  letters  to  you,  therefore,  of 
this  kind  are  sometimes,  I  confess,  no  other 
than  the  tributes  of  common  compliment.  They 
are  much  more  frequently,  however,  the  dic- 
tates of  a  real  afiFection :  as  is  the  case,  be  as- 
sured, in  the  present  instance,  when  I  recom- 
mend to  you  Ampius  Menander,  the  freedmaa 
of  my  friend  Ampius  Balbus.     He  is  a  very 
worthy,  modest  man,  and  highly  in  the  esteem 
both  of  his  patron  and  myself.  You  will  much 
oblige  me  then  by  assisting  him  with  your  good 
offices,  in  every  instance  that  shall  not  be  in- 
convenient to  you :  and,  believe  me,  it  is  with 
great  earnestness   that  I  make  this   request. 
Farewel.  LETTER 


Book  IX. 


ot  CICERO. 


3S8 


LETTER  XXXIV. , 

[A.  V.  ror.] 

To  AULUS  CiECINA. 

1  Aivi  afraid  you  will  think  that  I  am  a  molt 
negligent  correspondent  than  I  ought,  consi- 
dering the  union  between  us  as  partisans  of  the** 
same  cause,  as  being  joined  in  the  same  studies, 
and,  as  having  mutually  conferred  upon  each 
other,  many  obliging  good  offices.  The  sincere 
truth,  however,  is,  that  I  should  much  sooner 
and  much  oftener  have  written  to  you,  if  I  had 
not  been  in  daily  expectation  of  seeing  your 
affairs  in  a  better  train  :  and  I  rather  chose,  in- 
stead of  confirming  you  in  the  spirit  with  which 
you  bear  y Our  misfortunes,  to  have  sent  you 
my  congratulations  on  their  being  ended.  I 
still  hope  to  have  that  pleasui-e  very  shortly.  In 
the  mean  time,  I  think  it  incumbent  upon  me 
to  endeavour,  if  not  with  ill  the  authority  of  a 
philosopher,  at  least  with  all  the  iniluence  of  a 
friend,  to  confirm  and  strengthen  you  ill  that ' 
manly  spirit  with  which  I  hear,  and  beheve, 
you  are  animated.  For  this  purpose,  I  shall  not 
address  you  as  one  whose  misfortunes  are  with- 
out hope ;  but  as  a  person  of  whose  restoration 
I  have  conceived  the  same  well-grounded  con- 


VoL.  11. 


Cc 


fidencc 


386  The  LETTERS         Book  IX. 

fidence  which  you  formerly,  I  remember,  enter- 
tained of  mine.     For  when  I  was  driven  from 
my  country,  by  a  set  of  men,  who  were  convinced 
theycould  never  effect  their  destructive  purposes 
so  long  as  I  continued  in  the  commonwealth,  I 
was  informed  by  many  of  my  friends  who  visited 
me  from  Asia,  where  you  then  resided,  that  you 
strongly  assured  them  of  my  speedy  and  honour- 
able recal.    Now,  if  the  principles  of  the  Etrus- 
can science*,  in  which  you  were  instructed  by 
your  illustrious  and  excellent  father,  did  not  de- 
ceive you  with  respect  to  me,  neither  will  my 
presages  be  less  infallible  with  regard  to  you. 
They  are  derived,  indeed,  not  only  from  the 
maxims  and  records  of  the  most  distinguished 
sages,  whose  writings,  you  well  know,  I  have 
studied  with  great  application  ;  but,  from  a 
long  experience  in  public  affairs,  and  from  hav- 
ing'passed  through  various  scenes  both  of  pros- 
perity and  adversity.     I  have  the  stronger  rea- 
son 

♦  The  Romans  derived  their  doctrine  and  rites  of  divi- 
nation,  and  probably,  mdeed.  many  otber  of  the.r  religious 
anc^il  insntauons  from   the   Etruscans,  a  very  anaent 
kar^d,  and  powerful   nation,    ^ho   were  once   masters  of 
almost  all  Ital^y,  and  wbo  i.habued   that  part  which  as  now 
caUed  Tuscany.     Ca^cina,    wuo  was  a  native  of  thu  pro- 
vfnce   and  well  skilled  in  that  pretended  prophetic  art   for 
which   his  countrymen  were   particularly  famous,  foi^told, 
u'eems    that  Cic'ero's   banishment  wouM  soon  end,.(a.  .in 
fact  it  did)  in  a  glorious  restoration.     I  al    Jiax  i.  1.  L^^ 
V.  33.    Pigh.  Annul,  i.  p.  430.     See  rem.  3.  p.  369-  of  Uiis 


Book  IX. 


OF  CICERO. 


387 


son  to  confide  in  this  method  of  divination,  as 
it  has  never  once  deceived  me  during  all  these 
dark  and  distracted  times:  insomuch,  that 
were  I  to  mention  my  predictions,  I  am  afraid 
you  would  suspect  that  I  framed  them  after 
the  events  I  pretend  to  have  foretold^  How- 
ever, there  are  many  who  can  bear  me  witness, 
that  I  forewarned  Pompey  against  entering  into 
any  association  with  Caesar^ :  and  that  I  af- 
terwards as  strongly  endeavoured  to  dissuade 
him  from  breaking  that  union.  I  clearly  saw, 
indeed,  that  their  conjunction  would  consider- 
ably impair  the  strength  of  the  senate;  and  that 
their  separation  would  as  inevitably  kindle  the 
flames  of  a  civil  war.  I  lived  at  that  time  in 
great  familiarity  with  Caesar,  as  well  as  enter- 
tained the  highest  regard  to  Pompey ;  and,  ac- 
cordingly, the  faithful  advice  I  gave  to  the  lat- 
ter, was  equally  to  the  benefit  of  both.  I  for- 
bear to  instance  several  other  articles,  in  which 

my  prophetic  admonitions  have  been  verified. 

For 

'  Cicero's  wonderful  reach  of  judgment  in  penetrating  far 
into  the  consequent:es  of  events,  is  by  no  means  exaggerated 
in  the  present  passage.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  confirmed  by 
the  testimony  of  an  historian  \vho  knew  him  well  ;  and  who 
assures  us,  that  Cicero  pointed  out,  with  a  prophetic  dis- 
cernment, several  circumstances  that  were  fulfilled  not  only 
m  his  own  Hfe-iime,  but  afttr  his  death.  Corn.  Nepos,  in 
zit,  ^itic,  17. 

"^  ^  The  motives  which  induced  Pompey  to  enter  into 
this  um'on  with  Coesar,  have  been  alre^tdy  explained  io  rem. 
8.  p.  114.  vol.  i. 

Cc2 


588 


The  letters 


Book  IX. 


Book  IX. 


OF  CICERO. 


389 


For,  as  I  have  received  great  obligations  from 
CsBsar,  I  am  unwilling  he  should  know,  that 
had  Pompey  followed  my  counsels,  though  Cae- 
sar would  still  have  been  the  first  and  most  dis- 
tinguished person  in  the  republic,  he  would  not 
have  been  in  possession  of  that  extensive  power 
he  now  enjoys.  I  will  confess,  however,  that 
I  always  gave  it  as  my  opinion,  that  Pompey 
should  go  to  his  government  in  Spain :  with 
which,  if  he  had  happily  complied,  Ave  should 
never  have  been  involved  in  this  fatal  civil  war^ 
I  contended,  likewise,  not  so  much  that  Cirsar 
should  be  received  as  a  candidate  for  the  con- 
sulship during  his  absence^  as  that  the  law 

which 

'  Pompey,  instead  of  going  to  his  government  of  Spain, 
continued  in  Italy,  with  the  command  of  two  legions  which 
were  quartered  iiear  Rome.  This  gave  umbrage  to  Cxsar, 
who  stispecied,  as  the  truth  wa^,  that  these  troops  were  de- 
ligDcd  to  act  against  him.  In  order,  therefore,  to  remove  his 
apprehensions  of  this  kind,  it  was  proposed  by  Cicero,  and 
some  others  of  the  more  moderate  party,  that  Pompey  should 
retire  to  his  government.  But  this  motion  was  over- ruled  by 
the  consul  Lentolus:  who  prevailed  with  the  senate  te  pass  a 
decree,  whereby  Caesar,  who  had  already  crossed  the  Rubi- 
con, was  commanded  to  withdraw  his  forces  out  of  Italy  by 
a  certain  day  therein  named :  and  m  case  of  disobedience, 
that  he  should  be  considered  as  a  public  enemy.  liist,  dc 
Bel  Gal  viii.  55.     Cots.  BtL  CitU,  »•  2. 

•  Pompey,  when  he  was  consul  the  third  time,  in  the  year 
701,  procured  a  law  empowering  Caesar  to  offer  himself  as  a 
candidate  for  the  consulship,  without  appearing  personally  at 
Rome  for  that  purpose.  This  was  contrary  to  the  funda- 
mental principles  of  the  Roman  constitution,  and  proved, m 
the  event,  the  occasion  of  its  being  utterly  destroyed  :  as  it 
furnished  C«sar  with  the  only  specious  pretence  lor  turning 


r 

which  the  people  enacted  for  that  purpose,  and 
enacted  too  at  the  earnest  solicitation  of  Pom- 
pey in  his  consulate,  should  be  religiously  ob- 
served^. It  was  the  rejecting  of  this  advice, 
that  gave  occasion  to  the  civil  war :  which  I  still 
laboured  to  extinguish  by  every  method  of  re- 
monstrance in  my  power,  and  by  warmly  re- 
presenting, that  in  contests  of  this  kind,  though 
ever  so  justly  founded,  even  the  most  disadvan- 
tageous terms  of  accommodation  were  prefer- 
able to  having  recourse  to  arms.    But  my  sen- 

,  timents 

his  arms  against  the  republic.  Cicero  affirms,  in  one  of  his 
Philippics,  that  he  endeavoured  to  dissuade  Pompey  from 
suffering  this  law  to  pass  :  Duo — tempora  ujciderunt,  says 
he,  quibus  alujuid  contra  Coesarem  Pompeio  suaserim — Unumy 
7ie,  ^'C.  alter mriy  ne  pateretur  ferri  ut  absentis  ejus  ratio  ha- 
beretur.  Quorim  si  utrumvis  persuasissenif  in  has  miserias 
nunquam  incidissemus.  Philip,  ii.  10.  But  if  what  Cicero 
here  asserts  be  true,  he  acted  a  most  extraordinary  part  in- 
deed. For,  at  the  same  time,  that  he  laboured  to  dissuade 
Pompey  from  suffering  this  law  to  pass,  he  persuaded  Coelius, 
who  was  one  of  the  tribunes  of  the  people,  to  promote  it,  or 
at  least  not  to  oppose  it :  agreeably  to  a  promise  which  he 
had  given  to  Ca?sar  for  that  purpose.  This  appears  by  a 
passage  in  one  of  his  letters  to  Atticus,  where,  speaking  of 
Caesar's  claim  to  sue  for  the  consulate,  without  personally 
attending  at  Rome,  he  tells  Atticus,  Utilli  hoc  liceret,  adju- 
w :  rogatus  ab  ipso  Ravennce  dc  CaUo  tribuno  plebis.  Ad  Ath 
vii.  1. 

.  ^  Whether  this  law  should,  or  should  not,  be  superseded, 
was  a  question  upon  which  Cicero  found  the  republic  di- 
vided at  his  return  from  Cilicia,  just  before  the  civii  war 
broke  out.  And  although  he  certainly  acted  an  unjustifiable 
part  in  promoting  this  law ;  yet,  after  it  had  once  passed, 
it  seems  to  have  been  right  policy  in  him  to  advise  that  it 
should  be  observed ;  as  it  was  the  only  probable  means  of 
preserving  the  public  tranquillity. 

CcS 


390 


The  letters 


Book  IX. 


timents  were  over-ruled  :  not  so  much  by  Pom- 
pey  himself,  (upon  whom  they  seemed  to  make 
some  impression)  as  by  those  who,  depending 
upon  his  victory,  thought  it  would  afford  them 
a  very  favourable  opportunity  of  extricating 
themselves  from  the  difficulties  of  their  private 
affairs,  and  of  gratifying  their  immoderate  am- 
bition. The  war,  therefore,  commenced  with- 
out my  participation :  and  I  still  continued  in 
Italy  as  long  as  I  possibly  could,  even  after 
Pompey  was  driven  out  of  it*^  My  honour, 
however^  at  length  prevailed  over  my  fears  : 
and  I  could  not  support  tlie  thoughts  of  desert- 
ing Pompey  in  his  distress,  who  had  not  aban- 
doned me  in  mine.  Partly,  therefore,  upon  a 
principle  of  duty  ;  partly  in  tenderness  to  ray 
reputation  with  the  patriots ;  and  partly  as  be- 
ing ashamed  to  forsake  my  friend,  I  went,  as  ib 
fabled  of  Amphiaraus",  to  that  ruin  which  1 
clearly  foresaw.  And,  indeed,  there  was  not  a 
single  misfortune  attended  us  during  that  whole 
campaign,  which  I  did  not  point  out  before  it 
arrived.  You  see,  therefore,  that  I  have  the 
same  right  of  being  credited,  which  augurs  and 

astrologers 

**^  See  rem.  4.  p.  1 4 1 .  of  this  vo?. 

"  Amphiaraus  was  a  Giecian  i-roplu't,  as  the  poets  feign, 
^ho,  foreknowing  that  he  shoul<i  be  killcfi,  if  he  went  to 
th^  Theban  war,  concealed  bim!<e)f,  in  ordir  to  avoid  that 
expedition.  But  bis  wife  bein^  bribed  to  disclose  the  place 
of  his  concealment,  he  was  forced  to  the  war,  and  his  deakki 
confirmed  the  truth  of  hi&  prediction.     Manutius^ 


Book  IX. 


oj  CICERO. 


391 


astrologers  are  wont  to  urge :  and  may  claim 
•  your  belief  of  my  present  predictions,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  veracity  of  my  former.    But  I  do 
not  found  these  my  prophecies  in  your  favour  on 
those  intimations  of  futurity,  which  are  taught 
by  our  augural  science.  I  derive  them  from  ob- 
servations of  a  different  sort;  which,  though 
not  more  certain  in  themselves,  are  less  obscure, 
however,  and  consequently  less  liable  to  be  mis- 
interpreted.    The  signs,  then,  from  whence  I 
draw  my  presages,  are  of  two  kinds :  the  ori'e 
taken  from  Csesar  himself,  the  other  from  the 
nature   and   circumstances   of  pubHc   affairs. 
With  respect  to  the  former,  they  result,  in  the 
first  place,  from  that  general  clemency  of  Cae- 
sar's disposition,  which  you  have  celebrated  in 
that  ingenious  performance  entitled  your  Com* 
plaiiits'"- :  and,  in  the  next  place,  from  that  ex- 
traordinary regard  he  discovers  for  men  of  your 
distinguished  genius  and  abilities.     To  this  I 
must  add,  that  he  will  certainly  yieW  to  those 
numberless  solicitations  in  your  favour,  which 
proceed,  not  from  any  interested  motives',  but 
|;r9m  a  real  and  just  esteem  :  among  which  the 
unanimous  application  of  Etruria'^  will,  un- 
doubtedly, have  great  weight  with  him.  If  you 

ask, 

**  This  seems  to  be  the  performance,  concerning  which 
Csecina  writes  lo  Cicero  in  the  30th  letter  of  this  book. 
tjiJ.f J  Caecina  was  a  native  of  Etruria,  and  a  person  of  great 
coDsidcra^ion  in  that  part  of  Italy. 

C  c  4 


393 


The   letters 


Book  IX. 


Book  IX. 


OF  CICERO. 


393 


ask,  whence  it  has  happened  that  these  conside- 
rations have  hitherto  proved  inefFectual  ?  I  an- 
swer, that  Caesar  thinks  if  he  should  immedi- 
ately grant  a  pardon  to  you,  against  whom  he 
may  seem  to  have  a  more  reasonable  ground  of 
complaint,  he  could  not  refuse  it  to  others,  whom 
he  js  less  inclined  to  forgive.  But  you  will  say, 
perhaps,  "  If  Caesar  is  thus  incensed,  what  have 
*'  I  to  hope  r'*  Undoubtedly,  my  friend^  you 
have  much  ;  as  he  is  sensible  he  must  derive  the 
brightest  splendour  of  his  fame,  from  the  hand 
which  once  somewhat  sullied  its  lustre.  In  fine, 
CcBsar  is  endowed  with  a  most  acute  and  pene- 
trating judgment:  and,  as  he  perfectly  well 
knows,  not  only  the  high  rank  you  bear  in  a 

very considerabledistrictofItaly^^but that  there 
is  no  man  in  the  commonwealth,  of  your  age, 
who  is  superior  to  you  in  reputation,  abilities,  or 
popularity ;  he  cannot  but  be  convinced,  that  it 
will  be  impossible  for  him  to  render  your  exile 
of  any  long  duration.  He  is  too  politic,  there- 
fore, to  lose  the  merit  of  voluntarily  conferring 
upon  you  at  present,  what  will  otherwise  most 
unquestionably  be  extorted  from  him  hereafter. 
Having  thus  marked  out  the  favourable  prog- 
nostics which  I  collect  from  circumstances  re- 
specting Caesar,  I  will  now  acquaint  you  with 
those  which  I  gather  from  the  temper  and  com- 
plexion 


I  )• 


'•  Etruria. 


plexion  of  the  times.     There  is  no  man,  then, 
so  averse  to  that  cause  which  Pompey  espoused 
with  more  spirit,  indeed,  than  preparation,  as  to 
venture  to  arraign  the  principles  or  the  pa- 
triotism of  those  who  joined  in  his  party.  And 
I  cannot  but  observe  to  you,  that  I  have  often 
occasion  to  admire  the  justice  and  judgment 
of  Csesar,  who  never  speaks  of  Pompey  but  in 
terms  of  the  highest  honour.  Should  it  be  said, 
that  whatever  regard  he  may  shew  to  his  me- 
mory, he  treated  his  person,  upon  many  occa- 
sions, with  great  asperity :  let  it  be  remembered 
that  these  instances  cannot  reasonably  be  im- 
puted to  Caesar,  but  were  the  natural  conse- 
quences of  war.     But  how  favourably  has  he 
received  many  of  us,  and  myself  in  particular, 
who  were  engaged  in  the  same  party  ?  Has  he 
not  appointed  Cassius   to   be  his  lieutenant  ? 
has  he  not  given  the  government  of  Gaul  to 
Brutus  ?  and  that  of  Greece  to  Suipicius  ?    In 
a  word,  highly  incensed  as  he  was  against  Mar- 
cellus,  has  he  not,  in  the  most  honourable  maii-^ 
ner,  restored  him  to  his  friends  and  to  his  coun- 
try?    What  I  would  mfer,  therefore,  from  the 
w^holc,  is  this,  that  whatever  system  of  govern- 
ment may  prevail,  good  policy  will  never  per- 
mit, in  the  first  place,  that  a  difference  should 
be  made  among  those  who' were  equally  in- 
volved in  the  same  cause ;  and  in  the  next,  that 

a  set 


394 


The  letters 


Book  IX. 


Book  IX. 


OF  CrCERO. 


395 


a  set  of  honest  and  worthy  citizens,  who  are 
free  from  all  imputation  on  their  moral  charac- 
ters, should  be  banished  from  their  country,  at 
the  same  time  that  such  numbers  of  those  M^ho 
have  been  exiled  for  the  most  infamous  crimes, 
are  suffered  to  return. 

These  are  the  presages  of  your  friend  :  and 
they  are  presages,  of  which,  if  1  had  the  least 
doubt,  I\\vould  by  no  means  have  laid  them 
before  you.  On  the  contrary,  I  should,  in  that 
case,  rather  have  employed  such  consolatory 
arguments,  as  would,  unquestionably,  have 
proved  effectual  for  the  support  of  a  great  and 
generous  mind.  I  should  have  told  you^  that 
if  you  were  induced  to  take  up  aims  in  defence 
of  the  republic  (as  you  then  imagined)  merely 
from  a  confidence  of  success,  small,  indeed, 
would  be  your  merit :  and  that  if,  under  a  full 
conviction  of  the  very  precarious  event  of  war, 
you  thought  it  possible  that  we  might  be  de- 
feated, it  would  be  strange  that  you  ^hould  have 
so  much  depended  upon  victory,  as  to  be  ut- 
terly uuj/repared  for  the  reverse.  I  should  have 
reasoned  with  you  on  the  consolation  you 
nujrht  to  receive,  from  retlectinii:  on  the  in- 
tegrity  of  your  conduct:  and  reminded  you  pf, 
the  satisfaction  which  the  liberal  arts  will  afford 
in  the  adverse  seasons  of  life.  I  should  Jiave 
produced  exam ples^  not  pnly  frgm  histojry,  bi^t 

iu 


in  the  persons  of  our  leaders  and  associates  in 
this  unhappy  war,  of  those  who  have  suffered 
the  most  severe  calamities  :  and  should  have 
also  cited  several  illustrious  instances  of  the 
same  sort  from  foreign  story.     For  to  reflect 
on  the  misfortunes  to  which  mankind  in  ore- 
neral  are  exposed,  greatly  contributes  to  alle- 
viate the  weight  of  those,   which  we  ourselves 
endure.     In  short,  I  should  have  described  the 
confusion  of  that  turbulent  scene,  in  which  we 
are  here  engaged  :  as,  undoubtedly,  the  being 
driven  from  a  commonwealth  in  ruins,  is  much 
less  to  be  regretted  than  from  one  in  a  flourish- 
ing and  a  happy  situatioli.     But  these  are  ar- 
guments which  I  have  by  no  njeans  any  occa- 
sion to  urge  :  as  I  hope,  or  rather,  indeed,  as  I 
clearly  foresee,  that  we  shall  soon  welcome  your 
return  amongst  us.    In  the  mean  while,  agree- 
ably to  the  assurances  I  have  often  given  you, 
I  shall  continue  to  exert  my  most  active  offices 
in  the  service  of  yourself,  and  your  excellent 
son  :  who,  I  must  observe  with  pleasure,  is  the 
very  express  resemblance  of  his  father,  both  in 
person  and  genius.     I  shall  now,  indeed,  be 
enabled  to  employ  my  zeal  more  effectually  than 
heretofore,  as  I  make  great  and  daily  advances 
in  Csesafs  friendship ;  not  to  mention  my  in- 
terest also  with  his  favourites,  who  distinguish 
me  with  the  first  rank  in  their  affection.     Be 
^  assured 


89<) 


The  letters         Book  IX. 


Book  IX. 


OF  CICERO. 


397 


assured  I  shall  devote  the  whole  of  mv  influ- 
ence  both  with  Ccesar  and  with  his  friends,  en- 
tirely to  your  service.  In  the  mean  time,  let 
the  pleasing  hopes  you  have  so  much  reason  to 
entertain,  tDgcther  with  your  own  philosophical 
■fortitude,  support  you  with  cheerfulness  under 
your  present  situation.     FareweL 


ilj. 


LETTER  XXXV. 

[A.  U.  707.] 

To  P.  Servilius  Isauricus',  Proprsetor. 

1  PERFECTLY  wcll  Ivuow  the  general  compas- 
sion of  your  heart  for  the  unfortunate,  and  the 
inviolable  fidelity  you  observe  towards  those 
who  have  any  particular  claim  to  your  protec- 
tion. As  Caecina,  therefore,  is  a  family-client 
of  yours,  1  should  not  recommend  him  to  your 
favour,  if  the  regard  I  pay  to  the  memory  of 
his  father,  with  whom  I  lived  in  the  strictest 
intimacy,  and  the  unhappy  fate  which  attends 

jiiim^lf,  with  whom  I  am  united  by  every  tie 
cf  friendship  and  gratitude,  did  not  affect  me  in 
the  manner  it  ought.     I  am  sensible  that  your 

•own  natural  disposition,  without  any  solicita- 
tions, would  incline  you  to  assist  a  man  of  Cae- 

cina's 

'  It  appears  by  this  kttcr,  which  is  a  recommendation  of 
Csciua  to  ihe  governor  of  Asia,  that  he  had  resumed  ihe  de- 
iign  of  guin$;  into  ihat  province  :  which,  in  the  30th  epistle 
of  ihis  book,  he  tolls  Cicero  he  had  laid  abide  in  pursuance  of 
bis  advice. 


cina's  merit,  in  distress :  but  I  earnestly  en- 
treat you  that  this  letter  may  render  you  stiU 
more  zealous  to  confer  upon  him  every  good 
office  in  your  power.  I  am  persuaded^  if  you 
had  been  in  Rome,  you  would  effectually  have 
employed  italsoiu  procuring  his ,paidQi^:w}iich 
in  confidence  of  your  colleagueV  clemency, 
we  still  strongly  hope  to  obtain^  In  the  mean 
time,  Caecina  has  retreated  into  your  province, 
not  only  as  thinking  it  will  afford  him  the  se- 
curest refuge,  but  in  pursuit,  likewise,  of  that 
justice  which  he  expects  from  the  equity  of  your 
administration.  I  most  warmly  request  you, 
therefore,  to  assist  him  in  recovering  those 
debts  which  remain  due  to  him  upon  his  former 
negotiations*:  and  in  every  other  article  to  fa- 
vour him  with  your  patronage  and  protection  ; 
than  which  you  cannot  confer  upon  me,  be  as- 
suredi  a  more  acceptable  obligation.     FareweL 

LETTER 

*  Servilius  was  colleague  with  Csesar  in  his  ssecoiid  coiwu- 
latc,  A.  U.  705. 

^  Accordingly  Caecina,  some  time  afterwards,  received 
bis  pardon  from  Csesar :  which  Suetonius  mentions  as  ^n 
instance,  amongst  other**,  of  that  conqueror's  singular  cle- 
mency.    Suet,  in  vit,  Jui.75.  ' 

^  Cscioa  had,  probably,  been  concerned  in  farming  soro« 
branch  of  the  Asiatic  revenue. 


398 


The  letters 


Book  IX. 


Book  IX. 


OF  CICERo! 


399 


LETTER  XXXVL 

[A.  u.  70r.] 

To    PUBLIUS    SULPICIUS'. 

Notwithstanding  it  is  very  seldom,  in  the 
present  situation  of  public  affairs,  that  I  attend 
the  senate ;  yet,  after  having  received  your  let^ 
ter,  I  thought  it  would  not  be  acting  agreeably 
to  our  long  friendship,  and  to  those  many  good 
offices  that  have  passed  between  us,  if  I  did  not 
contribute  all  in  my  power  to  the  advancement 
of  your  honours.  It  was  with  much  pleasure, 
therefore,  I  went  to  the  house,  and  voted  for 
your  public  thanksgiving:  which  has  been  de- 
creed accordingly.  You  will  always  find  me 
equally  zealous  in  whatever  concerns  your  in- 
terest or  your  glory  •  and  I  should  be  glad  you 
would,  in  your  letters  to  your  family,  assure 
them  of  this  my  disposition  towards  you;  that 

they 

"  It  is  altogether  uncertain  who  this  Sulpicius  was  :  per- 
haps the  same  who  commanded  a  squadron  of  Caesar's  fleet 
oflf  the  island  of  Sicily,  which  engaged  with  and  defeated  the 
fleet  under  the  command  of  Cassias,  about  the  time  that  Cae- 
sar gained  the  battle  of  Pharsalia.  But  whoever  he  was,  he 
appears,  from  the  present  letter,  to  have  been  governor  of  Il- 
ly ricum,  and  to  have  lately  had  the  honour  of  a  public  thanks- 
giving decreed  for  some  successes  which  his  arms  had  obtained 
in  thbt  province.  Some  of  the  commentators  are  of  opimoo, 
that  the  superscription  of  this  letter  is  a  false  reading;  and 
that  instead  of  SuipiciuSj  it  should  be  Vatinius:  but  those  who 
are  inclined  to  sec  this  notion  very  solidly  confuted,  are  re- 
ferred to  the  observations  of  Manutius  upon  this  epistle.  Cccs, 
de  BcU.  Civ.  iii.  101.     Pigh  AnnaL  ii.  44-9. 


they  may  not  scruple  to  claim  ijiy  best  services, 
if,  in  any  future  instance,  you  should  have  oc- 
casion for  them, 

I  very  strongly  recommend  to  you  my  old 
friend  Bolanus,  as  a  man  of  great  spirit  and  pro- 
bity; and  adorned,  likewise,  with  every  amiable 
accomplishment.  As  you  will  extremely  oblio-e 
me  by  letting  him  see  that  my  recommendation 
proved  of  singular  advantage  to  him,  so  you 
may  depend  upon  finding  him  of  a  most  grate- 
ful disposition,  and  one  from  whose  friendship 
you  will  receive  much  satisfaction.  ^'"*-i 

I  have  another  favour  likewise  to  ask :  which, 
in  confidence  of  our  friendship,  and  of  that  dis- 
position which  you  have  ever  sheAvn  to  serve 
me,  I  very  earnestly  request.  My  library- 
keeper,  Dionysius,  having  stolen  several  books 
from  that  valuable  collection  which  I  entrusted 
to  his  care,  has  Avithdrawn  himself  into  yoiir 
province :  as  I  am  informed  by  my  friend  Bo- 
lanus, as  Avell  as  by  several  others,  who  saw 
hun  at  Js^arona\  But  as  they  credited  the 
account  he  gave  them  of  my  having  o-ranted 
,1^^^2  JyS  freedom,  they  had  no  suspicion  of  the 
true  reason  that  carried  him  thither.  I  shall 
^^lui^^  myself  inexpressibly  indebted  to  yoq, 
therefore,    if  you  will   deliver   him   into  my 

hands: 


o»iv^ 


^'  *  In  Liburnia,  now  railed  Croatia,  which  formed  part  of 
the  province  of  lllyricum. 


400 


The  letters 


BookIX^ 


hands  :  for  although  the  loss  I  have  sustained 
is  not  very  great,  yet  his  dishonesty  gives  me 
much  vexation.  Bolanus  will  inform  you  in 
what  part  of  your  province  he  is  now  con- 
cealed, and  what  measures  will  be  proper  in 
order  to  secure  him.  In  the  mean  time  let  me 
repeat  it  again,  that  I  shall  look  upon  myself  as 
highly  indebted  to  y6u,^if  I  should  recover  this 
fellow  by  your  assistance.     Farewel. 


LETTER  XXXVIL 
[A.  u.  7or.] 

To  QuiNTus  Gallius*. 

1  FIND  by  your  letter,  as  well  as  by  one  which 
I  have  received  from  Oppius,  that  you  did 
not  forget  my  recommendation*';  which,  in- 
deed, is  nothing  more  than  what  I  expected 
from  your  great  aflfection  towards  me,  and 
from  the  connexion  that  subsists  between  us. 
Nevertheless,  I  will  again  repeat  my  solicita- 
tions in  favour  of  Oppius,  who  still  continues 
in  your  province  :  and  of  Egnatius,  who  re- 
mains at  Rome :  and  entreat  you  to  take 
their  joint  affairs  under  your  protection.  My 
friendship  with  Egnatius  is  so  great,  that, 
we^  my  own  personal  interest  concerned  in 
the  present  case,  I  could  not  be  more  anxious. 

I  must 

*  See  rem.  a.  p.  313.  of  this  vol. 
^  See  let.  9*  oi  this  t^ook. 


Book  IX.  of  CICERO.  4Q1 

I  most  earnestly  request  you,  therefore,  to  shew 
him,  by  your  good  offices,  that  I  am  not  mis- 
taken in  the  share  which  I  persuade  myself  I 
enjoy  in  your  affection  ;  and  be  assured  you 
cannot  oblige  me  in  a  more  acceptable  manner. 
Farewel. 

XT       rr  r.  ,  LETTERS 

VOL-  IL  p  4 


.„i  I 


ri'f 


■i  ,<';■ 


m      '  mJ 


*  la 


ill 


"%   ; 


-  .'   had 


(    403     ) 


LETTERS 


OF 


MARCUS  TULLIUS  CICERO 


TO 


SEVERAL  OF  HIS  FRIENDS. 


BOOK  X. 


:SE 


LETTER  L 

[A.U.  ro7.] 

To  AULUS  T0RQUATUS\ 

Although  every  one  is  apt,  in  these  timci 
of  universal  confusion,  to  regret  his  particular 
lot  as  singularly  unfortunate,  and  to  prefer  any 
situation  to  his  own,  yet  undoubtedly  a  man 
of  patriot-sentiments  can  no  where,  in  the 
present  conjuncture,  be  so  unhappily  placed  as 

ht 

*  Cicero  mentions  hira  in  other  parts  of  his  writings,  as  a 
man  of  singular  merit ;  and  one  to  whose  generous  offices  he 
had  been  greatly  indebted  during  the  persecution  he  suffered 
from  Clodius.  In  the  year  701 ,  Torquatus  was  advanced  to  the 

D  d  2  pratorship ; 


404 


The  letters  6ook  X, 


la  Rome.  Tis  true,  into  whatever  part  of  the 
world  he  might  be  cast,  he  must  still  retain 
the  same  bitter  sensibility  of  that  ruin  in  which 
both  himself  and  his  country  are  involved. 
Nevertheless,  there  is  something  in  being  a 
spectator  of  those  miseries  with  which  others 
are  only  acquainted  by  rep6rt,  that  extremely 
'enhances  one's  grief;  as  it  is  impossible  to  di- 
vert our  thoughts  from  misfortunes,  which''^le 
perpetually  obtruding  themselves  in  view. 
Among  the  many  other  losses,  therefore,  whicn 
must  necessarily  sit  heavy  upon  your  heart,  let 
it  not  be  your  principal  concern,  (as  I  am  in- 
formed it  is)  that  you  are  drivemfrom  Rome. 
For,  notwithstanding  that  you  are  thus  exceed- 
ingly uneasy  at  being  separated  from  your  fa- 
mily and  fortunes,  yet  they  still  continue  in 
their  usual  situations  ;  which,  as  they  could  by 
no  means  be  improved  by  your  presence,  so 
neither  are  they  exposed  to  any  {iartlcular  dan- 
ger. Whenever,  therefore,  your  family  are  the 
subject  of  yotiFt^ougTn:^^'y6d'$!io?/lif''nerthe^ 

pra^oilibip ;  after  which,  ■^otHing  tnatVHa^  occurs  eoii<f^Wi- 
.JDg  him,  till  the  present  letter ;  by  which,  it  appeari»,  be  was 
at  this  time  in  banishment  at  Athens,  for  having  taken  part 
whh  Pompey  in  the  civil  tvars.  He  was  of  a  very  ahciefit 
and  illusUious  family  ;  being  descended  fiom  the  bravt;  Titus 
Manlius,  who,  in  the  year  39^,  obtained  the  name  of  Tor- 
^uatus^  from  the  Torquis,  or  collar,  uhich  he  {ook  from  the 
neck  of  a  gigantic  Gaul,  whom  he  slew  in  singie  ctmbat. 
Jd  Att,  V.  1.  Cic.  dt  Finib,  ii.  S2.  figh,  AmtaL  ii.  ^.  4 1 1 . 
Iav,  vii.  10. 


Book  X. 


et  CICERO. 


4a5 


lament  them  as  suffering  any  calamities  pecu- 
liar to  themselves,  or  consider  it  as  a  hardship 
that  they  are  not  exempted  from  those  which 
are  common  to  us  all. 

As  to  what  concerns  your  own  person,  ^ou 
ought  not,  my  dear  Torquatus,  to  mdulge 
those  gloomy  reflections  which  either  fear,  or 
despair,  may  suggest  It  is  certain  that  He*, 
from  whom  you  have  hitherto  received  a  treat- 
menl|  unworthy  of  your  illustrious  character, 
has  lately  given  very  considerable  marks  of  a 
more  favourable  disposition.  It  is  equally  cer- 
tain, that  while  we  are  looking  up  to  C^sar 
for  our  preservation,  he  is  far  from  being  clear 
by  what  methods  he  may  best  secure  his  own. 
The  event  of  every  war  is  always  precarious ; 
but,  with  regard  to  the  present',  as  I  well  know 
that  you  yourself  never  imagined  you  had  any 
thing  to  fear  if  the  victory  should  turn  on  one 
$ide ;  so  I  am  persuaded,  should  it  fall  on  the 
other,  you  can  only  suffer  in  the  general  ruin. 
l^hp  single  circumstance,  then,  that  can  give 
you  much  disquietude,  is  that  which  in  some 
sort  Jj^Jook  upon  as  a  kind  of  consolation;  ,1 
mean,  that  the  danger  to  which  you  are  ex- 
posed, i&  no  other  than  what  threatens  the 
whole  community.  And  this,  it  must  be  ac- 
^^^  mnT>  >i.  :    '  knowledged, 

' :  i-^  The  war  in  Spain  between  CiBsar  and  the  sons  of  Popipey. 

Dd3 


)IM 


i'V!« 


j8^ 


406 


The  letters 


Book  X. 


knoxrledgcd,  is  so  extremely  great,  that  wlmt- 
ever  philosophers  may  pretend,  I  question  whe- 
ther any  thing  can  effectually  support  us  under 
it,  except  one  consideration  alone ;  a  conside- 
ration which  is  always  more  or  less  efficacious, 
in  proportion  to  the  strength  and  firmness  of  a 
man's  own  mind.  But,  if  to  mean  honestly, 
and  to  act  rightly,  be  all  that  is  necessary  ta 
constitute  human  happiness,  it  should  seem  a 
sort  of  impiety  to  call  that  man  miserab^  wha 
is  conscious  of  having  always  regulated  his  con- 
duct by  the  best  intentions.  It  was  not,  I  anv 
persuaded,  any  private  advantage  which  we 
promised  ourselves  from  the  success  of'our 
arms,  that  induced  us  lately  to  abandon  our 
fortunes,  our  families,  and  our  country*;  it  was 
the  just  sense  of  that  sacred  regard  we  owed 
both  to  the  commonwealth  and  to  our  own  cha- 
racters. Nor  when  we  acted  thus,  were  we  so 
absurdly  sanguine  as  toflatter  ourselves  with  the 
prospect  of  certain  victory.  If  the  event,  then, 
has  proved  agreeable  to  what,  upon  our  first  en- 
trance into  the  war,  we  were  well  aware  it  pos- 
sibly might ;  we  ought,  by  no  means,  surely, 
to  be  as  much  dispirited,  as  if  the  reverse  of  all 
that  we  expected  had  befallen  us.  Let  us  then, 
my  friend,  cherish  those  sentiments  which  true 

philosophy 

♦  Upon  the  first  breaking  out  of  the  civil  war,  when  Ci- 
i^ro  and  Torquatus  left  Italy,  in  order  to  join  the  army  of 
Pompey  in  Greece. 


Book  X. 


a*-.  CICERO- 


407 


philosophy  prescribes,  by  esteeming  it  our  only 
concern  in  this  life  to  preserve  our  integrity; 
and  so  long  a$  we  are  void  of  all  just  reproach, 
let  us  bear  tlie  various  revolutions  of  human  af- 
fairs wilJi  calmness  and  moderation.  The  sum 
of  wliat  I  would  say,  in  short,  is  this ;  that  vir- 
tue seems  sutficient  for  her  own  support,  though 
all  things  else  were  utterly  lost.  Still,  however, 
if  any  hopes  should  yet  remain  to  the  republic, 
you  should  by  no  means  despair,  whatever  its 
future  situation  may  be,  of  holding  the  rank  in 
it  you  deserve. 

And  here,  my  friend,  it  occurs  to  me,  that 
there  wa$  a  time  when  you,  likewise,  used  to 
condemn  my  despondency ;  and  when  I  was  full 
of  apprehensions,  and  altogether  undetermined 
how  to  act,  you  inspired  jne  by  your  advice  and 
example  with  more  spirited  and  vigorous  resolu- 
tions. At  that  season,  it  was  npt  our  cause, 
but  our  measures,  I  disapproved.  I  thought  it 
much  too  late  to  oppose  those  victorious  arms 
^  which  we  ourselves  had  long  been  contributing 
to  strengthen ;  and  I  lamented  that  we  should 
refer  the  decision  of  our  pohtical  disputes,  not 
to  the  weight  of  our  counsels,  but  to  the  force 
of  our  swords.  I  do  no t  pretend  to  have  been  in- 
spired with  a.spirit  of  divination,  when  I  foretold 
what  has  since  happened,  I  only  saw  the  possi- 
bility and  destructive  consequences  of  such  an 

D  d  4  event. 


\ 


I 


'I        ) 


f« 


40S 

^      - 


The  letters 


Book  X. 


e^^ftt  And  it^  wa^  this  that  alarmed  my  feaFs; 
^specially,  as  it  was  a  contingency,  of  all  others, 
{))^mqst  likely  to  take  effect.  For  the  strength 
of  our  party,  I  well  knew,  was  of  a  kind  that 
would  little  avail  us  in  the  field  ;  as  our  troops 
were  far  inferior  both  in  force  and  experience, 
Jfft  those  of  our  adversaries.  The  same  spirit 
and  Tesolution,  then,  which  you  recommended 
to  me  at  that  juncture,  let  me  now  exhort  you, 
in  my  turn,  to  assume  in  the  present. 

I  was  induced  to  write  to  you  upon  this  sub- 

i^^f  fji?X^.5r9«ycrsation  I  lately  had  with  your 

freedman,  Philargyrus.     In  answer  to  the  very 

pj^ft^cular  inquiries  I  made  concemingyour  wcl- 

dfane,  he  informed  me  (and  I  had  no  reason  to 

-suspect  )^is  veracity)  that  you  were  at  somesea- 

sfois  exceedingly  dejected.     This  is  a  state  of 

mind  yoiv should  by  no  means  encourage.     For 

if  tlic  republic  should  in  any  degref^subsis^yciii 

i^W^Y^^'^o  reason  to  doubt  of  recovering  the  rank 

^jf^Qu Jf Sigr ve;  ^  and  should  it  be  destroyed,  your 

^Wc?u?ar  condition  will  be  no  worse,  at  least, 

$j^  that  of  every  jRoman  in  general    As  to  the 

f^mpoH^nt  affair  now  depending^  and  for  the 

,i?V;^.Qf  which  we  are  all  of  us  in  so  muchanxi- 

•%i^yfhisis  a  circumstance  which  you  ought  to 

-hearwith  the  greater  tranquillity,  as  you  are  in 

a  city  where  philosophy,  that  supreme  guide  and 

governess  of  human  life,  not  only  received  her 

birth, 

'^Thc  war  in  Spain. 


r 


BookX. 


OF  CICERO. 


409 


birthj  but  her  best  and  noblest  improvements*. 
But,  besides  this  advantagfe,"^  fo\x  enjoy  tht 
company  likewise  oF  Sulpicius^,  that  wise  and 
favourite  friend,  from  whose  kind  and  prudent 
offices  you  must  undoubtedly  receive  great 
consolation.  Aiid,  had  we  all  of  us  lately  been 
&o  politic  as  to  have  followed  his  advice,  we 
should  have  chosen  rather  to  have  submitted 
to  the  civil,  than  to  the  military  power  of 
Caesar\ 

But  I  have  dwelt  longer,  perhaps,  upon  this 
siiUjecl  than  was  necessary:  I  will  dispatch, 
therefore,  what  is  more  material  in  fewer  words. 
How  much  Towed  to  some  of  those  friends, 
whom  the  fate  of  this  cruel  war  has  snatched 
from  me,  yoii  perfectly  well  know ;  but  I  have 
novv^  none  remaining  from  whom  I 'have  re- 
ceived greater  obligations  than  from  yourself. 
I  ani  sensible,  at  tlie  same  time,  hoW  little  my 


'J  an 


f  ria-^K-yT  fifii 


power 

*  The  Athenians  (among  whom  Torquatus,  as  has  been 
observed  above,  at  this  time  resided)  were  supposed  to  have 
been  thQ  first  who  instructed  mankind,  not  only  in  the  re- 
finements  of  poetry,  oratory,  and  philosophy,  but  in  mana- 
fnctures,  agriculture,  and  civil  government.  Athens,  io 
short,  was  esteemed  by  the  ancients  to  be  the  source,  ai  it 
\va9  uAquestiohably  the  seat,  of  all  those  useful  or  polite 
^rts  wl^ich  u)ost  contribute  to  the  ease  and  ornament  of  hu- 
man life.     Justin,  ii,  6.     Lucret.  vi.  1.  &c. 

'^Sulpicias  was  at  Athens,  as  governor  of  Greece.     See 
j^frpm.  1.  p.  283.  of  this  vol. 

•  this  alludes  to  the  opposition  which  Sulpicius  made  to 
the  proposal  of  recalling  Caesar  from  his  government  in  Gaul, 
just  before  the  commencement  of  the  civil  war.  See  rem. 
2.  p.' 120.  of  this  vol. 


I  " 


K' 


• 


*C:\ 


J. 


V 


I 


410 


The  letters 


Book  X, 


power  can  at  present  avail :  but  as  no  man  can 
-be  so  totally  fallen,  as  not  to  be  capable  of  ef- 
fecting somewhat  at  least  by  his  earnest  endea- 
ivours,  be  assured  that  both  you  and  yours  have 
an  unquestionable  right  to  the  best  and  most 
zealous  of  mine.     Farewel, 


LETTER  IL 

[A.  U.  707.] 

To  Servius  Sulpicius. 

MAN  I  us  CuRius'    a  merchant  of  Patrae,  is 

,  I  4.*  *   •    I  >    .-• 

a  person  whom  I  have  many  and  great  rea- 
sons to  value.  The  friendship  between  us  has 
long  continued :  so  long,  indeed,  as  from  his  first 
appearance  In  the  forum.  He  has  formerly,  at 
,  different  juncture?,  and  lately,  during  this  un- 
happy civil  war,  offered  me  an  asylum  at  Patrae ; 
^nd  I  should  have  used  his  house  with  the  same 
freedom  as  my  own,  if  I  had  found  occasion.  But 
my  strongest  connexion  with  him  results  from  a 
motive  of  a  more  sacred  kind,  as  it  arises  from 
his  intimacy  with  my  friend  Atticus,  for  whom 
he  entertains  a  very  singular  affection  and  es- 
teem. If  Curius  is  known  to  you,  I  imagine  I 
am  paying  him  the.  tribute  of  my  good  offices 
somewhat  too  late;  for  I  dare  say  his jpolite 

and 

^  This  is  the  same  person  to  whom  the  25th  letter  of  the 
*  preceding  book  is  addressed.     See  rem.  6.  p.  36l.  of  this  vol. 


?i 


Book  X. 


0F  CICERO. 


411 


and  elegant  manners  have  already  recommend- 
ed him  to  your  regard.  However,  should  this 
prove  to  be  the  case,  I  very  earnestly  en- 
treat you  to  suffer  this  letter  to  confirm  and 
increase  the  favourable  disposition  you  have 
conceived  towards  him.  But  if  his  modesty 
has  concealed  him  from  your  notice,  or  you 
have  only  a  slight  acquaintance  with  him,  or, 
for  any  other  reason,  a  farther  recommendation 
may  be  necessary,  I  most  warmly  and  most  de- 
servedly give  him  mine.  I  will  be  answerable, 
too,  (as  every  one  ought,  indeed,  whose  oflSces 
of  this  kind  are  sincere  and  disinterested)  that 
you  will  experience  so  much  politeness  and  pro- 
bity in  Curius,  as  to  convince  you  that  he  is 
worthy  both  of  my  recommendation  and  of  your 
friendship.  In  the  mean  time,  be  assured  you 
will  very  sensibly  oblige  me,  if  I  should  find 
that  this  letter  shall  have  had  all  the  influence 
with  you  which  I  confidently  expect,    Farewel. 


kj 


LETTER  III. 

[A.  u.  7or.l 

To  AULUS  TORQUAf  cs. 

It  was  more  in  compliance  with  the  affection 
of  my  heart,  than  as  thinking  it  in  the  least  ne- 
cessary  that  I  detained  you  so  long  in  my  last'. 

Your 
'  The  first  letter  of  the  present  book. 


<        J 


.(t 


!!-< 


4is 


Thi  letters 


Book  X. 


JTour  fortitude  wants  not  to  be  animated  by 
aoy  exhortations  of  mine ;  and,  indeed,  I  am  m 
every  respect  too  much  distressed  myself,  to 
be  capable  of  encouraging  another.   But,  what- 
ever reason  there  might  or  might  not  have 
jbeen  for  the  length  of  my  former  letter,  I  am 
sure  it  may  well  excuse  me  from  extending  my 
present,  nothing  new  having  since  occurred. 
For  as  to  the  various  and  contradictory  reports, 
which  are  every  day  propagates!  amongst  us, 
concerning  affairs  in  Spain,  I  imagine  they  aie 
:^pread  likewise  into  your  part  of  the  world.T— 
They  wiU.all  terminate,  however,  in  the  same 
fatal  catastrophe;  a  catastrophe,  which  I  no  less 
.clearly  discern  (and  I  am  well  assured,jj]l;,ii^ 
equally  visible  to  yourself)  than  if  it  were  now 
lactuailly  before  ray  view.     Tis  true  no  one  can 
deterjnine  what  will  be  the  event  of  the  ap- 
proaching battle  ;  but  as  to  that  of  the  war  in  ge- 
j^eraJ,  I  have  no  manner  of  dgubt ;  at  l^a^t,  i?QP^ 
lyith  respect  to  its  consequences :  for  one  side  or 
the  other  must  certainly  be  yictpripu^ ;  aqd  I  am 
Wll  convinced  of  the  use  that  either  party  will 
jpaKt?.  Qfthm  success.  Such  an  use,  indeed,  that 
ilj.had  rather  suffer  what  is  generally  esteemed 
H^S  m<>^t  terrible  of  all  ^vilsj  thw  live,  to  ]i^,^ 
sp^<*  tat  or  of  so  dreadful  a  scene.  Yes,  my  frien4 
JiftirJ|)>t)^  the  terms  on  which  we  must  the»  en* 
dure  it,  would  be  the  cpmpletion  of  humanmi  - 


Book  X. 


OF  CICERa 


AA3 


sery ;  whereas  death  was  never  considered  4^ 
any  wise  man  as  an  evil,  eveil  to  the  h^p^y  them- 
selves. But  you  are  in  a  city  where  the  very 
walls  will  inspire  you  with  these  and  other  re- 
flections of  the  same  tendency,  in  a  far  more 
efficacious  manner  than  I  can  suggest  them*.  I 
will  only,  therefore,  assure  you  (unsubstantial 
as  the  consolation  is  which  arises  from  the 
misfortunes  of  others)  that  you  are  at  present 
in  no  greater  danger  than  any  of  those  of  the 
same  party,  who  have  either  totally  renounCfed 
the  war,  or  who  are  still  in  arms,  as  they  are 
TSbth  under  equal  apprehensions  froni  the  vic- 
toi'/^'tBut  there  is  another  aivl  tar  higher  con- 
solation, which  I  hope  is  your  support,  as  it 
certainly  is  mine.  For  so  long  as  I  shall  pfe»- 
serre  my  innocence,  I  will  never  whilsf  I  exist 
be  anxiously  disturbed  at  any  event  that  inay 
happen  :  and  if  I  should  cease  to  exist,  all  sensi- 
biUty  must  cease  with  me%  But  I  am^gain  re- 
turning to  my  unnecessary  reflections^  and,  iti 
the  language  of  the  old  proverb,  attt  "  sendiii^ 
i'*^  owls  to  Athens*''  To  put  an  end  to  tliem, 
1)6  assured  that  the  welfare  of  yourself  and  fa- 
mily, together  with  the  success  of  all  yi)iijr 
cotjtcfe^ns,  is  my  great  and  principal  tef©,"  atl8 
^hall  continue  to  be  so  to  the  end  of  itty  Ifey^. 
^areWel* -*^^^^^       iwuw/ iiL        >j  ^i    LETT£^ 

•  iril!ir,mjJii»:See  re'm.fi^  p.^40f-'6ftliii  voL       Ji  muh 
*  See  rem.  6.  p.  232.  of  this  vol. 
»  Sec  rem.  8.  p.  236*.  of  this  vci- 


!  I  «         '! 


I 

: 


M 


414 


The  letters 
LETTER  IV. 

[A.  V.  707.] 

ToServius  Sulpicius. 


Book  X. 


Ji 


1  OUR  very  polite  and  obliging  letter  to  At- 
ticus,  afforded  him  great  satisfaction  ;  but  not 
more  than  I  received  from  it  myself  It  was, 
indeed,  equally  agreeable  to  us  both.  But,  al- 
though we  neither  of  us  doubted  that  you  would 
readily  comply  with  any  request  he  should  mak^, 
yet  your  having  voluntarily  and  unexpectedly 
offered  him  your  services,  was  a  circumstance, 
I  must  acknowledge,  that  raised  Atticus\s  admi- 
ration less  than  mine.  As  you  have  given  him 
the  most  ample  assurances,  therefore,  of  your 
good  offices,  it  is  unnecessary  that  I  should  de- 
sire you  to  add  any  thing  to  them  from  your  re- 
gard to  me.  It  would  be  no  less  impertinent, 
likewise,  to  send  you  my  acknowledgments  upon 
this  occasion,  as  your  offer  was  entirely  the 
spontaneous  result  of  your  particular  friendship 
to  Atticus.  This,  however,  I  will  say,  that  as 
such  an  uncommon  proof  of  your  esteem  for  a 
man  whom  I  singularly  love  and  value,  could 
not  but  be  highly  agreeable  to  me,  so  it  is  an 
obligation  I  must  necessarily  place  to  my  own 
account.  And,  indeed,  as  I  may  take  the  liberty 
from  the  intimacy  between  us,  to  transgress 
1    .  the 


Book  X. 


OF  CICERO. 


41* 


the  strict  rules  of  propriety,  I  shall  venture  to 
do  the  two  things  which  I  just  now  declared 
were  both  improper  and  unnecessary.  Accord- 
ingly, let  me  request,  in  the  first  place,  that 
you  would  add  as  much  as  possible  to  those 
services,  for  my  sake,  with  which  you  have 
shewn  yourself  willing  to  favour  Atticus  for 
his  own  :  and,  in  the  next  place,  desire  your 
acceptance  of  my  acknowledgments  for  those 
which  you  have  already  so  generously  promised 
him.  And  be  assured,  whatever  good  offices 
you  shall  render  to  Atticus  in  regard  to  his  af- 
fairs in  Epirus*,  or  upon  any  other  occasion, 
will  be  so  many  obligations  conferred  upon 
myself     Farewel. 

LETTER 

♦  Epirus  was  contiguous  to  Greece,  and  annexed  to  the 
government  of  that  province.  It  is  now  called  Jamia,  and 
is  under  the  dominion  of  the  Turks.  A  considerable  part  of 
Atticub's  estate  lay  in  this  country.     Kepos,  invit.  Att.  14. 


pi'i' 


(^    n't 


.-»■  4-»'  *-«-•    ■•         » 


r  I  r  I ' 


^4  . 


ft" 


Off 


£lyVi>    rill  0l  '-"^f 


.1    ■»    '•'^    'Zi 


^:gild<> 


VJ 


m i1 


i  { 


ii   i 


416 


1^ 

If 


The  letters 


LETTER  V. 


Book  Xr 


Book  X. 


OF  CICERO. 


417. 


[A.  u.  70r.] 

To  the  same. 

1  HAVE  long  been  united  with  Lyso,  a  citizen 
of  Patra,  by  ties  which  I  deem  of  sacred  obli- 
gation ;  the  ties,  I  mean,  of  hospitality^    This 
is  a  sort  of  connexion,  'tis  true,  in  which  I  am 
engaged,  also,  with  many  others ;  but  I  never 
contracted  with  any  of  my  hosts  so  strict  an 
intimacy.     The  many  good  offices  I  received 
from  Lyso,  together  with  the  habitudes  of  a 
dally  intercourse,   improved  our  acquaintance 
into  the  highest  degree  of  friendship  ;  and,  in- 
deed, during  the  whole  year,  he  resided  here, 
we  were  scarce  ever  separated.     We  neither  of 
U8  doubted  that  my  former  letter  would  have 
the  effect  I  find  it  has,  and  induce  you  to  take 
his  affairs  under  your  protection  in  his  absence. 
Nevertheless,  as  he  had  appeared  in  arms  in 
favour  of  our  party,  we  were  under  perpetual 
apprehensions  of  his  resentment,  in  whom  all 
power  is  now  centered.     But  Lyso's  illustrious 
rank,    together  with  the  zealous  applications 
of  myself  and  the  rest  of  those  who  have  shar- 
fd  in  bis  generous  hospitality,  have  at  length 

obtained 

'  See  rem.  3*  p.  113.  of  this  vol. 

9 


obtained  all  that  we  could  wish ;  as  you  will  per- 
ceive by  the  letter  which  Caesar  himself  has 
written  to  you.     I  am  so  far,   however,  from 
thinking  him  in  circumstances  that  will  allow 
me  to  release  you  from  any  part  of  my  former 
solicitation ;  that  I  now  more  strongly  request 
you  to  receive  him  into  your  patronage  and 
friendship.    Whilst  his  fate  was  yet  in  suspense, 
I  was  less  forward  in  claiming  your  good  offi- 
ces;  being  cautious  of  giving  you  a  trouble 
which  possibly  might  prove  to  no  purpose.   But 
as  his  pardon  is  absolutely  confirmed,  I  most 
ardently  entreat  your  best  services  in  his  behalf 
Not  to  enumerate  particulars,  I  recommend  to 
you  his  whole  family  in  general,  but  more  es- 
pecially his  son.    My  old  chent  Memmius  Ge- 
mellus^  having  been  presented  with  the  free- 
dom of  the  city  of  Patra^  during  his  unhappy 
banishment,  adopted  this  youn^  man  accord- 
mg  to  the  forms  prescribed  by  the  laws  of  that 
community:  and  I  beseech  you  to  support  him 
in  his  right  of  succeeding  to  the  estate  of  his 
adoptive   father.     But,    above   all,  as  I  have 
thoroughly  experienced  the  merit  and  grateful 
disposition  of  Lyso,  let  me  conjure  you  to  ad- 
mit him  into  a  share  of  your  friendship.    I  am 

persuaded 

Probably   the  same  person  to  whom  the  27th  let.  of 
the  3d  book  is  addressed.     See  rem.  5.  p.  281.  vol.  i. 

Vol.  IL  .  Ee 


418 


The  letters 


Book  K. 


Book  X. 


OF  CICERO. 


419 


if 


persuaded,  if  you  should  do  so,  you  will  here- 
after look  upon  him  with  the  same  affection,  and 
recommend  him  with  as  much  zeal  as  I  have 
expressed  in  the  present  instance.  There  is  no- 
thing, indeed,  1  more  earnestly  wish,  than  to  raise 
in  you  this  disposition  towards  him  :  as  I  fear  if 
you  should  not  confer  upon  him  your  hest  ser- 
vices, he  will  suspect,  not  that  you  are  unmind- 
ful of  my  recommendations,  but  that  I  did  not 
sufficiently  enforce  them.  For  he  must  be  per- 
fectly sensible,  not  only  from  w^hat  he  has  fre- 
quently heard  me  declare,  but  from  your  own 
obliging  letters  to  me,  of  the  singular  share  I  en- 
joy in  your  friendship  and  esteem.     Farewel. 

LETTER  VI. 

[A,  V.  707.] 

To  the  same. 

AscLAPO,  a  physician  of  Patra?,  is  my  very 
particular  friend :  to  whose  company,  as  well 
as  skill  in  his  profession,  I  have  been  much  in- 
debted. I  had  occasion  to  experience  the  lat- 
ter, in  my  own  family :  and  had  great  reason 
to  be  satisfied  with  his  knowledge,  his  inte- 
grity and  his  tenderness.  I  recommend  him, 
therefore,  to  your  favour  :  and  entreat  you  to 
let  him  see,  by  the  effects  of  this  letter,  that  I 

did 


did  so  in  the  strongest  manner.  Your  compli- 
ance with  this  request  will  oblige  me  exceed- 
ingly,    Fajewel 

LETTER  VIL 

[A.  U.  707.] 

To  the  same. 


r  #      ^- 


Marcus  ^Emilius  Avianus  has  distin- 
guished me,  from  his  earliest  youth,  with  pecu- 
liar marks  of  affection  and  esteem.  He  isva  man 
not  only  of  great  politeness,  but  probity;  and, 
indeed,  in  every  view  of  his  character,  is  ex- 
tremely amiable.  If  I  imagined  he  were  at  Si- 
cyon^,  I  should  think  it  utterly  unnecessary  to 
add  any  thing  farther  in  his  behalf;  being  well 
persuaded  that  the  elegance  and  integrity  of 
his  manners  would  be  sufficient  of  themselves 
to  recommend  him  to  the  same  degree  of  your 
affection,  which  be  possesses,  not  only  of  mine, 
but  of  every  one  of  his  friends  in  general.  But 
as  I  hear  he  still  continues  at  Cybira,  where  I 
left  him  some  time  ago^ ;  I  most  strongly  re- 
commend his  affairs  and  family  at  Sicyon,  to 
your  favour  and  protection.     Amon^  these,  I 


,iiiAli 


^'  must 

;v  7  A  city  in  the  Peloponnesqs,  now  called  Batilica, 

♦  Cybira  was  a  city  of  Lycaonia,  annexed  to  the  govern- 
ment of  Cilicia:  Cicero  aHudes  to  the  time  when  he  was 
proconsul  of  that  province. 

Ee2 


420 


The  letters 


Book  X. 


must  particularly  single  out  his  freedman  Ham- 
monius,  as  one  who  has  a  claim  to  my  recom- 
mendation upon  his  own  account.  He  has 
gained  my  good  opinion,  not  only  by  his  un- 
common zeal  and  fidelity  towards  his  patron, 
but  by  the  very  important  services,  likewise, 
which  he  has  conferred  upon  myself.  Indeed, 
had  it  been  to  me  that  he  had  been  indebted 
for  the  privilege  of  his  freedom,  he  could  not 
have  acted  with  a  more  faithful  and  affectionate 
assiduity  than  I  experienced  from  him  in  my 
troubles'.  In  the  first  place,  then,  I  entreat 
your  protection  of  Hammonius,  as  agent  in  the 
afl'airs  of  his  patron :  and,  in  the  next,  I  re- 
commend him  upon  his  own  account,  as  worthy 
to  be  received  into  the  number  of  your  friends. 
Believe  me,  you  will  find  him  of  a  modest,  ob- 
liging temper,  and  well  deserving  a  place  in 
your  affection.     Farewel. 


LETTER  VIIL 

[A.  U.  70T.] 

To  the  same. 

1  HAVE  a  very  great  regard  for  Titus  Manlius, 
a  merchant  of  Thespise ;  not  only  as  one  from 
whom  I  have  always  received  singular  marks 
of  consideration  and  esteem,  but  as  he  is  an  ad- 
mirer also  of  our  favourite  studies.     To  this  I 

must 

•  During  his  persecution  by  Clodius. 


Book  X. 


OF  CICERO. 


421 


must  add,  that  my  friend  Varro  Murena  very 
-^warmly  espouses  his  interest.  And  though 
Murena  has  full  confidence  in  the  effect  of  that 
letter  which  he  has  himself  written  to  you  in  fa- 
vour of  Manlius,  yet  he  is  persuaded  that  my 
recommendation,  likewise,  may  somewhat  in- 
crease your  disposition  to  assist  him.  In  com- 
pliance, therefore,  with  my  desire  of  serving 
both  Murena  and  Manlius,  I  recommend  the 
latter  to  you  in  the  strongest  terms  :  and  you 
will  greatly  oblige  me  by  promoting  the  interest 
and  honours  of  Manlius,  in  every  instance  con- 
sistent with  your  own  character  and  dignity.  I 
will  venture  to  assure  you,  likewise,  from  the 
knowledge  I  have  of  his  polite  and  humanized 
disposition,  that  your  good  offices  towards  him 
will  be  attended  with  all  the  satisfaction  you 
can  promise  yourself  from  the  gratitude  of  a, 
worthy  man.     Farewel. 


I*'] 


/< 


LETTER  IX. 

[A.  u.  for.] 

To  the  same. 

My  friend  and  tribe-fellow',  Lucius  Cossini- 

us,  is  one  with  whom  I  have  long  lived  in  great 

^i4.i  .  w  a,„  intimacy: 


*  The  collective  body  of  the  Roman  people  was  divided 
into  35  tribes :  and  every  citizen,  of  whatever  rank,  was  ne- 
cessarily enrolled  under  one  or  other  of  these  several  classes. 
They  were  each  distinguished  by  a  particular  name,  as  the 

£e3  Tribus 


422 


Trft  LETTERS 


Book  X 


Book  X. 


01?  €ICERO. 


433 


intimacy :  and  which  his  connexions  \Vith  At- 
ticus  has  contributed  still  farther  to  improve. 
I  enjoy  the  affection  of  his  whole  family,  but 
particularly  of  his  freedman  Anchialus ;  who  h 
highly  in  the  esteem,  not  only  of  his  patron, 
but  of  all  his  patron's  friends;  in  which  litiitl- 
ber  I  have  already  mentioned  myself.  I  recom- 
mend Anchialus,  therefore,  to  your  fevour,  with 
as  much  warmth  as  if  he  stood  in  the  Same  re- 
lation to  me  that  he  does  to  Cossinius.  Ybvt 
will  oblige  me,  indeed,  in  a  very  sensible  man- 
Brer,  by  receiving  him  into  your  friendship,  and 
giving  him  any  assistance  he  may  require :  as 
far,  I  mean,  as  your  own  convenience  will  ad- 
mit. And  you  will  hereafter,  I  am  persuaded, 
receive  much  satisfaction  from  your  compliance 
with  this  request :  as  you  will  find  Anchialus  to 
be  a  man  of  the  greatest  politeness  and  pi-obity. 
Farewel. 

LETTER  X. 

[A.U.707.] 

To  the  sam€. 

The  pleasure  1  took  in  the  i-eftfection  bf  hav- 
ing written  to  you  in  behalf  of  my  frieUd  and 

host 

Ttibus  Popiiia,  Tribus  Velina,  &c.  Which  natWB  was  derived 
either  Irom  the  place  which  ihe  tribe  principally  inhabited, 
or  from  some  disunguiibed  family  U.comaiocd.  Roiin.  Au^ 
iiq.  RuoK 


host  Lyso,  was  much  increased  when  I  read 
his  letter:  and  I  particularly  rejoiced  in  having 
so  strongly  recommended  him  to  your  esteem, 
when  I  found  he  had  before  been  a  sufferer  in 
your  good  opinion.    For  my  recommendation^ 
he  tells  me,  was  of  singular  advantage  in  re- 
moving the  groundless  suspicion  you  had  en- 
tertained of  him,  from  a  report  riiat  he  had  fre- 
quently, whilst  he  was  at  Rome,  treated  your 
character  in  a  disrespectful  manner.     Let  me, 
in  the  first  place  then,  return  you  those  thanks 
which  I  so  justly  owe  you,  for  suffering  my  let- 
ter to  efface  every  remaining  impression  of  this 
injurious  calumny.     And,  in  the  next  place, 
although  Lyso  assures  me  that,   agreeably  to 
your  well-natured  and  generous  disposition,  he 
has  entirely  satisfied  you  of  his  innocence,  yet 
I  entreat  you  to  believe  me  when  I  protest,  not 
only  in  justice  to  my  friend,  but  to  the  worid 
in  general,  that  I  never  heard  any  man  mention 
you  without  the  highest  applause.    As  to  Lyso, 
in  particular,  in  all  the  daily  conversations  we 
had  together,  whilst  he  continued  here,  you 
were  the  perpetual  subject  of  his  encomiums  ;^ 
both  as  he  imagined  that  I  heard  them  with 
pleasure,  and  as  it  was  a  topic  extremely  agree- 
able, likew^ise,  to  himself.     But  though  he  is 
fully  satisfied  with  the  effects  of  my  former 

E  e  4  letter. 


^ 


4S4 


The  letters 


Book  X. 


letter, .  and  I  am  sensible  that  the  generous 
manner  in  which  you  treat  him,  renders  all 
farther  application  perfectly  unnecessary ;  yet 
I  cannot  forbear  renewing  my  earnest  solicita- 
tions that  you  would  continue  your  favours  to- 
wards him.  I  would  again  also  represent  to 
you  how  well  he  deserves  them,  if  I  did  not 
imagine  you  were,  by  this  time,  sufficiently  ac- 
quainted with  his  merit.      Farcwel. 


LETTER  XL 

[A.  U.  707.] 

To  the  same. 

ilAGESARETUs  of  Larissa'  having  received 
considerable  honours  from  me  during  my  con- 
sulate, has  ever  since  distinguished  me  with  sin- 
gular marks  of  gratitude  and  respect.  I  strong- 
ly recommend  him,  therefore,  to  you  as  my  host 
and  friend  ;  as  a  man  of  an  honest  and  grateful 
heart;  as  a  person  of  principal  rank  in  his  native 
city ;  and,  in  short,  as  one  who  is  altogether 
worthy  of  being  admitted  into  your  friendship. 
And  I  shall  be  exceedingly  obliged  to  you  for 

letting 

'  There  were  two  cities  of  ihis  name  in  Thessaly :  a 
country  contiguous  to  Greece,  and  which  formerly  mad^ 
part  of  the  kingdom  of  Macedonia.  One  of  these  cities 
was  situated  upon  the  river  Peneas,  and  is  now  called  L^rsa  : 
thf  other  was  a  maritime  town.  Geographers  suppose  the 
latter  to  be  the  present  Armino :  a  considerable  sea  port  be- 
longing to  the  Turks. 


Book  X. 


OF  CtCERO: 


425 


letting  him  see,  that  you  pay  regard  to  thisniy 
recommendation.     Farewel. 


^  %  ,...  Kr  y 


LETTER  XII. 

[A.U.  707.] 

To  the  same.  '^ 

The  connexion  between  Lucius  Mescinius 
and  myself,  results  from  no  less  powerful  a  tie 
than  that  of  his  having  been  formerly  my  quaes- 
tor*. But,  though  I  always  considered  a  rela- 
tion of  this  kind  in  the  high  regard  it  was 
viewed  by  our  ancestors,  yet  the  refined  and 
elejrant  virtues  of  Mescinius^  rendered  it  still 
riiSre  justly  sacred.  Accordingly,  there,  is" no 
man  with  whom  I  live  in  a  higher  degree  of  in- 
timacy, or  from  whose  friendship  1  derive 
s:reater  satisfaction.  He  doubts  not  of  your 
disposition  to  serve  him  upon  every  occasion* 
that  shall  comport  with  your  honour:  however, 
he  is  persuaded  that  a  letter  from  my  hand  will 
considerably  strengthen  your  inclinations,  for 
that  purpose.  This  he  collects  not  only^  from 
his  own  observation,  but  from  those  frequent 
declarations  he  has  heard  me  make,  of  the 
very  pleasing  and  intimate  friendship  in  which 

you 

♦  See  rem.  1.  p.  91  o^  l^is  ^o'* 

5  The  reader  will  find,  by  the  remark  referred  to  in  the 
last  note,  how  little  there  was  of  truth  and  sincerity  in  the 
character  which  Cicero  here  bestows  upon  his  friend. 


m6 


The  letters 


Book  X. 


Book  X. 


OF  CICERO. 


427 


you  and  I  are  so  strictly  joined.  I  am  to  in- 
form you,  then,  that  his  late  brother,  who  was 
a  merchant  in  Ehs^,  has  left  him  his  estate : 
and  I  entreat  you,  with  all  the  warmth  whicli 
you  are  sensible  ought  to  animate  me  in  the 
concerns  of  a  friend  to  whom  I  am  so  strongly 
and  closely  attached,  that  you  would  assist  him 
with  your  power,  your  influence,  and  your  ad- 
vice in  settling  tliese  his  affairs  in  your  pro- 
vince. In  view  to  this,  we  have  sent  direc- 
tions to  his  agent,  that  if  any  disputes  should 
^^risc  concerning  the  estate  or  effects  of  the 
testator^  that  they  shall  be  guided  by  your  sen- 
.timentSy  and  (if  it  be  not  troubling  you  too 
much)  determined  by  your  arbitration :  an  office 
which  I  earnestly  entreat  you  to  undertake,  and 
the  acceptance  of  which  I  shall  esteem  as  an 
honour  done  to  myself.  But  if  any  of  the 
claimants  should  be  so  obstinate  as  to  refuse 
your  award,  I  shall  receive  it  as  a  singular  ob- 
ligation if  you  will  refer  their  pretensions  (pro- 
vided you  shall  not  think  it  a  derogation  from 
your  dignity)  to  be  determined  in  the  courts  at 
Rome  :  as  the  matter  in  contest  is  with  a  Ro- 
iiian  senator.  That  you  may  the  less  scruple 
*to  comply  with  this  request,  I  have  procured  a 
sort  of  recommendatory  letter  to  you  from  the 

^  consul 


11 


•  A  city  in  the  Peloponnesus. 


consul  LepiduiS^  I  say  a  recommendatory  one ; 
fot  to  have  desired  him  to  write  in  a  more  au- 
thoritative style,  would  not,  I  thought,  be 
treating  your  high  station  with  the  deference 
which  is  so  justly  due  to  it.  I  would  add,  that 
your  obliging  Mescinius  in  this  instance,  vn\l 
be  laying  out  your  favours  to  much  advantage ; 
if  I  were  not,  on  the  one  hand,  well  persuaded 
that  this  is  a  circumstance  of  which  you  are  al- 
ready apprised ;  and  on  the  other,  were  I  not 
soliciting  you  as  for  an  affair  of  my  own.  For 
be  assured,  I  take  an  equal  concern  with  Mes- 
cinius in  every  article  wherein  he  is  interested. 
As  I  am  very  desirous,  therefore,  that  he  may 
obtain  his  right  with  as  little  trouble  as  pos- 
sible, so  lam  solicitous,  likewise,  that  he  should 
have  rcason  to  think,  that  my  recommendation 
has  greatly  contributed  to  this  end.     FareweL 


'Ki 


LETTER  XIII. 

.i,n  [A.u.«for.] 

'  '  To  the  same. 

The  regard  you  pay  to  my  recommendations, 
has  given  me,  and  will  hereafter  give  me,  I 
dare  say,  frequent  occasions  of  repeating  my 
acknowledgments.     However,  I  will  attempt, 

if 

^  He  was  this  year  appointed  by  Cresar  to  be  his  col^ 
league  in  the  consular  office.    Fht.  in  vit,  Anton. 


4£8 


The  letters 


Book  X. 


Bt)OK  X. 


OF  CICERO. 


4?9 


tf  possible,  to  convey  my  thanks  to  you  in  a 
style  as  various  as  the  several  instances  that  de- 
mand them :  and,  in  imitation  of  you  lawyers*, 
express  the  same  thing  in  different  words. 

I  have  received  a  letter  from  Hammonius, 
full  of  the  strongest  expressions  of  gratitude 
for  the  services  you  have  rendered  both  to  him 
tnd  Avianus,    in  consequence  of  my  recom- 
mendation': and  he  assures  me  that  nothing 
can  be  more  generous  than  the  personal  civili- 
ties  you  have  shewn  to  himself,  as  well  as  the 
attention  you  have  given  to  the  affairs  of  his 
patron.     This  would  afford  me  a  very  sensible 
pleasure,  were  I  to  consider  it  only  as  a  benefit 
to  those  to  whom  I  have  the  strongest  attach- 
ments :  as  indeed  Avianus  has  distinguished 
himself  above  all  my  friends  by  his  superior  sen- 
sibility of  the  many  and   great  obHgations   I 
have  conferred  upon  him.    But  my  satisfaction 
still  increases,  when  I  view  it  as  an  instance  of 
my  standing  so  high  in  your  esteem,  as  to  in- 
cline you  to  serve  my  friends  more  efficaciously 
than  I  myself  should,   perhaps,  were  I  present 
for  that  purpose.     Possibly  the  reason  of  your 
having  this  advantage  over  me,  may  be,  that  I 
should  not  yield  altogether  so  easily  to  their  re^ 
quests,  as  you  comply  with  mine.     But  wWt- 

ever 

Sulpicius  was  one  of  the  most  considerab^iO  lawyers  o£ 
llie  a^e.     See  rem.  6'.  p.  287.  of  this  vol, 
*  See  the  7lh  lei.  ot  this  book. 


ever  doubt  I  may  have  as  to  that  point,  I  have 
none  of  your  being  persuaded  that  I  entertain 
the  sentiments  of  your  favours  they  deserve  : 
and  I  entreat  you  to  believe  (what  I  will  be 
answerable  is  the  truth)  that  both  Avianus  and 
Hammonius  have  received  them  with  the  same 
grateful  disposition.  I  beseech  you  then,  if  it 
be  not  engaging  you  in  too  much  trouble,  that 
you  would  endeavour  that  their  affairs  may  be 
settled  before  you  leave  the  province. 

I  live  in  a  most  agreeable  intimacy  with  your 
son,  whose  genius  and  uncommon  application, 
but,  above  all,  his  probity  and  virtue,  afford 
me  a  very  sensible  pleasure.     Farewel. 


I -Ml  'IK  J 


LETTER  XIV. 


T)         1 


[A.  U.  707.] 

To  the  same,    i 


i»u.i>. 


It  is  always  with  much  pleasure  that  I  apply 
to  you  in  behalf  of  my  friends :  but  I  find  a 
still  greater  in  expressing  my  gratitude  for  those 
favours  you  yield  to  my  sohcitations.  This, 
indeed,  is  a  pleasure,  with  which  you  never 
fail  of  supplying  me :  and  it  is  incredible  what 
acknowledgments  I  receive,  even  from  per^Siil 
whom  I  have  but  slightly  mentioned  to  you; 
I  think  myself  greatly  indebted  for  these  in- 
'  ^  ■'  stances 


430  The  LETTERS  Book  X. 

itances  of  your  frieftdship  :  but  particularly  for 
those  good  offices  you  have  coiiferred  upon  Mes^ 
cmius.    He  informs  me  that  immediately  upon 
the  receipt  of  my  letter",  you  gave  his  agents 
full  assurance  of  your  services;  and  have  since 
performed  even  more  than  you  promised.    Be- 
Meve  me,  (and  I  cannot  too  often  repeat  it)  you 
have,   by  these  means,  laid  an  obligation  upon 
me  of  the  most  acceptable  kind:  and  it  affords 
me  so  much  the  higher  satisfaction,  as  I  am 
persuaded  Mescinius  will  give  you  abundant 
reason  to  rejoice  in  it  yourself.     Virtue  and 
probity,  in  truth,  are  tlie  prevailing  qualities 
of  his  heart;  as  an  obliging  and  friendly  offi- 
ciousness  is  his  distinguishing  characteristic. 
To  this  I  must  add,  that  he  is  particularly  de- 
voted  to  our  favourite  speculations  :  those  phi- 
losophical speculations,  my  friend,  which  were 
always  the  delight,   as  they  are  now  also  the 
support  and  consolation  of  my  life.     Let  me    , 
entreat  you  then  to  give  him  fresh  instances  of 
your  generosity  upon  every  occasion,  wherein 
it  shall  not  be  inconsistent  with  your  dignity 
to  interpose.     But  there  are  two  articles  in 
which  I  will  particularly  request  it.     Tlie  first 
is,  that  if  those  who  are  indebted  to  the  estate 
of  his  testator,  should  insist  upon  being  in- 
demnified in  their  payments  to  Mescinius,  that 
^  .  my 

•  The  12th  leUer  of  this  book. 


Booj^  X. 


OF  CICERO, 


431 


mysecuritymayibe accepted ;  and  thenext is, that 
as  the  greatest  pait  ^rf  tlie  testator's  efli'ects  a?c 
secreted  by  hds  mfc,  that  y»o»  would  asskt  in 
concerting  measijres  for  se»diiig  her  to  Rome 
Should  5he  be  once  persuaded  that  this  methoS 
>vill  be  taken  with  her,  we  doubt  not  of  h«r 
settling  every  thing  to  the  satif^faction  of  Mes- 
cinius :  and  that  it  may  be  so,  I  most  strongly 
again  request  the  interposition  of  your  good 
offices.  In  the  mean  tin>e,  I  will  be  answerable 
for  what  I  just  now  assured  you,  that  the  gra-> 
titude  and  other  amiable  qualities  of  Mestcinitts, 
will  give  you  reason  to  think  your  favours  were 
not  ill  bestowed,  which  I  mention  as  a  motive 
on  his  own  account,  to  be  added  to  those  which 
induced  you  to  serve  him  upon  mine. 

I  am  persuadecl  that  the  LacedaeiDoniaiw 
doubt  not  of  being  sufficiently  recommended  to 
your  justice  and  patronage,  by  tlieir  own  anid 
their  ancestors'  virtues,  and  I  know  you  too  well 
to  question  your  being  perfectly  acquainted 
with  the  national  rights  and  merit  of  every 
people  who*  are  connected  with  the  republic. 
Accordingly,  notwithstanding  the  great  obli- 
gations I  have  received  from  the  citizens  of  La- 
cedasmon,  yet,  when  Philippus  requested  me  to 
recommend  them  to  your  protection,  my  an- 
swer was,  that  the  Lacedaemonians  could  not 

possibly 


432 


The  letters 


Book  X. 


possibly  stand  in  need  of  an  advocate  with  Sul- 
picius.  The  truth  is,  I  look  upon  it  as  a  cir- 
cumstance of  singular  advantage  to  all  the  cities 
of  Achaia*,  in  general,  that  you  preside  over 
them  in  these  turbulent  times ;  and  I  am  per- 
suaded that  you,  who  are  so  peculiarly  conver? 
sant,  not  only  in  the  Roman  but  Grecian  an- 
nals, cannot  but  be  a  friend  to  the  Lacedaemo- 
nians, for  the  sake  of  their  heroic  descent.  I 
will  only,  therefore,  entreat  you,  that  when  you 
are  acting  towards  them  in  consequence  of 
what  your  justice  and  honour  requires,  you 
would,  at  the  same  time,  intimate,  that  you  re- 
ceive  an  additional  pleasure  from  indulging 
your  own  incHnations  of  that  sort,  by  knowing 
them  to  be  agreeable  likewise  to  mine.  As  I 
think  myself  obliged  to  shew  this  city  that  their 
concerns  are  part  of  my  care,  it  is  with  much 
earnestness  I  make  this  request.     Farewel. 

LETTER 

*  Greece. 


Book  X. 


OF  CICERO. 


433 


LETTER  XV, 

[A.  U.  7C8.] 

To  Lepta^ 

1  HE  moment  I  received  your  letter  from  the 
hands  of  Seleucus,  I  dispatched  a  note  to  Bal- 
bus,  to  enquire  the  purport  of  the  law  you 
mention*.  His  answer  was,  that  such  persons 
as  at  present  exercise  the  office  of  prseco^  are 
expressly  excluded  from  being  decurii*:  but 
this  prohibition  extended  not  to  those  who 
had  formerly  been  engaged  in  that  employ- 
ment Let  not  our  friends,  then,  be  discou- 
raged. It  would,  indeed,  have  been  intoler- 
able, 

5  Cicero  mentions  a  person  of  this  name  in  a  former  let- 
ter, who  appears  to  have  been  his  Prwfectiis  Fabrvm,  or 
what  might  be  called,  perhaps,  in  modern  language,  the 
commander  of  his  train  of  artillery;  when  he  was  governor 
ot  Lilicia.  "It  IS  probable,  therefore,  as  Manutitis  conjee-' 
tures,  that  he  is  the  same  person  to  whom  this  letter  is  ad- 
€lressed.     Vid.  Epist,  Fam,  iii.  7.  , 

*  Manutius  very  justly  observes,  that  this  could  not  be  a 
law  which  Caesar  had  actually  passed,  but  one  which  he  in- 
tended, perhaps,  to  enact,  when  he  should  return  from 
Spain  ;  for  if  it  had  been  actually  promulgated,  Cicero  could 
have  had  no  occasion  to  apply  to  Balbus  for  his  intelligence. 

*  The  office  of  prceco  seems  to  have  been  much  in  the' 
nature  of  a  crier  in  our  courts  of  justice ;  but  not  altogether 
so  low  in  repute. 

*  A  decurio  was,  in  a  corporate  city,  the  same  as  a  sena- 
tor of  Rome ;  that  is,  a  member  of  the  public  pouncil  of  the 
community. 

Vol.  II.  Ff 


434 


Th£  letters 


BookX. 


able,  that  a  parcel  of  paltry  fortune-tellers 
should  be  thought  worthy  of  being  admitted 
into  the  senate  of  Rome^  at  the  same  time  that 
liaVing  formerly  acted  as  a  prceco  should  dis- 
qualify a  man  for  being  member  of  the  coun- 
cil of  a  country  corporation. 

We  have  no  news  from  Spain :  all  that  we 
know  with  certainty  is,  that  young  Pompey  has 
drawn  together  a  very  considerable  army.  This 
we  learn  from  a  letter  of  Paciaecus^  to  Csesar,  a 
copy  v/hereof  Caesar  himself  has  transmitted  to 
us ;  in  w^iich  it  is  affirmed  that  Pompey  is  at 
the  head  of  eleven  legions^  Messala,  in  a  let- 
ter'he  lately  wrote  to  Quintus  Salassus,  informs 
Tiim  that  his  brother,  Publius  Curtius,  has  been 
executed,  by  the  command  of  Pompey,  in  the 
presence  of  his  whole  army.  This  man  had 
entered,  it  seems,  into  a  conspiracy  w^ith  some 
Spaniards,  by  which  it  was  agreed,  in  case 
Pompey  should  march  into  a^  certain  village 

for 

'  This  is  a  ineer  upon  Caesar,  who  had  introduced  per- 
sons of  the  lowest  rank  and  character  into  the  Roman  se- 
uate.     See  rem.  9.  p.  134.  of  this  vol. 

•  He  was  a  native  of  Spain,  and  a  person  of  great  note  in 
that  province,  Cissar  entrusted  him  with  a  very  consider* 
able  command  in  the  expeditiuo  against  the  sons  of  Pompey, 
Hirt,  de  Bell.  Hisp.  3. 

•  The  number  of  horse  and  foot  in  a  Roman  legion  varied 
in  different  periods  of  the  republic.  In  its  lowest  computa- 
tion it  appears  to  have  amounted  to  3000  foot  and  200 
horse.;  and,  in  its  highest,  to  have  risen  to  6OOO  of  the  for- 

•  mer,  and  400  of  the  latter.     Rosin,  Antiq.  Rom.  9^4. 


Book  ^. 


or  CICERO. 


435 


for  provisions,   to  mze  upon  his  persoiij  and 
deliver  him  into  the  hands  of  Caesar. 

In  relation  to  the  security  in  which  you 
stand  engaged  for  Pompey,  you  may  depend 
upon  it,  as  soon  as  Galba,  who  is  jointly 
bound  with  you,  returns  hither,  I  shall  not  fail 
to  consult  with  him  about  measures  for  Settlitig 
that  affair.  He  seemed,  I  remember,  to  ima* 
gine  that  it  might  be  adjusted  ;  and  you  knotf 
he  is  a  man  who  spares  no  pains  where  his  mo^ 
ney  IS  concerned. 

It  gives  me  much  pleasure  to  find  that  you 
s6  highly  approve  of  my'**  Orator.     Whatever 
skill  I  have  in  the  art,  I  have  displayed  it  all  iti 
that  treatise ;  and  if  the  commendations  yoU 
bestow  upon  it  are  not  too  partial,   I  cannot 
but  set  some  value  upon  my  judgment.     To 
speak  truth,  I  am  willing  to  rest  all  my  reputa- 
tion of  this  kind  upon  the  merit  of  that  per- 
formance.     I  hope  my  little  favourite,  you t 
son,  already  discovers  some  relish  for  writings 
of  this  sort:  and  although  he  is 'yet  too  young 
to  enter  far  into  these  studies,  yet  it  will  Jbe  no 
disadvantage  to  him  to  begin  thus  early  to 
form  his  taste  by  compositions  of  this  nature, 

I  have 

'**  This  elegant  and  judicious  p-ece  is  itiscribed  to  firutus, 
and  was  written  in  answer  to  a  question  he  had  often  pro- 
posed to  Cicero,  concerning  the  noblest  and  most  perfect 
species  of  eloquence. 

Ff2    . 


436 


Th^  letters 


Book  X. 


Book  X. 


OF  CICERO. 


437 


I  have  been  detained  at  Rome,  on  account 
of  my  daughter  TuUia's  lying-in.     But  though 
she  is  now,   I  hope,  out  of  all  danger,  yet  I 
still  wait  here  in  expectation  of  my  first  pay- 
ment from  the  agents  of  Dolabella"  ;  and,  to 
tell  you  the  truth,  I  am  not  so  fond  of  chang- 
ing the  scene  as  formerly.     The  amusement  I 
found  in  my  country  houses,  together  with  the 
sweets  of  retirement,  were  wont  heretofore  to 
draw  me  frequently  out  of  Rome.     But  the  si- 
tuation of  my  present  house  is  altogether  as 
pleasant  as  that  of  any  of  my  villas.     I  am,  in- 
deed, as  much  retired  here,  as  if  I  lived  in  the 
most  unfrequented  desart,  and  carry  on  my 
studies  without  the  least  interruption.     I  be- 
lieve, therefore,  that  I  have  a  better  chance  of 
a  visit  from  you  in  Rome,  than  you  have  of 
seeing  me  in  the  country. 
.  I  would  recommend  Hesiod  to  the  agreeable 
little  Lepta,  as  an  author  which  he  ought  to 
retain  by  heart ;  and  particularly  let  him  always 
have  in  his  mouth  those  noble  lines. 
High  on  a  rugged  rock,  &c'*. 

Farewel  LETTER 

"  This  seems  to  intimate  that  there  had  been  a  divorce 
between  Dolabella  and  Tullia  :  as  it  was  usual,  in  cases  of 
tbat  kind,  for  the  husband  to  return  the  portion  he  had  re- 
ceived from  his  wife,  at  three  annual  payments.  See  rem. 
2.  p.  4.  and  rem.  4.  p.  7-  of  vol.  iii.  ^"^ 

'*  The  passage  in  llesiod,  at  which  Cicero  hints,  is  to  the 
following  purpose  :  ,  lit 

High  on  a  rugged  rock  the  gods  ordain ^ 

Majestic  Virtue  shall  her  throne  maintain :  And 


LETTER  XVI. 

[A.U.  708.] 
To  AULUS  TORQUATUS. 

There  is  no  news  to  send  you;  and,  indeed, 
if  there  were  any,  yet  all  accounts  of  that  kind, 
I  know,  are  usually  transmitted  to  you  by  your 
own  family.  As  to  what  may  hereafter  hap- 
pen, though  it  is  always  difficult  to  determine 
concerning  future  events,  yet,  when  they  are 
not  placed  at  too  great  a  distance,  one  may 
sometimes  form  a  tolerable  guess.  At  present, 
however,  all  I  can  conjecture  is,  that  the  war 
is  not  likely  to  be  drawn  out  into  any  great 
length ;  though  I  must  acknowledge  there  are 
some  who  think  differently.  I  am  even  in- 
clined to  believe  that  there  has  already  been  an 
engagement :  but  I  do  not  give  you  this  as  a 
.fact;  I  mention  it  only  as  extremely  probable. 
The  event  of  war  is  always  precarious;  but,  in 
the  present  instance,  the  number  of  forces  is  so 
considerable  on  each  side,  and  there  is  such  a 
general  spirit,  it  is  said,  in  both  armies,  of 
coming  to  action,  that  it  will  not  be  matter  of 
siirprise  whichever  side  should  obtain  the  vic- 
tory. 

And  many  a  thorny  path  her  sons  must  press, 
Ere  the  glad  summit  shall  their  labours  bkss. 
There  joys  serene  to  arduous  toils  succeed^ 
And  j^cc  eternal  is  the  victor* s  meed, 

Ff3 


«98 


Thb  letters 


Book  X. 


tory*.  In  the  mean  time,  the  world  is  every 
day  more  and  more  persuaded,  that  although 
there  may  be  some  Httle  difference  in  the  cause 
of  the  contending  parties,  there  will  be  scarce 
*ny  in  the  consequence  of  their  success.  As  to 
one  of  them,  we  have  already,  in  some  sort,  ex- 
perienced their  disposition^:  and,  as  to  the 
other,  we  are  all  of  us  sufficiently  sensible  how 
much  is  to  be  dreaded  from  an  incensed  con- 
queror*. 

If,  by  what  I  have  here  said,  I  may  seem  to 
increase  that  grief  which  I  should  endeavour  to 
alleviate ;  I  must  confess,  that  I  know  but  one 
reflection  capable  of  supporting  us  under  these 
public  misfortunes.  It  is  a  reflection,  however, 
of  sovereign  efficacy,  where  it  can  be  applied  in 
its  full  force;  and,  of  which,  I  every  day  more 
and  more  experience  the  singular  advantage.  It 
is,  indeed,  the  greatest  consolation  under  ad- 
versity, to  be  conscious  of  having  always  meant 

well, 

I.  v^Thi«  letter  was  prebably  written  very  ei.rly  in  the  presf  ni 
yc«r;  as  it  was  on  the  17ih  of  March  that  the  two  armies 
came  to  a  genera!  enwa^emenf.  This  deeisiv^  battle  was 
fougkt  under  the  v^aUs  «f  Mun^a,  a  cuy  which  atiil  subsists 
in  the  province  of  Granada.  Caesar  obtained  a  complete 
victory  ;  but  it  was  rii«puted  by  the  Pompeians  with  so  mach 
courage  and  obstinacy,  that  it  was  long  doubtful  on  which 
side  the  a'lvaniage  W(  uld  turn,  or,  as  Florus  most  elegantly 
expre<«se<  it,  vt  plane  viderefur  ntido  quid  deliberare  FoHano, 
Hirt  fie  BfL  Hisp.  31.     Jiar.  iv.  j2. 

*  The  Caesarean  party. 

'  Yc»ui»g  Pv)mpe\,  who,  if  he  had  succeeded,  would  un- 
doubtedly have  acted  with  great  severity  towards  Cicero, 
and  the  rest  of  those  who  had  deserted  the  cause  of  his  father. 


Book  X. 


OF  CTCERO. 


•439 


weU^  and  to  be  persuaded  that  nothing  butguilt 
deserves  to  be  considered  as  a  severe  evil.  But 
as  you  and  I  are  so  far  from  having  any  thing 
to  reproach  ourselves  with,  that  we  ha\'e  the  sa- 
tisfection  to  reflect  that  we  have  ever  acted 
upon  the  most  patriot  principles;  as  it  is  not 
our  measures,  but  the  ill  success  of  those  mea- 
sures, which  the  world  regrets;  in  a  word,  as 
we  have  faithfully  discharged  that  ^uty  wt 
owed  to  our  country,  let  us  bear  the  event  with 
calmness  and  moderation.  But  I  pretend  not 
to  teach  you  how  to  support  these  our  common 
calamities.  It  is  a  lesson  which  requires  much 
greater  abilities  than  mine  to  inculcate,  as  well 
as  the  most  singular  fortitude  of  soul  to  prac- 
tise. There  is  one  point,  however,  in  which 
any  man  is  qualified  to  be  your  instructor,  as 

r  it  is  easy  to  shew  that  you  have  no  reason  to  be 
particularly  afflicted.  For  with  respect  to  Cae- 
sar, though  he  has  appeared  somewhat  more 
slow  in  granting  your  pardon  than  was  gene- 
rafly  imagined,  yet  i  have  not  the  least  doubt 
ipf  iis  consenting  to  your  restoration ;  and  as  to 
the  other  party^,  you  perfectly  well  know  how 

^pur  interest  stands  with  them,  without  my 
telling  you.    Your  only  remaining  disquietude, 

c  ihen,  must  arise  from  being  thus  long  separated 
from  your  family :  and  it  is  a  circumstance,  I 

confess, 

^  The  Pompeians. 

■   ■  '■  Ff4    ■  ■  •    ■      •■•        ■ 


>i 


•*  -> 


t 

1 


I 


I 


440.  The  LETTERS  Book  X. 

confess,  that  justly  merits  your  concern,  espe- 
cially as  you  are  by  this  mean  deprived  of  the 
company  of  those  most  amiable  youths,  your 
sons.     But,  as  I  observed  in  a  former^  letter 
it,  is  natural  for  every  man,  in  these  unhappy 
times,  to  look  upon  his  own  condition  as,  of  all 
others,  the  most  miserable,  and  to  deem  that 
place  the  least  eligible  in  which  it  is  his  fortune 
to  be  situated.     For  my  own  part,   indeed,  I 
think  that  we  who  live  at  Rome  are  most  to  be 
lamented  ;  not  only  as,  in  misfortunes  of  every 
kiijd,  a  spectator  must  be  more  sensibly  affect- 
ed than  he  who  is  acquainted  with  them  merely 
bjf  report;  but  as  we  are  more  exposed  to  the 
danger  of  sudden  violences,  than  those  who  are 
placed  at  a  greater  distance. 

\et,  after  all  my  endeavours  to  reason  vou 
out  of  your  disquietudes,  I  cannot  but  acknow^^; 
ledge,  that  I  am  more  obliged  to  time,  than  to 
that, philosophy  which  I  have  ever  cultivated, 
for  the  mitigation  of  my  own;  and  how  great 
they  once  M'ere,  you  perfectly  well  know.  But, 
in  the  first  place,  I  have  the  consolation  to 
reflect,  that  when  I  was  so  desirous  of  peace, 
as  to  think  even  a  bad  one  preferable  to  a 
civil  war,  I  saw  farther  into  consequences 
than  some  of  my  countrymen.  And  although 
I  do  not  pretenrl  to  a  spirit  of  divination,  and 
it  was  chance  alone  tLat  verified  my  predic- 

tionsy 

♦  The  first  letter  of  this  book. 


Book  X. 


OF  CICERO. 


441 


tions,  yet  I  will  own  that  I  take  great  satisfac- 
tion in  the  empty  honour  of  my  fruitless  pene- 
tration. In  the  next  place,  I  have  the  conso- 
lation, in  common  with  yourself,  that  should 
I  now  be  called  upon  to  lay  down  my  life,  I 
shall  not  be  cut  off  from  a  commonwealth, 
which  I  can  by  any  means  regret  to  leave ;  es- 
pecially as  the  same  blow  that  deprives  me  of 
my  life,  will  deprive  me,  likewise,  of  all  sensi- 
bility^.  Besides,  I  am  already  arrived  at  a  ful^ 
ness  of  years*;  and,  as  I  can  look  back  with 
entire  satisfaction,  on  the  course  I  have  com- 
pleted, so  I  have  nothing  to  fear  from  any  vio- 
lence which  may  be  offered  to  me,  since  nature 
herself  has  now  well-nigh  conducted  rny  days 
to  their  final  period.  In  a  word,  when  I  re- 
flect upon  that  great  man^,  or  rather,  indeed, 
upon  those  many  illustrious  personages  who 
perished  in  this  war  ;  it  would  seem  a  want  of 
modesty  to  regret  submitting  to  the  same  fate, 
whenever  I  shall  find  it  necessary.  The  truth 
is,  I  represent  to  myself  all  that  can  possibly 
happen  to  me  ;  as,  indeed,  there  is  no  calamity 
so  severe  which  I  do  not  look  upon  as  actually 
impending.  However,  since  to  live  in  perpe- 
tual fear  is  a  greater  evil  than  any  we  can  dread, 

I  check 

^  See  rem.  6.  p.  232.  of  this  vol, 

•  Cicero  was  at  this  lime  in  his  6 1st  year. 

^  Pompey. 


442 


The  letters 


Book  X. 


I  check  myself  in  these  reflections,  especially 
as  I  am  approaching  to  that  state,  which  is  not 
only  unattended  with  any  pain  in  itself,  but  which 
will  put  an  end  to  all  painful  sensations  for 
ever.  But  I  have  dwelt  longer  upon  this  sub- 
ject, perhaps,  than  was  necessary.  However, 
if  I  run  out  my  letters  to  an  unreasonable  extent, 
you  must  not  impute  it  to  impertinence,  but 
affection. 

I  am  sorry  to  hear  that  Sulpicius  has  left 
Athens** ;  as  I  am  persuaded,  that  the  daily 
company  and  conversation  of  so  wise  and  va- 
luable a  friend,  afforded  you  great  relief  under 
your  afflictions.  But  I  hope  you  will  continue 
to  bear  them  as  becomes  you,  and  support  your- 
self with  your  usual  fortitude.  In  the  mean  ^ 
time,  be  assured,  I  shall  promote,  with  the  ut- 
most zeal  and  care,  whatever  I  shall  think 
agreeable  to  the  interest  or  inclination  either  of 
you  or  yours.  And,  in  this,  I  can  only  imitate 
you  in  your  disposition  to  serve  me,  without 
being  able  to  return  your  generous  offices  in 
the  same  efficacious  manner.     Farewel.         «* 

LETTER 

*^lii  order,  probably,  to  return  to  Rome  upon  th«  expi- 
ration of  his  government.  . . 


Book  X. 


OF  CICERO. 


443 


.X- . 


.J..    T. 


LETTER  XVIL 

[A.U.708.] 

To  Caius  Cassius. 

I  SHO  u  LD  not  send  you  so  short  a  letter,  if  your 
courier  had  not  called  for  it  just  as  he  was  set- 
ting out.  But  I  have  still  another  reason ;  for 
I  have  nothing  to  write  to  you  in  the  way  of 
pleasantry,  and  serious  affairs  are  topics  in 
which  it  is  not  altogether  safe  to  engage.  You 
will,  therefore,  wonder,  perhaps,  that  I  should 
be  in  any  humour  to  be  jocose ;  and,  indeed,  it 
iS;RO  very  easy  matter.  However,  it  is  the  only 
expedient  left  to  divert  our  uneasy  thoughts. 
But  where  then,  you  will  probably  ask,  is  our 
philosophy  ?  Why  yours,  my  friend,  is  in  the' 
kitchen,  I  suppose;  and,  as  to  mine,  it  is  much 
too- troublesome  a  guest  to  gain  admittance. 
',X^(^,fact  is,  I  am  heartily  ashamed  of  being  a 
slave ;  and,  therefore,  that  I  may  not  hear  the 
severe  reproaches  of  Plato,  I  endeavour  to  turn 
Miy  attention  another  way. 
~  We  have  hitherto  received  no  certain  intelli* 
gence  from  Spain.  I  rejoice,  upon  your  account^ 
that  you  are  absent  from  this  unpleasing  scene  ; 
though  I  greatly  regret  it  upon  my  own.     But 

your 

■  This  is  a  raillery  upon  the  tenets  of  Cassius,  who  held 
the  doctrines  of  the  Epicurean  sect. 


444 


The  letters 


BookX. 


BookX. 


OTF  CICERO. 


44i 


your  courier  presses  me  to  dispatch,  so  that  I 
can  only  bid  you  adieu,  and  entreat  the  conti- 
nuance of  that  friendship  yoii  have  ever  shewn 
me  from  your  earliest  youth. 

LETTER  XVIII.  ' 

[A.  U,708.]  J 

To  DOLABELLA*. 

1  WOULD  not  venture  to  omit  writing  to  you 
liy  our  friend  Salvius ;  though  I  have  nothing 
more  to  say  than  what  you  perfectly  well  know 
already,  tliat  I  infinitely  love  you^  I  have 
more  reason,  indeed,  to  expect  a  letter  from 
you,  than  you  can  have  to  receive  one  from 
me,  as  I  imagine  there  is  nothing  going  for- 
ward in  Rome,  which  you  will  think  of  impor- 
tance enough  to  raise  your  curiosity ;  unless, 
perhaps,  that  I  am  to  sit  in  judgment  between 
two  learned  grammarians;  our  friend  Nicias, 
and  his  antasronist  Vidius.  The  latter,  you 
must  know,  has  produced  a  certain  manuscript^ 
^elating  to  an  account  between  them ;  to  which 

Nicias,. 

*  He  was,  at  this  time,  with  Ca?sar,  in  Spain. 

^  Whatever  disagreement  there  was  between,  DoiaDella 
•nd  Tuilia,  it  did  not,  in  appearance  at  lea^t,  occasion  any 
coolness  between  him  and  his  father-in  law ;  a  circumstance, 
which*  comidcTing  the  tenderness  of  Cicero  for  his  daughter, 
cnn  only  be  accounted  for  by  Dolabella's  great  credit  with, 
Ca:sar. 


Nicias,  like  a  second  Aristarchus*,  very  peremp- 
torily insists  that  some  of  the  lines  are  altoge- 
ther spurious.     Now  I,  hke  a  venerable  an- 
cient critic,  am  to  determine  whether  these  sus- 
pected interpolations  are  genuine  or  not.    But 
you  will  question,  perhaps,  whether  I  have  suf- 
ficiently forgotten  the  delicious  mushrooms  and 
those  noble  prawns^  with  which  I  have  been  so 
often  regaled  by  Nicias  and  his  gentle  spouse, 
to  be  qualified  for  an  impartial  judge  in  this 
important  cause.     Let  me  ask  you,  in  return, 
whether  you  imagine  I  have  so  entirely  thrown 
off  all  my  former  severity,  as  to  retain  nothing 
of  my  old  solemnity  of  brow,  even  when  1  am 
sitting:  in  ffrave  tribunal  ?     You  may  he  sure, 
however,  that  my  honest  host  shall  be  no  gi'eat 
sufferer.     Though,  let  me  tell  you,  if  I  should 
pass  sentence  of  banishment  upon  hmi,  I  stiall 
by  no  means  allow  you  to  reverse  it,  lest  Bursa 
should  be  supplied  with  a  pedagogue  to  teach 
tiim  his  letters^     But  I  am  running  on  in  this 


ludicrous  style,  without  reflectmo;  that  you, 

who 

*  A  celebrated  Greek  critic.  See  rem.  7.  p.  29-  o^  this  vol. 

^  In  the  original  it  is  CulinaruTtif  which  conveys  no  sense, 
or,  at  least,  a  very  forced  one.  The  reading,  therefore,  pro- 
posed by  Gronovius,  is  adopted  in  the  translation,  who  ima- 
gines the  true  word  was  SquUlarum,  For  prawns  was  a  fish 
in  great'repute  amongst  the  Roman  epicures. 

*  Bursa  was  a  particular  enemy  of  Cicero,  and  had  been 
banBhed  for  his  riotous  attempts  to  revenge  the  murder  of 
Ciodius,  froha  which  banishment  he  was  lately  recalled.  Se« 
rem.  5.  p.  26'3.  vol.  1. 


U6 


The  letters 


Book  X< 


Book  X. 


OP  CICERO. 


44f 


,1 

I 


who  arc  in  the  midst  of  a  campaign,  may,  per- 
haps, be  too  seriously  engaged  to  relish  these 
humorous  sallies.  When  I  shall  be  certain, 
therefore,  that  you  are  in  a  disposition  to  laugh, 
you  shall  hear  farther  from  me.  1  cannot,, 
however,  forbear  adding,  that  the  people  were 
extremely  solicitous  concerning  the  fate  of 
Sulla^,  till  the  news  of  his  death  was  confirmed ; 
'but  now  that  they  are  assured  of  the  fact,  they 
are  no  longer  inquisitive  how  it  happened, 
well  contented  with  their  intelligence  that  he 
is  undoubtedly  defunct.  As  for  myself,  I  bear 
this  deplorable  accident  like  a  philosopher; 
my  only  concern  is,  lest  it  should  damp  the 
spirit  of  Caesar  s  auctions'.     Farewel. 

LETTER 

''  This  man  bad  rendered  himself  extremely  and  generally 
odious  by  the  purchases  he  had  made  of  the  confiscated 
estates,  during  the  proscriptions  both  of  Sylla  and  Caesar. 
Cic.  de  Offic.  lu  8, 

'  In  which  the  confiscated  estates  were  put  up  to  sale. 
One  of  the  raethodi  that  Caesar  took  to  reward  his  partisans, 
was  by  suffering  them  to  purchase  these  estates  at  an  under- 
value ;  and  it  was  the  hopes  of  being  a  sharer  in  these  iniqui- 
tous spoils,  that  furnished  one  of  the  principal  incentives  to 
the  civil  war.     Cic.  ubi  $up. 


Jli 


UJ^Uti- 


,  LETTER  XIX. 
[A.  u.  7oa] 

To  AULUS  TORQUATUS, 

I  HOPE  you  will  not  imagine  that  you  have 
been  out  of  my  thoughts,  by  my  having  lately 
been  a  more  remiss  correspondent  than  usual. 
The  true  occasion  of  my  silence  has  partly 
arisen  from  an  ill  state  of  health,  which,  how- 
ever, is  now  somewhat  mended,  and  partly 
has  been  owing  to  my  absence  from  Rome,' 
which  prevented  me  from  being  informed  when 
any  courier  was  dispatched  to  you.  Be  assured, 
that  I  constantly  and  most  affectionately  pre- 
serve you  in  my  remembrance,  and  that  your 
affairs,  of  every  kind,  are  as  much  my  concern 
as  if  they  were  my  own. 

Believe  me,  you  have  no  reason,  considering 
the  unhappy  situation  of  public  affairs,  to  be 
t^neasy  that  yours  still  remain  in  a  more  dubious 
and  unsettled  posture  than  was  generally  hoped 
and  imagined.  For  one  of  these  three  everfts 
must  necessarily  take  place;  either  we  shall 
never  see  an  end  of  our  civil  wars,  or  they  will 
one  day  subside,  and  give  the  republic  an  op- 
portunity of  recovering  its  vigour,  or  they  will 
terminate  in  its  utter  extinction.  If  the  sword 
is  never  to  be  sheathed,  you  can  have  nothing 

to 


4^ 


The  letters 


Book  X. 


Beos'fK 


OF  CICERO. 


ii. 


to  fear  cither  from  the  party  which  you  for- 
merly assisted,  or  from  that  by  which  you  have 
lately  been  i  eceived^  But  should  the  repubUc 
agaia  revive,  either  by  the  contending  factions 
mutually  agreeing  to  a  cessation  of  arms ;  or  by 
tlieir  laying  them  down  in  mere  lassitude  ; 
or  by  ont*  side  being  vanquished ;  you  will 
undoub'tedly  be  again  restored  both  to  your 
rank  and  to  your  fortunes.  And  should  our 
yn&titution  be  totally  destroyed,  agreeably 
to  wliat  the  wise  Marcus  Antonius'  long  since 
apprehended,  when  he  imagiued  that  the  pre- 
sent calamities  were  even  then  approaching, 
you  will  have  the  consolation,  at  least,  to  re- 
flect, tliat  a  misfortune  wliich  is  common  to 

.  ;    .    all, 

•  '•Torqualus  was  now  in  Italy,  having  obtained  the  per- 
nii»!>ion  of  reluming,  by  means  of  Dolabella,  with  whom 
Cicero  had  employed  his  good  offices  for  that  purpose  ;  as 
appear*  by  several  passages  which  Manatius  has  produced 
from  the  letters  to  Atucus.  But  whether  Torquatus,  after- 
wards,  proctifed  a  full  pardon  from  Caesar,  and  W4s  restored 
tv>  bis  ^Wfiies  and  honours,  is  uncertain ;  all  that  is  farther 
known  of  fcim,*  is,  that  he  was  in  the  army  of  Brutus  and 
Cassius,  at  the  battle  of  Pbilippi,  and  in  the  number  oi  those 
wkkolD  ATiitus  generously  assisted  in  their  distress  after  the 
event  of  tfTat  unfortunate  action.  Ad  Att.  xiii.  9«  *^*  21. 
Com,  Nfp,  in  vit.  Att,  ii. 

«  This  eloquent  and  illustrious  patriot,  the  grandfather  of 
Mark  Antony,  was  consul  in  the  year  653  ;  and,  about  12 
years  afterwards,  was  put  to  death  by  the  command  of  Ma- 
rius,  whose  parly  he  had  strenuously  opposed.  Marius  was 
at  dinner  when  the  executioner  of  his  cruel  orders  brought 
htm  the  head  of  Antoniuf,  which  that  sanguinary  Roman  re- 
ceived into  his  hands,  with  all  the  insolent  and  horrid  exul- 
tation of  the  most  savage  barbarian.  Plut.  in  Fit,  Anton, 
^(tppian.  Bel.  Civil,  i.  344.  Vol.  Max.  ix.  2. 
1 


all,  cannot  be  lamented  as  peculiar  to  any :  and 
miserable  as  this  consolation  must  prove  to  u 
man  of  your  patriot  virtues,  'tis  a  consolation 
however,  to  which  we  must  necessarily  have 
recourse. 

If  you  well  consider  the  full  force  of  these 
few  hints,  (and  I  do  not  think  it  prudent  to 
be  moi-e  explicit  in  a  letter)  you  must  be  coa« 
vinced,  without  my  telling  you,  that  you  have 
something  to  hope,  and  nothing  to  fear,  so  long 
as  the  republic  shall  subsist,  either  in  its  pre-* 
sent,  or  any  other  form.  But  should  it  be  en* 
tirely  subverted,  as  I  am  sure  you  would  not> 
if  you  were  permitted,  survive  its  ruin  ;  so  I 
am  persuaded  you  will  patiently  submit  to 
your  fate,  in  the  conscious  satisfaction  of  hav- 
ing in  no  sort  deserved  it  But  I  forbear  to  en* 
ter  farther  into  this  subject,  and  will  only  add 
m^  request,  that  you  would  inform  me  how  it 
is  with  you,  and  where  you  purpose  to  fix  your 
quarters;  that  I  may  know  where  a  letter  or  a, 
visit  will  find  you*     Farewel.  I 

Vol.  11.  Gg  LETTER 


"  £^ 


-'.  J^r. ->■■■-». 


if 


450 


TttE:  LETTERS         Book  X. 


Book  X. 


OF  CICERO. 


%di 


.  *.iii     i.'^ 


,  ,^i;i:ter  xx. 

[A.  U.  70a] 

To  Caius  Cassil's. 


%  • 


^.  -J' 


Sun  ELY,  my  friend^  your  couriers  are  a  set 

of  most  unconscionable  fellows.   Not  that  they 

liave  given  me  any  particular  offence :  but  as 

they  never  bring  me  a  letter  when  they  arrive 

here,^  is  it  fair  JtlKy  should  alw^ay^  press  me  for 

one  when  they  return  ?  It  would  be  more  con- 

.v^epipotj  howeyevvif  they  would  give  me  earlier 

notice,  aud  not  make  their  demands  in  tlie  very 

. instant  they  are, setting  put.;    You  must  excuse 

•©1^,1. therefore,   (if  an  excusQ  I  can  want,   who 

-illfusp  mucbmore  punctual  -a  correspondent 

than  yourself)  should  this  letter  pjove  no  longer 

.j(han  my  last;  as  you  may  be  assured  of  re- 

ociyin^  an  ample  detail  of  every  thing  in  my 

.  iiex t»     But  that  my  present  epistle  may  not  be 

;^hpyx^^^^^  of  news,  I  must  inform  you  that 

^3  J^ublius  Sulla',  the  father,  is  dead.     The  occa- 

j^gn  of>diis  accident  is   variously  reported: 

spme  say  he  was  a  martyr  to  his  palate ;  and 

., others,  tliat  he  was  murdered  by  highwaymen. 

jnbe  people,  however,  are  perfectly  indifferent 

as  to  the  manner,  since  they  are  quite  clear  as 

to  the  fact  r  for  certain  it  is,  that  the  flames  pf 

.  >  -I. 

his 

*  See  rem.  7.  oalcl.  18.  of  this  book. 


his  funeral  pile  have  consumed  him  to  ashes. 
And  what  though  liberty  herself,  alas !  perished 
with  this  paragon  of  patriots,  you  will  bear  the 
loss  of  him,  I  guess,  with  much  philosophy. 
But  Cassar,  'tis  thought,  will  be  a  real  mourner, 
m  the  apprehension  that  his  auctions  will  not 
now  proceed  so  currently  as  usual.  On  the 
other  hand,  this  event  affords  high  satisfaction 
to  Mindius  Marcellus,  and  the  essenced  Attius, 
who  rejoice  exceedingly  in  havii^g  thus  gotten 
quit  of  a  formidable  antagonist. 
*'■  We  are  in  great  expectation  of  the  news  from 
Spain,  having,  as  yet,  received  no  certain  intel- 
ligence from  that  quarter.  Some  flying  re- 
ports, indeed,  have  been  spread,  that  things 

•  do  not  go  well  there:  but  they  are  reports  with- 

•  out  authority.  '  nnrb 
Ji  Our  friend  Pansa  set  out  for  his  govern- 
ment* on  the  30th  of  December.  Thecircuin- 
stances  that  attended  his  departure  afforded  a 
very  strong  proof  that  ''  virtue  is  eligibfe  tljibn 
*'  its  own  account:"  a  truth  which  you  have 
lately,  it  seems,  begun  to  doubt*.  The  'iiing:Ular 
humanity  with  which  he  has  relieved  such 
numbers  in  these  times  of  public  distress,  drew 

after 

'Of  Gaul :  in  which  he  succeeded  Marcus  Brutus.     • 
*  A?  baving  lat6ly  embraced  the  Epicurean  priDciplies* 
See  the  following  leUer. 

Gg2 


45S 


The  letters 


Book  X. 


Book  X. 


OF  CICERO. 


453 


f 


after  him,  in  a  very  distinguished  manner,  the 
-general  good  wishes  of  every  honest  man. 

I  am  extremely  glad  to  find  that  you  are  still 
at  Brundisium:  and  I  much  approve  of  your 
continuing  there.  You  cannot  be  governed  by  a 
more  judicious  maxim,  than  to  sit  loose  to  the 
vain  ambition  of  the  world  :  and  it  will  be  a 
great  satisfaction  to  all  your  friends  to  hear  that 
you  persevere  in  this  pmdent  inactivity.  In  the 
mean  time,  I  hope  you  will  not  forget  me,  when 
you  send  any  letters  to  your  family  :  as,  on  my 
own  part,  whenever  I  hear  of  any  peri^on  that 
is  going  to  you,  I  shall  not  fail  to  take  the  op- 
-portunity  of  writing.     Farewek 

LETTER  XXI. 

[A,U.T08.] 

To  the  same. 

Wixi  you  not  blush  when  I  remind  you  that 
this  is  the  third  letter  I  have  written  without 
having  received  a  single  line  in  return  ?  How- 
ever, I  dd  riot  pressf  you  to  be  more  ex^^di^ 
tious :  as  I  hope,  and  indeed  iasi^t,  Jth^t  you 
will  make  me  amends  for  this "  '(!eltiy,*''*by  1^fe 
length  of  your  next  epistle.  As  fiDr.iayself)  if 
I  had  the  opportunity  of  conveying  rhy  letters 
a»  frequently  as  I  wish,  I  should  wxite  to  you, 
I  believe,  every  hour:  for  as  often  as  I  employ 

1  my 


my  pen  in  this  manner,  you  seem,  as  it  were, 
actually  present  to  my  view.  This  effect  is  fey 
no  means  produced,  let  me  tell  you,  by  those 
subtle  images  which  your  new^  friend^  talk  so 
much  of:  who  suppose  that  ev-en  the  ideas  of 
imagination  are  excited  by  what  the  late.  C^iu$, 
with  wonderous  elegancy,  has  styled  spectres. 
For  by  this  curious  word^  you  must  know,  he 
has  expressed  what  Epicurus,  who  borro>v€;d 
the  notion  from  Democritus^,  has  called  imuge>$. 
But  granting  that  these  same  sptcires  duo,  ca- 
pable of  affecting  the  organ  of  visioB,  yet  I 
cannot  guess  which  way  they  can  contrive  to , 
make  their  entrance  into  the  mind.     But  you 

.  will 

'  The  Epicureans  :  to  wboifee  system  of  philosophy  Cas- 
sius  had  lately  become  a  convert.  Accordingly  Cicero  ral- 
lies him  in  this  and  the  following  passages,  on  their  absurd 
doctrine  concerning  ideas  :  whicjb  they  maintained  were  ex« 
cited  by  certain  thin  forms,  or  images,  perpetually  floating 
in  the  air.  These  images  were  supposed  to  be  constantly 
emitted  from  all  objects,  and  to  be  of  so  delicate  and  subtle 
a  texture,  as  easily  to  penetrate  through  the  pores  of  the  body, 
and  by  that  means  render  themselves  visible  to  the  mind. 
Lvcret,  iv.  726,  &c. 

^  It  is  probable  that  Catius  either  coined  this  word  him- 
felf,  or  employed  it  in  a  new  and  improper  manner,  f^or  it  is 
observable,  that  both  Lucretius  and  Cicero,  whenever  they 
have  occasion  to  express,  in  their  own  language,  what  the 
Greek  Epicureans  called  ei^u\»f  always  render  it  by  the 
^ord  simulackr a  or  imagines.  •'    f^^"^ 

'  He  was  a  native  of  Abdera,  a  city  in  Thrace,  and  flou- 
rished about  400  years  before  the  Christian  aera.  Epicurus, 
who  was  born  about  forty  years  afterwards,  borrowed  muck 
of  his  doctrine  from  the  writings  of  this  philosopher.  Czc, 
de  Fm.  i.  6. 

GgS 


454t 


The  letters 


Book  X; 


will  solve  this  difficulty  when  we  meet,  and  tellt 
itife  by  what  means,  whenever  I  shall  be  dis- 
posed  to  think  of  you,   I  may  be  able  to  calb 
\tp  your  spectre:  and  not  only  yours,   m  hose, 
image,  indeed,  is  already  so  deeply  stamped: 
upon  my  lieart,  but  even  that  of  the  whole 
British  island,  for  instance,  if  I  should  be  in-t 
clined  to  make  it  the  subject  of  my  medita-: 
tions. — But  more  of  this  another  time.    In  the 
mdin  while,  1  send  this  as  an  experiment  to  try 
with  what  temper  you  can  bear  my  railleries* 
Should  they  seem  to  touch  you,  I  shall  renew 
my  attack  with  so  much  the  more  vigour,  and 
will  apply  for  a  writ  of  restitution  to  reinstate 
you  in  your  old  tenets  :   "  of  which  you,  the 
**  said  Cassius,   have  by  force  and  arms^  been 
"  dispossessed."    Length  of  possession,  in  this 
case,   will  be  no  plea  in  bar :  for  whether  the 
time  be  more  or  less  since  you  have  been  driven 
by  the  allurements  of  pleasure  from  the  man- 
sions of  virtue,  my  action  will  be  still  main^ 
•^^^"^   .  tainable. 

'^  ^  These  were  the  formal  words  of  the  praetor's  edict,  cort*- 
manding  the  restoration  of  a  person  to  an  estate,  of  which  he 
had  been  forcibly  dispossessed.  Cicero,  perhaps,  besides  H^ie 
komotir  of  their  general  a|)plication,  meant  likewise  archly  to 
intimate,  that  Ca>sius  had  been  driven  out  of  his  more  ri<;id 
principles  by  his  military  companions:  as,  in  a  letter  written 
to  Trebatius,  when  he  was  making  a  campaign  with  Cx^f  in 
Gaul,  where  our  author  is  rallying  him  upon  a  similar  occa- 
sion, he  insinuates  that  he  had  acquired  his  Epicurism  in  the 
camp.  Indkavdt  miki  Pansa,  says  he,  Epicvrmm  te  esieyac- 
turn.     0  ca^tra  prccclara  !  EpUt,  Yam.  vii.  12. 


Book  X. 


o*.^GICERO. 


4J&. 


tainable.  But  let  me  not  forget  whoiti  it  is  that 
I  am  thus  bantering:  Is  it  not  that  illustI^o^f 
friend,  whose  every  step,  from  his  first  entraiioe 
into  the  world,  has  been  conducted  by  t\i^^ 
hicj-hest  honour  and  virtue  ?  If  it  be  true,  then, 
that  vou  have  embraced  the  Epicurean  prin- 
ciples,  I  doubt  they  liave  more  strength  and 
solidity  in  them  than  I  once  imagined.  -- 

^  And  now,  will  you  not  be  inclined  to  ask  how 
I  could  possibly  think  of  amusing  you  in  thi^ 
idle  manner  ?  The  truth  of  it  is,  I  am  not  fi^r- 
nished  with  a  more  important  subject,  as  I  have 
nothing  to  write  to  you  concerning  public  af- 
fairs; nor,  indeed,  do  I  chuse  to  trust  my  sen- 
timents  of  them  in  a  letter.     Farewel. 


LETTER  XXII, 


!>!£<* 


odi  1 


[A.u.ro8.l 
Cassius  to  Cicero. 

Nothing  affords  me  a  greater  pleasure  inmy 
travels,  than  to  converse  with  my  friead.  ,  It 
brings  you,  indeed,  so  strongly  to  my  mind, 
that  I  fancy  myself  indulging  a  vein  of  plea- 
$^jrtry  with  you  in  person.  This  lively  im- 
pression, however,  is  by  no  means  produced  by 
those  Catian  ^jo^c^re^  you  mention':  and  for 
which  piece  of  raillery  I  intend  to  draw  up  in 

"•  In  the  preceding  letter.     See  rem.  5  and  0.  thereon. 

G  g  4 


( - 


456 


The  letters 


Book  X; 


my  next  such  a  list  of  inelegant  Stoics,  as  will 
force  you  to  ackjiowledge  that  Catius,  in  com^ 
parison  with  these,  may  well  pass  for  a  native 
of  the  refined  Athens. 

It  gives  me  much  satisfaction,  not  only  upon 
our  friend  Pansa  s  account,  but  for  the  sake  of 
every  one  of  us,  that  he  received  such  marks 
of  public  esteem  when  he  set  out  for  his  go- 
vernnient\  I  hope  this  circumstance  M^ill  be 
thought  a  convincing  proof  how  amiable  a  spirit 
of  probity  and  benevolence,  and  how  odious  the 
contrary  disposition,  renders  its  possessor :  and 
that  the  world  will  learn  from  hence,  that 
tiiese  popular  honours,  which  are  so  passion- 
ately  courted  by  bad  citizens,  are  the  sure  at- 
tendants on  those  whose  characters  are  the  re- 
verse. To  persuade  mankind  that  virtue  is  its 
own  reward,  is  a  task,  I  fear,  of  too  much  diffi- 
culty :  but  that  real  and  undisturbed  pleasures 
necessarily  flow  from  probity,  justice,  and  what- 
ever else  is  fair  and  bcautiftil  in  moral  actions, 
is  a  truth,  surely,  of  most  easy  admission.  Epi- 
cuJTus  himself,  from  whom  the  Catii,  and  the 
Amafinii,  together  with  the  rest  of  those  inju- 
Tious  interpreters  of  his  meaning,  pretend  to 
derive  their  tenets,  expressly  declares,  that  "  a 
^*  pleasurable  life  can  alone  be  procured  by  the 

"  practice 

•  See  rem.  3  oa  letter  20.  of  this  book. 


Book  X. 


(fs^  CICERO. 


Uf 


*'  practice  of  virtue;''    Accordingly  Putira,  who 
pursues  pleasure  agreeably  to  thisjust  notion  of 
it,  still  perseveres,  you  see,  in  a  virtuous  coni 
duct.    The  truth  is,  those  whom  your  sect  hai 
stigmatized  by  the  name  of  voluptuaries,  are 
warm  admirers  of  moral  beauty ;  and  conse- 
quently cultivate  and  practise  the  whole  train 
of  social  duties.  But  commend  me  to  the  judi- 
cious Sulla :  who,  observing  that  the  philoso- 
phers were  divided  in  their  opinions  concern- 
ing the  supreme  good,  left  theiyi  to  settle  the 
question  among  themselves,  whilst  he  turned  his 
views  to  a  less  controverted  acquisition,  by  pnf- 
chasing  every  good  thing  that  was  put  up  to 
sale*.     I  received  the  news  of  his  death  with 
much  fortitude :  and,  indeed,  Cassar  will  -  take 
care  that  weshall  not  long  ba%^;  ocfcasioh^to 
regret  his  loss;  as. there  are  mimbers  of  equal 
Bierit  whom  he  can  r«^or^  to  us^  in  his  place. 
Nor  will  Csesar  himself,  I  suppose,  much  lament 
this  excellent  customer  of  his,  when  he^hall  s^e 
what  a  worthy  son  he  has  left  to  succeed  him. 
But  to  turn  to  public  affairs;  let  me  know 
-Hlfhat  is  doing  in  Spain.     It  is  a  point,  indeed, 

upon 

^      *,  gae  rem.  J,  on  let.  1S»  o/.tl»is  book.  '  "^ 

^  l*his  alludes  to  the  great  number  of  thpse  whom  Csesar, 
^i*  soon  lis  he  got  the  power  into  his  hands,  had  permitted  to 
jeturn  from  the  banishment  to  which  they  had  for  various 
crimes  been  condemned. 


455 


The  letters 


Book  X.. 


upon  which  I  am  extremely  solicitous:  as  I  had 
much  rather  submit  to  an  old  master,  whose  cle- 
mency I  have  experienced,  than  run  the  hazard 
of  being  exposed  to  the  cruelty  of  a  new  one. 
You  know  the  weakness  of  young  Pompey's 
intellects ;  that  he  looks  upon  cruelty  as  hero-^ 
ism ;  and  that  he  is  sensible  how  much  he  has 
ever  been  the  object  of  our  ridicule.     I  fear, 
therefore,  he  w^ould  be  apt  to  treat  us  somewhat 
roughly,  and  return  our  jokes  with  the  point  of 
his  sword.  If  you  have  any  value  for  me,  then, 
you  will  not  fail  to  let  me  know  whatever  shall 
happen.    Ah,  my  friend,  how  do  I  wish  I  were 
apprised  whether  you  read  this  with  an  easy  or 
an  anxious  mind  !  for,   by  that  single  circum^, 
stance,  I  should  be  determined  what  measures 
are  proper  for  me  to  pursue.    But  not  to  detain, 
you  any  long-er,  I  will  bnly  entreat  you  to  con- 
tinue your  friendship  to  me,  and  then  bid  you 
Farewel. 

Pfc   S.  .IkiiUJlli 

If  Csesar  should  prove  victorious,  you  may 

expect  to  see  me  very  soon.ii  >-  i. > 

LETTER 


11      V 


'-  i»V'  f 


BcroK  X. 

bnri  I 

hrr- 


OF  CICERO. 
LETTER  XXIII. 

[A.  U.  708.] 
To  DOLABELLA. 


4S9> 


■iif. 


Caius  Suberinus,  a  native  of^  Calenum^  is 
one  with  whom  I  am  particularly  united  ;  and 
he  is  extremely  so,  hkewise,  with  our  very  in- 
timate friend  Lepta.     This  person,  in  order  to 
avoid  being  engaged  in  our  intestine  commo- 
tions, attended  Marcus  Varro  ii^to  Spaing  be- 
fore the  civil  war  broke  out :  imagining,  as,  in- 
deed, every  body  else  did,  that  after  the  defeat 
of  Af^anius^  there  would  be  no  farther  dis- 
turbances in  that  province.     However,  he  wa% 
by  that  very  measure,  involved  in  those  mis- 
fortunes he  had  taken  so  much  pains  to  escape. 
For  the  sudden  insurrection  which  was  formed 
by  Scapula,  and  afterwards  raised  to  so  formi- 
dable an  height  by  young  Pompey,  forced  him 
unwillingly  to  take  a  part  in  that  unhappy  en- 
terprize.    The  case  of  Marcus  Planius  likewise, 
who  is  also  in  the  number  of  Lepta's  particular 
friends,  is  much  the  same  with  that  of  Suberi- 
nus. 

♦  A  city  of  Campania,  in  the  kingdom  of  Naples. 
5  See  rem.  6.  p.  213.  of  this  vol. 

*  He  was  one  of  Pompey's  lieutenants  in  Spain,  m  the 
year  704,  in  conjunction  with  Varro  and  Petreius.  Caesar's 
victory  over  these  generals  has  already  been  occasionally 
mentioned  in  the  preceding  remarks, 

3 


460 


The  letters 


Book  X, 


nus.    In  compliance  with  my  friendship,  there- 
fore, for  these  tn^o  persons,  and  in  compassion 
to  their  misfortunes,   I  recommend  them  with 
all  possible  warmth  and  earnestness  to  your  fa- 
vour.    But  I  have  still  another  motive  which 
engages  me  in  their  cause  :  Lepta  interests  him-- 
self  no  less  ardently  in  their  welfare,  than  if  his 
own  were  at  stake ;  and  I  cannot  but  feel  th^ 
next,  I  might  have  said  an  equal,  degree  of  so* 
licitude,  where  my  friend  is  so  anxiously  con-* 
cerned.     Accordingly,    though  I  have   often 
had  occasion  to  experience  your  affection ;  yet, 
believe  me,    I   shall   principally  judge  of  it* 
strength  by  your  compliance  with  my  present 
request.    I  desire,  therefore,  or,  if  you  will  suf- 
fer me  to  employ  so  humble  a  phrase,  I  even 
beseech  you,  to  afford  your  protection  to  these 
unhappy  men,  whose  distress  arises  rather  from 
unavoidable   fortune,    than   from   any    thing 
blame-worthy  in  their  own  conduct     I  hope, 
that  by  your  good  offices  in  this  affair,  you  will 
give  me  an  opportunity  of  obliging,  not  only 
these  my  friends,  but  the  corporation  of  Cale- 
num  hkewise,  with  which  I  have  great  con- 
nexions :  but,  above  all,  that  you  will,  by  these 
means,  put  it  in  my  power  to  render  a  grateful 
service  also  to  Lepta.     What  I  am  going  to 
add,  is  not  extremely  material,  I  believe,  to  the 

cause 


Book  Xl 


OF  CICERO. 


461 


cause  I  am  pleading :  however,  it  certainly  can 
do  it  no  prejudice.  Let  me  assure  you  then,  that 
one  of  these  unfortunate  persons  is  in  very  low 
circumstances,  and  the  other  has  scarcely  suffi- 
cient to  entitle  him  to  be  admitted  into  the 
equestrian  order^.  As  Caesar,  therefore,  has 
generously  spared  their  lives,  and  they  have  lit- 
tle else  to  lose,  I  entreat  you,  by  all  your  af- 
fection towards  mc,  to  procure  them  the  liberty 
of  returning  into  Italy.  The  journey,  indeed, 
h  long ;  however,  they  are  willing  to  undergo 
it,  for  the  $ake  of  living  and  dying  among 
their  friends  and  countrymen.  I  most  earnestly 
request,  therefore,  your  zealous  endeavours  for 
this  purpose:  or  rather,  indeed,  (since  lam 
persuaded  it  is  entirely  in  your  power)  I  warmly 
entreat  you  to  obtain  for  them  this  desirable 

privilege.     Farewel. 

LETTER 

e^  J-  The  estate  necessary  to  qualify  a  man  for  being  re- 
ceived into  I  he  equestrian  order  was  four  hundred  thi^usand 
sesterces:  equivalent  to  about  30001.  sterling.  Cicero  art- 
fully mentions  the  slender  fortunes  of  his  fifiends,  as  an  ioti^ 
matiou  to  Dolabella  not  to  expect  any  douceurs  for  his  good 
offices  towards  them. 


if  a-: 


I- 


» I  f  d  ■♦  t 


um  mn  -i   3 


■iVl^y. 


1>cUB'J 


462 


The  letters 


BookX. 


LETTER  XXIV. 

[A.  U.  708.] 
To  C^SAR. 


i  VERY  particularly  recommend  to  your  fa- 
vour the  son  of  our  worthy  and  common  friend 
Prfficilius,  a  youth  whose  modest  and  polite  be- 
haviour, together  with  his  singular  attachment 
to  myself,  have  exceedingly  endeared  him  to 
me.  His  father,  likewise,  a^  experience  ha3inQ)v 
fully  convinced  me,  was  always  my  most  sincere 
well-wisher.  For,  to  confess  the  truth,  he  was 
the  first  and  most  zealous  of  those  who  used 
both  to  rally  and  reproach  me  for  not  joining  in 
your  cause,  especially  after  you  had  invited  me 
by  so  many  honourable  overtures.     But^ 


i/i 


,i  t  J    I  I    Jl* 


All  unavailing  prov'd  Jus  every  arty 

To  shake  the  purpose  of  mxj  stedfast  heart^. 

For  whilst  the  gallant  chiefs  of  our  party  were 
on  the  other  side  perpetually  exclaiming  to- me, 

**  Rise  thoUy  distinguished  ^  midst  the  ^ojis  of  fame  y  - 
**  And  fair  transmit  to  times  unborn  thy  name^s'^ 
Too  easy  dupe  of  Flattery* s  specious  voiccy  li 

Darkling  I  stray' d from  WisdcTjf  s  better  choice^^ 

And 

•  Horn.  Odyss.  vii.  258. 

*  Horn.  Odyss.  i.  302. 

*®  Horn.  Odyss.  xxiv.  314. 


Book  X. 


OF  CICERO. 


463 


And  fain  would  they  still  raise  my  spirits, 
while  they  endeavour,  iniSensible  as  I  now  am 
to  the  charms  of  glory,  to  re-kindle  that  passion 
in  my  heart.  With  this  view  they  are  ever  re- 
peating, 

"*-  O  let  me  not  inglorious  sink  in  death y  '" 

'Mi'^'Arui yield  like  vulgar  souls  my  parting  breath :  ' 
'J    In  same  brave  effort  give  me  to  expire y 
^n-^rtfhat  distant  ages  may  the  deed  admire^  / 

-*^  But  I  am  immoveable,  as  you  see,  by  all  their 
'jpersuasions.  Renouncing,  therefore,  the  pom- 
pous heroics  of  Homer,  I  turn  to  the  just  max- 
Bis  of  Euripides,  and  say  with  that  poet,     '  ' 

'  fjurse  on  the  sagey  whoy  impotently  wisey 

^^  Overlooks  tJie  paths  where  humbler  Prudence  lies. 

My  old  friend  Priecilius  is  a  grqat  admirer  of 
the  sentiment  in  these  lines  :  insisting  that  a 
patriot  may  preserve  a  prudential  regard  to  his 
own  safety,  and  yet, 

Above  his  peers  the  first  in  honour  shvnc^ 

But  to  return  from  this  digression :  you  will 
greatly  oblige  me  by  extending  to  this  young 
man  that  uncommon  generosity  which  so  pecu- 
liarly marks  your  character,  and  by  suffering 
my  recommendation  to  increase  the  number  of 
Jf^se  favours  which  I  am  persuaded  you  are 

disposed 

*  llom.  II.  xxii. 

*  Horn.  II.  vi.  20$. 


464 


The  letters 


Book  X. 


BopK  X. 


OF  CICERO. 


4^ 


disposed  to  confer  upon  him  for  the  sake  of  his 
family. 

'  I  have  not  addressed  you  in  the  usual  style 
otxecommendatory  letters,  that  you  might  see 
I  did  not  intend  this  as  an  application  of  com* 
men  form.    Farewel. 

LETTER  XXV. 

[A.  u.  ro8.] 
To  the  same. 

Amonost  all  our  young  nobility,  Publius 
Crassus'  was  one  for  whom  I  entertained  the 
highest  regard,  and,  indeed,  he  amply  justified, 
in  his  more  mature  years,  the  favourable  opi- 
nion I  had  conceived  of  him  from  his  infancy^ 
It  was  during  his  life  that  his  freedman  Apollo- 
nius  first  recommended  himself  to  my  esteem. 
For  he  was  zealously  attached  to  the  interest  of 
his  patron,  and  perfectly  well  qualified  to  assist 
him  in  tho^e  noble  studies  to  which  he  was 
devoted.  Accordingly,  Crassus  was  extremely 
fond  of  him.  But  Apollonius,  after  the  death 
of  his  patron,  proved  himself  still  more  worthy  of 
my  protection  and  friendship,  as  he  distinguished 
with  peculiar  marks  of  respect,  all  who  loved 
Crassus,  or  had  been  beloved  by  him.  It  was 
this  that  induced  Apollonius  to  follow  me  into 

CiUcia  : 

'  See  rem.  3.  p.  132.  vol.  i. 


CiUcia,  where,  upon  many  occasions,  I  received 
singular  advantage  from  his  faithful  and  judici- 
ous services.     If  I  mistake  not,  his  most  sin- 
cere and  zealous  oflSces  were  not  wanting  to  you 
Jikewi^  in  the  Alexandrine  war,  and  it  is  in 
the  hope  of  your  thinking  so,  that  he  has  re- 
tiolved,  in  concurrence  with  my  sentiments,  but 
chiefly,  indeed,  from  his  own,   to  wait  upon 
you  in  Spain.     I  would  not  promise,  however, 
to  recommend  him  to  your  favour.     Not  that 
I  suspected  my  applications  would  be  void  of 
weight,  but  I  thought  tliey  would  be  unneces- 
sary in  behalf  of  a  man  who  had  served  in  the 
army  under  you,  and  whom,  from  your  regard 
to  the  memory  of  Crassus,   you   would   un^ 
doubted ly  consider  as  a  friend  of  your  own. 
Besides,  I  knew  he  could  easily  procure  letters 
of  this  kind  from  many  other  hands.     But,  as 
he  greatly  values  my  good  opinion,  and  as  I 
am  sensible  it  has  some  influence  upon  yours, 
I  very  willingly  give  him  my  testimonial.   Let 
nieiSfStre  you,  then,  that  I  know  him  to  be  a 
man  of  literature,  and  one  who  has  applied  him- 
self to  the  polite  arts  from  his  earliest  youth. 
J'or  when  he  was  a  boy,  he  frequently  visited 
kt  my  house  with  Diodotus,  the  Stoic :  a  phi- 
losopher, in  my  judgment,  of  consummate  eru- 
dition.    Apollonius,  inflamed  with  zeal  for  the 
Vol.  II,  H  h  glory 


466 


The  letters 


Book  X. 


glory  of  your  actions,  is  greatly  desirous  of  re- 
cording them  in  Greek,  and  I  think  him  very 
capable  of  the  undertaking.  He  has  an  excel- 
lent genius,  and  has  been  particularly  conver- 
sant in  studies  of  the  historical  kind,  as  he  is 
wonderfully  ambitious,  likewise,  of  doing  jus- 
tice to  your  immortal  fame.  These  are  my 
sincere  sentiments  of  the  man ;  but  how  far  he 
deserves  them,  your  own  superior  judgment 
will  best  determine.  But  though  I  told  Apol- 
lonius  that  I  should  not  particularly  recom- 
mend him  to  your  favour,  yet  I  cannot  forbear 
assuring  you,  that  every  instance  of  your  ge- 
nerosity towards  him  will  extremely  oblige  me. 
Farewel. 

LETTER  XXVL 

[A.  IT.  708.] 

QuiNTUs  Cicero,  to  Marcus  Cicero*. 

1  PROTEST  to  you,  my  dear  brother,  you  have 
performed  an  act  extremely  agreeable  to  me,  in 
giving  Tiro  his  freedom  ;  as  a  state  of  servitude 
was  a  situation  far  unworthy  of  his  merit.— 
Believe  me,  I  felt  the  highest  complacency, 
when  I  found,  by  his  letter  and  yours,  that 
you  rather  chose  we  should  look  upon  him  hi 
tiie  number  of  our  friends,  than  in  that  of  our 
slaves:  and  I  both  conmatulate  and  thank  you 

^  The  date  of  this  letter  is  aitogeihei  upceitain^  * 


Book  X. 


OF  CICERO. 


463^> 


for  this  instance  of  your  generosity  towards 
him.  If  I  receive  so  much  satisfaction  from 
thescrvicesof  my  freedman,  Statins,  how  much 
more  valuable  must  the  same  good  qualities 
appear  in  Tiro,  as  they  have  the  additional  ad- 
vantages of  his  learning,  his  wit,  and  his  po- 
liteness to  recommend  them  ?  I  have  many 
powerful  motives  for  the  affection  I  bear  you; 
and  this  mark  of  your  beneficence  to  Tiro,  to- 
gether with  your  giving  me  part  (as,  indeed, 
ydu  had  reason)  in  the  family  joy  upon  this 
occasion,  still  increases  the  number.  In  a 
word,  I  saw  and  admired  all  the  amiable  qua- 
hties  of  your  heart,  in  the  letter  you  wrote  to 
me  on  this  subject.  -     • 

I  have  promised  my  best  services  to  the 
slaves  of  Sabinus ;  and  it  is  a  promise  I  will 
most  assuredly  make  good.     Farewel. 

f 
LETTER  XXVIL 

[A.U.708.]  ■ 

To  Rex^ 

LiciNius  Aristoteles,  anativeof  Melita^ 
is  not  only  my  old  host,  but  my  very  particu- 
lar friend.  These  are  circumstances,  I  doubt 
not,  that  will  sufficiently  recommend  him  to 

vouv    ' 

5  He  was  at  this  time  propraetor  of  Sicily.     Pi^h,  Annul, 

ii.  459. 

<^  The  island  of  Malta. 

Hh2 


46S 


The  letters,  &c.      Book  X. 


your  favour ;  as,  in  truth,  I  have  experienced, 
by  many  instances,  that  my  applications  of 
this  sort  have  always  much  weight  with  you. 
Caesar,  in  compliance  with  my  solicitations, 
has  granted  him  a  pardon;  for  I  should  have 
told  you,  that  he  was  deeply  engaged  in  the 
same  cause  with  myself.  He  persevered  in  it, 
indeed,  much  longer ;  which,  I  am  persuaded, 
will  recommend  him  so  much  the  more  to  your 
esteem.  Let  me  entreat  you,  then,  to  shew 
him  by  your  good  offices,  that  this  letter 
proved  greatly  to  his  advantage.     FareweL 


AN 


{.J 


r 
] 
ti 

i 
t 

1; 
I 


> 


*'1^ 


AN 


V  INDEX, 

Referring  to  the  order  in  which  the  Letters 

of  this  Volume  stand  in  the 

Edition  of  Grcevius. 


Book  VI. 


I 


Letter  I. 
II. 
III. 
IV. 
V. 
VI. 
VII. 
VIII. 
IX. 
X. 
XI. 
-     XII. 
XIII. 
XIV. 
XV. 
XVI. 
XVII. 
XVIII. 
XIX. 
XX. 
XXI. 
XXII. 
XXIII. 
XXIV. 


Ub. 

•  •  • 

HI. 

ix. 

•  u. 

u. 

111. 

vm.. 

•  11. 

VUl. 

•  111. 

-  XV. 

•    XV. 

-  HI. 

-  11. 

-  VUl. 

•  •  • 

-  VUl. 

-xiv. 

-  xvi. 

-  xvi. 

-  xvi. 

-  xvi. 

-  xvi. 

-  xvi. 
-xvi. 
-xvi. 


Book  VII. 


Letter  I. 

II. 

III. 

IV. 


XVI. 
V. 

xiv. 
xiv. 


Ep. 

10 

25 

19 

12 

11 

11 

17 

13 

12 

6 

11 

13 

15 

12 

14 

5 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

9 


11 
20 
14 
18 


Book  VIL 


Ldh. 

V.  —  xvi. 

Vr.  —  xvi. 

VII.  — viii. 

VIIL  —xvi. 

IX.  —  xtL 

X.  —  xvi. 

XI.  —  xvi. 

XII.  —    iv. 

XIII.  — viii. 

XIV.  -.    ii. 
XV.  —    iv. 

XVI.  —    v. 

XVIL  —xiv. 

XVIIL  —  viii. 

XIX.  —    ix. 

XX.  —  xiv. 

XXI.  —  xiv. 

XXII.  —  xiv. 

XXIII.  —  xiv. 

XXIV.  —  xiv. 
XXV.  —  xiv. 

XXVI.  —  xiv. 

XXVII.  —    V. 

XXVIIL  —  xiv. 

XXIX.  —  xiii. 

XXX.  —  xiv. 

XXXI.  —  xiv. 

XXXII.  —  xiii. 

XXXIII.  —  xiv. 

XXXIV.  —  xiv. 
XXXV.  — xiii. 


—  1? 

—  S 

—  15 

—  13 

—  14 

—  15 

—  26 

—  1 

—  16' 

—  16 

—  2 

—  19 

—  7 

—  17 

—  9 

—  8 

—  21 

—  6 

—  12 

—  19 

—  9 

—  17 

—  16 

—  16 

—  30 

—  11 

—  15 

—  3L 

—  10 

—  13 

—  32 
Book 


INDEX 


Book  VIL 


Lib. 
XXXVL—  XV. 
XXXVIL— xui. 
XXXVIIL— xiv. 
XXXIX. —  xiv. 
XL. —  xiii. 
XLI. —  xiv. 
XLII. —  xiv. 
XLI  II. —  xiii. 
XLIV.—  XV. 
XLV. —  xiii. 
XLVI. —  xiii. 
XLVIL—  xiu. 
XLVIII  —  xiii. 
XLIX. —    ix. 
L. —  xin. 


Book  VIIL 


Letter  I. 
H. 
UL 
IV. 
V. 
VI. 
VIL 
VII  I. 
IX. 
X. 
XL 
XII. 
XIIL 
XIV. 
XV.  . 
XVL 
XVIL 
XVIIL 
XIX.  . 
XX. 
XXL 
XXIL 
XXIIL 


-     VII. 

-  iv. 

-  vi. 

•  ix. 

•  vi. 
vi. 
iv. 

XUl. 

xiii. 
v. 

•  ■  • 

XIII. 

ix. 
ix. 
ix. 

•  •  • 

XIIJ. 

i\. 
ix. 

•  •• 

XIII.   - 

ix.  ■ 

ix.  ■ 

vii.  - 

ix.  - 

Ji.  - 


Ep, 

-  15 

-  33 

-  24 

-  23 

-  34 

-  22 

-  20 

-  35 

-  21 

-  36 

-  48 

-  37 
38 
21 
39 


-  3 

-  14 

-  21 

-  1 

-  20 
~  22 

-  5 

-  29 

-  78 

-  21 

-  79 

-  3 

-  2 

-  4 

-  45 

-  3 

-  7 

-  4(i 

-  6 

-  16 

-  33 
-,18 

-  19 


Book  VIIL 


XXIV. 

XXV. 

XXVI. 

XXVII. 


Lib, 
ix. 
ix. 

■   ix. 

•  • 

TU. 


Book  IX. 


Letter  I.  — •  iv. 
11.  —  xiii. 

III.  —     iv. 

IV.  —     iv. 
V.  —     vi. 

VL  —    vii. 

VII.  —  xiii. 

VIIL  —     vi. 

IX.  —   xiii. 

X.  —    iv. 

XL  — '     ix. 

XII.  —     vi. 

XIII.  —  xiii. 

XIV.  —     vi. 
XV.  —  xiii. 

XVI.  —  xiii. 

XVIL  —     iv. 

XVIIL  —   xiii. 

XIX.  —     iv. 

XX.  —      iv. 

XXL  —  xiii.  ■ 

XXIL  —     ix.  • 

XXIII.  —      vi. 

XXIV.  —    xiii.  ■ 
XXV.  —     vii.  ■ 

XXVI.  ^      vi. 

XXVII.  —   xiii.  - 

XXVIII.  —      vi.  - 

XXIX.  —     vi.  - 

XXX.  —     vi.  - 

XXXI.  —  xiii.  - 

XXXIl.  —     vi.  - 

XXXIII.  —   xiii.  - 

XXXIV.  —      vi.  ^ 


Ep. 
17 
20 
23 
4 


3 

68 

13 

7 

10 

27 

67 

10 

43 

8 

15 

12 

10 

13 

11 

12 

—  4 

—  13 

—  9 

—  2 

—  14 

—  26 

—  12 

—  71 

—  28 

—  14 

—  72 

—  8 

—  9 

—  7 

—  09 

—  5 

—  70 

—  6 
Book 


INDEX. 


Book  IX. 

Lib, 
XXXV.  —xiu.  - 
XXXVL  —xiii.  - 
XXXVIL  —xiii.  - 

Book  X. 


VI. 

•  •• 

XIU. 


Letter  I.  - 

II.  - 

III.  —    vi. 

IV^.  —  xiii. 

V.  —  xiii. 

VL  —  xiii. 

VII.  —  xiii. 

VIIL  —xiii. 

IX.  — xiii. 

X.  — xiii. 

XL  — --  xiii. 


Ep, 
'  66 

-  77 

-  45 


1 

17 

3 

18 
19 
20 
21 
22 
23 
24 
25 


Book  X. 


I 


XIL 
XIII. 
XIV. 
XV. 
XVL 
XVIL 
XVIIL 
XIX. 
XX. 
XXI. 
XXIL 
XXIII. 
XXIV. 
XXV. 
,  XXVI. 
XXVIL 


Lib. 

•  •  • 

XUI. 

•  »  • 

XUl. 

•  •  • 

XUl. 

vi. 
vi. 

•  XV. 

-  ix, 
•    vi. 

-  XV. 
■    XV. 

-  XV. 

■   ix. 

-  xiii. 

■  •  • 

XUl. 

■xvi. 

•  •• 

•  XIU. 


Ep, 

-  26 

-  27 

-  28 

-  18 

-  4 

-  18 

-  10 

-  2 

-  17 

-  16 

-  19 

-  13 

-  15 

-  16 

-  16 
.  52 


i » 


V 


!  Y 
THE   END    OF   THE   SECOND  VOLUME. 


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LIBRARY 


THE 


LETTERS 


-^ 


OF 


MARCUS  TULLIUS  CICERO 


TO 


SEVERAL  OF  HIS  FRIENDS. 


IVrrH  REMARKS 


BY 


WILLIAM  MELMOTH,  ESQ. 


IN   THREE   VOLUMES, 


Quo  fit  ut  omnis 

Votiva  pateat  veluti  dtscripta  tabella 
Vita  seais.  Ii(i^- 


THE  SIXTH  EDITION. 

To  which  is  now  added 

A  GENERAL  INDEX. 


VOL.  III. 


i' 


LONDON: 

FRINTED    FOR    LACKINGTON,     ALLEN,     AND  CO.    LONGMAN    AND  G«. 

CUTHELL   AND  MARTIN,  VERNOR   AND    HOOD,   CADELL  AND 

DAVIES,  DARTON  AND  HARVEY,  J.  WALKER,  R.  LEA, 

J,  NUNN,  J.  ASPERNE,  E.  BOOKER,  W.  OTRIDGE 

*^  AND  SON,  OGILVY  AND  SON,  AND  W. 

"^  J.  AND  J.  RICHARDSON.  ^ 

A        V  1804.  ^ 


':> 


4 


1 


(  » 


-■■» 


LETTERS 


Oli 


OF 


MARCUS  TULLIUS  CtCERO 

1 1 


TO 


SEVERAL  OF  HIS  FRIENDS. 


i. 


BOOK  XI. 


**»»•  ^  J.  WiiiUt,  St.  irtaii  »i,M«. 


LETTER  I. 

[A.U.roe.] 
To  Tiro. 

Your  letter  encourages  me  to  hope  timt  you 
find  yourself  better :  I  am  sure,  at  least,  I  most 
sincerely  wish  that  you  may.  I  entreat  you, 
therefore,  to  consecrate  all  your  cares  to  that 
end ;  and  by  no  means  indulge  so  mistaken  a 
suspicion  as  that  I  am  displeased  you  are  not 
with  me.  With  me  you  are,  in  the  best  sense 
of  that  expression,  if  you  are  taking  care  of 
your  health ;  which  I  had  much  rather  you^ 
should  attend,  than  on  myself.  For  though  i 
Vol.  hi.  B  always 

Ag  28  84     60257 


t  '       The  I^ETfTERS         Book  XL 

always  both  see  and  hear  you  with  pleasure, 
that  pleasure  will  be  greatly  increased,  when  I 
shall  have  the  s^tisfactipn,  at  the  sajne  time,  to 
be  assured  that  you  are  perfectly  well. 

My  work  is  at  present  suspended',  as  I  can- 
not Hjake  us^e  of  my  own  hand  :  however,  I  em- 
ptey  myself  a  good  deal  in  reading.  If  your 
transcribers  should  be  puzzled  with  my  manu- 
script, I  beg  you  would  give  them  your  assist- 
ance; ^^^ioclced,  there  is  an  interUneation  re- 
lating to  a  circumstance  in  Cato's  behaviour, 
when  he  was  only  four  years  of  age*,  that  I  could 

scarce 

*  The  work  to  which  Cicero  alludes  was  probably  a  pa- 
rcgyriC  upon  Cato,  which  he  wrote  and  published  about  this 
time. 

*  Plutarch  mentions  several  instances  in  the  life  of  Cato, 
wherein  that  consummate  patriot  had  given  very  early  indi- 
calions  of  his  resolute  and  inflexible  spirit.  But  the  raost 
remarkable,  and  probably  the  same  which  Cicero  had  cele- 
brated  in  the  passage  he  is  here  speaking  of,  was  one  that 
happened  when  Cato  was  in  the  house  of  his  uncle,  Liviuf 
Pf  Uiyus  who  had  taktin  up>n  himself  the  caw  of  hi^  educa- 
^gti,  M  itiat  time  thfi  several  .states  of  Laly,  in  alliaDC/e  ^hh 
di«  republic,  were  strenuously  soliciting  the  privileges  of 
R«)i»afn  atjgeqs;  and.  Pompediui  Silo,  a.  person  of  great 
note,  who  came  to  Rome,  in  order  to  prosecute  this  affair, 
WW  the  guest  of  Drusus.  As  Pi'mpedius  was  one  day  amus- 
ing h»miell  w*(h  the  cfeildreo  of  the  femily,  •*  WelU  young 
•*  gentlemen,"  said  he,  addrtssing  himsell  particularly  to  the 
Httle  Cato  and  bis  brother,  **  I  hope  you  will  use  your  inte- 
V  rest  wnh  your  unclie,  to  giv«  his  vole  io  our  favottr,"  The 
Utier  very  readily  answered  m  the  affirmative,  while  CaXo 
signified  his  rctusal,  by  fixinsj  his  eyes  sternly  upoir  Pt>mpe- 
diiu,-  without  sa>ing  a  siogle  word  in  reply,  Pompe<iius, 
snatching  him  up  in  his  arms,  ran  with  him  to  the  win<k)w, 
•nd,  in  a  pieteadcd  rage,  threatened  to  tbri^w  him  out,  if  he 

.V.    did 


rf.*:ui) 


Book  XT. 


Wr  GiCERa;  ^ 


scarce  decy|)hef 'myself  Yolr  Svill  cotftMiie 
your  care,  likewise,  that  the  dining-room  be  in 
proper  order  for  the  reception  of  our  guests ; 
in  which  number,  I  dare  say,  I  may  reckon 
Tertia,  provided  Publius  be  not  invited. 

That  strange  fellow,  Demetrius,  was  always, 
I  know,  the  very  reverse  of  his  naqie-sake,  of 
Phaleris':  but  I  find  he  is  now  grown  more 
insufferable  than  ever,  and  is  degenerated  into 
afi  arrant  Bilienus*.  I  resign  the  management 
of  him,  therefore,  entirely  into  your  hands,  and 
you  will  pay  your  court  to  him  accordingly. 
Bat,  however—d'ye  see^—and  as  to  that—^to 
present  you  with  a  few  of  his  own  elegant  ex-^ 
pletives)  if  you  should  have  any  conversation 
with  him,  let  me  know,  that  it  may  furnish  me 
trith  the  subject  of  a  letter,  and  at  die  same 

time 

did  not  immediately  yield  to  his  request.  But  in  vain :  na« 
ture  had  not  formed  xhtatrocem  animum  Catonis  oi  a  texture 
to  be  menaced  out  of  its  purposes.  Accordingly  Pompedius* 
was  so  struck  with  that  early  symptom  of%n  undaunted 
Spirit,  that  he  could  not  forbear  saying  to  some  of  his  friends 
who  were  present,  "  How  happy  will  it  be  f^  Italy,  if  thii 
*'  boy  bhould  live !  For  my  part,"  continued  he,  •*  I  am 
^  well  persuaded,  if  he  were  now  a  man,  we  should  not  be* 
**  able  to  procure  a  single  suffrage  throughout  all  Rome/^ 
Plut.  in  vit,  Catoft,  Utken, 

-'■-  ^  Demetrius,  surnamed  Phalerius,  from  Phalefis,  a  sea- 
port town  in  Greece,  was  a  celebrated  orator,  who  flourished 
about  three  centuries  before  the  birth  of  Christ. 

'  ♦  Who  this  person  and  Demetrius  were  is  utterly  un- 
known :  but  it  is  probable  that  the  ridiculous  part  of  their 
characters,  to  ^hicb  Cicero  here  alludes,  was  that  of  bem| 
very  dull  and  inelegant  orators. 

B2 


The  letters 


Book  XL 


time  afford  me  the  pleasure  of  reading  so  much 
longer  an  one  from  yourself.  In  the  mean  while 
take  care  of  your  health,  mv  dear  Tiro,  I  con- 
jure  you,  and  he  well  persuaded  that  you  cannot 
render  me  a  more  pleasing  service.     Farewel. 


LETTER  IL 

fA.  U.  708.] 

To  Dolabella'. 

\)u  !  tliat  the  silence  you  so  kindly  regret  had 
been  occasioned  by  my  own  death,  rather  than 
by  the  severe  loss^  I  have  suffered :  a  loss  I 
should  be  better  able  to  support,  if  I  had  you 

with 

'  He  was  nt  this  time  with  Caesar  in  Spain. 

^  The  death  of  his  daughter  Tullia.  h  appears,  by  a  for- 
mer letter,  that  she  had  hiiely  lain-in  at  Rome,  from  whence 
she  w;n  pi-obably  removcfl,  for  the  benefit  of  the  air,  to  her 
ftither's  Tusculan  villa,  >*hrre  she  seems  to  have  died.  This 
letter  furnishes  a  presuiupiivt;  urf;ument  against  the  opinion 
of  tho^e  who  imagine  that  Dolabella  and  Tullia  were  never 
actually  divorced.  For,  in  the  fir<t  place,  notwithstanding  it 
appears  tb;>t  thpre  was  some  dibtance  cf  time  between  the  ac- 
cident of  her  death  and  the  present  epistle,  yet  it  seems  to  have 
hten  the  first  letter  which  Cicero  had  writ  ten  to  Dolabella  upon 
the  occasion.  Now  it  is  altogether  improbable,  if  the  mar- 
ria<;e  had  subsisted,  that  Cicero  should  not  have  given  him 
immediaLe  notice  of  ao  event  in  which,  if  Dot  from  affection, 
at  lea*t  from  iuterest,  he  wtmld  have  been  greatly  concerned. 
In  the  next  place,  it  is  equally  improbable,  supposing  ther« 
Vad  been  no  divorce,  that  Cicero  should  »ptak  of  this  mis- 
iortune  only  in  general  and  distant  terms,  a^  he  does  through- 
out this  whole  letter,  without  so  much  as  mentioning  the 
o^me  of  Tuliia,  or  intimating  even  the  remotest  him  of  any 
connexion  between  her  and  Dolabella.  But  Uie  following 
letter  will  supply  a  farther  and  more  positive  argument 
againsit  the  opiniop  above-menponed.  Sec  rem.  4.  on  th^ 
next  letter.     M  Aft   xii.  45.  46'. 


JiQQK  XI.  OF.. CICERO. 


with  me  :  for  3'our  judicious  couasek,  and  sin- 
gular affection  towards  nie,  would  greatly  ^con- 
tribute to  alleviate  its  M^eight.  This  good  oi\ 
fice,  indeed,  I  may  yet,  perhaps,  recd^v'ej^for^^? 
I  miagine  we  shall  soon  see  you  here^  you  will 
lind  me  still  so  deeply  affected,  as  to  have  an  op- 
portunity of  affording  me  great  assistance:  not 
that  this  affliction  has  so  broken  my  spirit,  as  to 
render  me  unmindful  that  I  am  a  man,  or  ap- 
prehensive that  I  must  totally  sink  under  its 
pressure.  But  all  that  cheerfulness  and  viva- 
city of  temper,  which  you  once  so  particularly 
admiied,  has  now,  alas  !  entircly  forsaken  me; 
My  fortitude  and  resolution,  nevertheless,  (if 
these  virtues  were  ever  mine)  I  still  retain; 
and  retain  them  too  in  the  same'  vigour  as 
when  you  left  me. 

As  to  those  battles  which,  yoii  tell  me,  you 
have  sustained  upon  my  account,  I  am  far  less 
solicitous  that  you  should  confute  my  det^rac- 
tcir^'^,  than  that  the  world  should  know  (as  it 
unquestionably  does)  that  I  enjoy  a  place  iu 

^,A  your 

^^  The  person  to  whom  Cicero  aUudes,  was,  in  all  proba. 
blTity-,  his  own  nephew,  who  was  at  this  time  in  the  army  with 
CcTiar.  This  young  man  had  taken  great  liberties  with  his 
uncle's  character;  aspersing  it  upon  all  occasions,  and  in  all 
companies  :  in  particular,  (and  what  gave  Cicero  the  greatest 
iineasiness)  he  attempted  to  infuse  a  suspicion  among  the 
princrpalofiic^s  of  the  army,  that  Cicero  was  a  man  of  dan- 
gerous designs^- and  one  against  whom  Caesar  ought  to  be 
particularly  upon  his  guard.     Ad  Att,  xii.  38.  xm>  37. 

63 


§  The  LETTERS  Book  XI, 

I 

your  affection  ;  and  may  you  still  continue  to 
render  that  truth  conspicuous.  To  this  reques|: 
I  will  add  another,  and  entreat  you  to  excuse  nie 
for  not  sending  you  a  longer  letter.  I  shorten 
it,  not  only  as  imagining  we  shall  soon  meet, 
but  because  my  mind  is  at  present  by  no  means 
sufficiently  composed  for  writing.     Farewel. 


LETTER  III. 

[A.  U.  708.] 

Servius  SuLPicius  to  Cicero. 

1  RECEIVED  the  news  of  your  daughters 
death,  with  all  the  concern  it  so  justly  deserves ; 
and,  indeed,  I  cannot  but  consider  it  as  a  mis- 
fortune in  which  I  bear  an  equal  share  with 
yourself  If  I  had  been  near  you  when  this 
fatal  accident  happened,  I  should  not  only  have 
mingled  my  tears  with  yours,  but  assisted  you 
with  all  the  consolation  in  my  power.  I  am 
sensible,  at  the  same  time,  that  offices  of* this 
kind  afford,  at  best,  but  a  wretched  rehef :  fo^ 
as  none  are  qualified  to  perform  them,  but  those 
who  stand  near  to  us,  by  the  ties  either  of  blgcjd 
or  affection,  such  persons  are  generally  too 
much  afflicted  themselves,  to  be  capable  of  ad- 
ministering comfort  to  others.  Nev^rtliicless,  I 
thought  proper  to  suggest  a  fqw  reflections 
which  occurred  tp  me  upon  this  occasipn :  not 
1  as 


^60 


tGEfta 


f 


^s  Imagining  they  \i^ouM'  bB  new*  to  fbfi,  hixt 
believing  that,  in  your  present*9i?c?oilf[56^te  of 
mind,  they  might  jiossibly  hav^'ekc^V3  5''6uf  itr 
tentloii.   Tell  me;mA:iny'^eiM;'^^mm 


with  every  oneof  irs ;  that  she  has  defiriv^e^  us  of 
what  ought  to  be  no  less  dear  than  our  chftdren^ 
and  overwhelmed,  in  one  general  ruin,  our  ho- 
nours, our  liberties,  and  our  country.  '  Atid;  af- 
ter these  losses,  is  it  possible  that  any^  6ther 
should  increase  our  tears  ?  Is  it  possible  that  a 
tnind  long  exercised  in  calamities  so  truTy  severe 
should  not  become  totally  callous  and  indifte- 
rent  to  every  event  ?'  But  you  will  tell  me,  per- 
haps, that  your  grief  arises  not  so  nruch  on  ydaf 
own  account,  as  on  that  of  TuUia,  Yet,  slirely, 
ybu  must  often,  as  well  as  myself,  have  had  oc- 
casion, in  these  wretched  times,  to  reflect,  that 
tlieir  condition  by  no  means  deserves  to  be  re- 
gretted,  whom  death  has  gently  removed  from 
tills  unhappy  scene.  What  is  there,  let  meask, 
in  the  present  circumstancesof  ourcountry,  that 
could  have  rendered  life  greatly  desirable  to  your 
daughter?  What  pleasinghopes,  what  agreeable 
views,  what  rational  satisfaction  could  she  possi- 
bly have  proposed  to  herself,  from  a  more  e>;- 
tended  period  ?  Was  it  in  the  prospect  of  conju- 
gdf  Ha'{)piness,  in  the  socTetyotsome  distin^iiisli- 

B  4  ed 


Th^  letters. 


XI. 


cd  youth*  ?  as  if,  indeed,  you  could  have  found  a 
son-in-law,  amongst  our  present  set  of  young 
men,  >rorthy  of  being  entrusted  with  the  care  of 
your  daughter !    Or  was  it  in  the  expectation  of 
being  thejoy fill  mother ofa  flourishingrace,  who 
pig^t  possess  their  patrimony  w^th  indepen^* 
dence,  who  might  gradually  rise  through  the  scr 
veral  dignities  of  the  state,  and  exert  the  liberty 
to  which  they  were  born,  in  the  service  and  de- 
fence of  their  fricmds  and  country  ?    But  is  there 
one  amongst  all  these  desirable  privileges,  of 
whicji.  ye  wefenot  deprived,  before  she  was  in  a 
C^p^citj  of  transmitting  them  to  her  descends 
antst?   Y^t,  after  all,  you  may  still  alledge,  per- 
happ,  that  the  loss  of  our  children  is  a  severe  af, 
flictjop;  and  unquestionably  it  would  be  so,  if  it 
were  not  a  much  greater  to  see  them  live  to  en- 
dure those  indignities  which  their  parents  suffer. 
.  1  lately 

♦  This  passage  seems  strongly  to  intimate,  that  the  mar- 
riage between  Dolabella  and  Tullia  was  actually  di&solved  be- 
fore her  death.  It  must  be  acknowledged,  however,  that  a  very 
learned  and  accurate  critic  is  of  opinion,  that  the  affirmative 
side  of  this  qaestion  can  no  more  be  proved  from  these  words 
of  Siilpicius,  than  it  can  be  inferred  from  those  which  he  im- 
mediately adds,  an  vt  ea  hbtros  ex  sese  purerei,  that  TuUta 
died  without  issue  ;  which  it  is  well  known  she  did  not.  But 
there  seems  to  be  this  difference  between  the  two  iniiances ; 
that,  with  respect  to  the  latter,  Sulpicius  m^ht  very  properly 
pot  the  question  he  there  doe5,  notwithttanding  TuUia's  hav- 
Jnii  kft  a  sou  V  fqr ^Jtiioogh  sbe>^  one,  she  might  reasonaWy 
indulge  the  expectation  of  having  more  :  whereas,  with  regard 
to  tfti#  former,  would  it  not  hav«  been  highly  injurious  to  her 
character,  if  Sulpicius  had  argued  from  a  supposition  which 
implied  that  Tullia  entertained  thoughts  of  another-husband, 
whilst  her  marriage  with  Dolabella  was  still  subsisting  ?  Vid. 
^pist.  Tunstal.  ad  vir,  emd.  Con.  Middkton,  p,  18(). 


Book  X&  c^^  CTCEBa 


,    I  lately  fell  into  a  refli5fiion,  whiclij^asit  af* 
I'orded  great  relief  to  the  disquiettide  of  my  own 
lieart,  it  may  possibly  contribfiile,  likewise^  to 
fissuage  the  angiiisb  ofyoui^^  In  my  return  out 
i)f  Asia,  as  I  wasi^ailingfrotn^gina  toward^  Me- 
gara^  I  amused  myself  with  contemplating  the 
circumjacent  countries.  Behind  me  lay  iEgina, 
before  me  M^gara;  on  my  right  I  saw  F^raeeus*, 
and  on  my  left  Corinth^     These  cities,  once  so 
flourishing  and  magnificent,  now  presented  no- 
thing to  my  view  but  a  sad  spec^tacle  of  deso- 
lation.    "  Alas,  (I  said  to  myself)  shall  such  a 
"short-lived  creature  as  man  complain,  when 
tj^oneof  his  species  falls  either  by  th6  hand  of 
J/^vjolence,  or  by  the  common  course  of  nature ; 
•"whilst  in  this  narrow  compass,. so  many  great 
jj^  and  glorious  cities^  formed  forasmuch  longer 
'^duration,  thus  lie  extended  in  ruin«?     Re- 
.?f.^ember,  then,   oh  my  heart!   the  general  lot 
^1.  to  which  m^n  is  born,  and -le^  that  thought 
■^  ^i)j)tefei  rtiy  ttrtreasonable  mtiT^itrs.^  BelieiinB 
in%I  found  my  min^  greatly  refreshed  and  com- 
toffei^  by fhesePfeBfedtions.  Let  mead'^lse  you,  in 
the  sajne  majioer,  to  represent  to  yourself,  what 

numbers 


/h^i*  .^gina,  now  called  Engia^  is  an  island  situated  in  the 
gulf  that  runs  between  thei  Peloponnesus  and  Attica,  to 
which  it  gives  its  name;  Megara  was  a  city  near  the  isthmus 
qf  Corinth. 

"*t  '•  A  celebrated  sea-port  at  a  small  distance  from  Athens, 
now  called  Port- Lion. 

^  A  city  in  the  Peloponnesus, 


10 


The  letters         Book  XF. 


numbers  of  our' illii.^trious  countrymen  have 
lately  been  cut  off  at  once",  how  much  the 
strength  of  the  Roman  republic  is  impaired,  and 
what  dreadful  devastation  has  gone  forth 
throughout  all  its  provinces !  And  can  you,  with 
the  impression  of  these  greater  calamities  upon 
your  mind,  be  so  immoderately  afflicted  for  the 
loss  of  a  single  individual,  a  poor,  little,  tender; 
Woman?  who,  if  she  had  not  died  at  this  time; 
must,  in  a  few  fleeting  years  more,  have  inevi* 
tably  undergone  that  common  fate  to  whicH 
she  was  born*. 

Reasonable,  however,  as  these  reflections  are, 
I  would  call  you  from  them  awhile,  ia  order  to 

lead 

*  In  the  civil  wars. 

'  Orie  of  the  finest  and  most  tle;^.int  of  all  writers,  cither 
ancieric  or  modern,  hft&  grven  us  s-oitie  reflections  which  an^ 
in  his  mind,  in  \*alkin<»  ain<in»5t  the  repoiitones  of  the  dead 
in  Westminsier-Abbey  ;  which,  an  they  are  hot  alfoaether  fo- 
reign to  the  bubject  of  ihii  letier,  the  reader,  perhap.%  \%iH 
indulge  me  in  the  pleasure  «  f  producing,   as  a  i>ort  of  corol- 
hir>es  to  the  sentifrtciifs  of  Salpiciu*^.     "When   I  look  upon 
•*  tbe  tomb»  ut  the  «nat/'  (says  the   iiicomparablf;  Addison) 
**  every  emotion  ot    envy   dies  within  me  ;  when  I  read  the 
"  epitaphs  of  the  be«Qtiful,  every  inordinate  desire  goes  out ; 
♦'  when  1  meet  with  the  ^ncf  of  parents,  upou  a  tombstone, 
"  my  heart  melts  with  compassion  ;  when  I  see  the  tomb  of 
'*  the  parents,  themselves,  I  consid^H*  the  vanity  of  grieving 
**  fur  those  whom  we  must  quickly  follow  ;  when  I  see  kings 
"  lying  by  those  who  deposed  them ;  when  I  consider  rival 
wits,   placed  side  by  side,  or  tht  holy  men  that  divided  i he 
world  with  their  contests  and  disputes,  I  reflect  with  sor-» 
row  and  astonishment  on  the  little  competitions,  factions," 
•*  and  debates  of  mankind.  When  I  read  the  several  dates  of 
**  the  tombs,  of  some  that  died  yesterday,  and  some  six  hun- 
•*  dred  years  ago,  I  consider  that  great  day  when  we  shall  all^ 
•*  of  us  be  contemp-rarifs,  arid  make  our  appearance  to2t^-v 
V  iher."     Spect.  ^ui.  1.  Numb,  2(x. 


Book  XI* 


OF  CICERO. 


n 


lead  your  thoughts  to  others  more  peculiarly 
suitable  to  your  circumstances  and  character. 

Remember,  then,  that  your  daughter  lived  as  long 
as  life  was  worth  possessing,  that  is,  till  liberty 
was  no  more ;  that  she  lived  to  see  you  in  the 
illustrious  offices  of  praetor,  consul,  and  augur ; 
to  be  married  to  some  of  the  noblest  youths  in 
Rome';  to  be  blesse'd  with  almost  every  valuable 
enjoyment ;   and,  at  length,  to  expire  with  the 
republic  itself.  Tell  me,  now,  what  is  there  in  this 
view  of  her  fate,  that  could  give  either  her  or 
yourself  just  reason  to  complain  ?  In  fine,  do  not 
forget  that  you  are  Cicero ;  the  wise,  the  philo- 
sophical Cicero,  who  were  wont  to  give  advice 
to  others,  nor  resemble  those  unskilful  empirics, 
who,  at  the  same  time  that  they  pretend  to  be 
furnished  with  remedies  for  other  men's  disor- 
ders, are  altogether  incapable  of  finding  a  cure 
for  their  own.    On  the  contrary,  apply  to  your 
private  use  those  judicious  preceptsyou  have  ad- 
ministered  to  the  public.      Time  necessarily 
weakens  the  strongest  impressions  of  sorrow  ; 
but  it  would  be  a  reproach  to  your  character 
not  to  anticipate  this  its  certain  eflfect,  by  the 
force  of  your  own  good  sense  and  judgment. 
If  the  dead  retain  any  consciousness  of  what  is 
here  transacted,  your  daughter's  aflfection,  I  am 

sure, 

•  To  Piso,  Crassipes,  and  Dolabella ;  of  each  of  whom  an 
account  has  been  occasionally  given  in  the  preceding  obser- 
vations. 


/ 


12 


The  letters         Rook  XI, 


sure,  was  such,  both  to  you  and  |p  all  h^r  i:elaT 
tions,  that  she  can  by  no  i>)eans  desire  you 
should  abandon  yourself  to  this,  excels  of  griefi 
Restrain  it  then,  I  conjure  you,  for  her  sake„ 
and  for  the  sake  of  the  restof  your  family  and 
friends,  who  lament  to  see  you  thus  afflicted. 
Restrain  it,  too,  I  beseech  you,  for  the  sake  of 
your  country  ;  that  whenever  the  opportunity 
shall  serve,  it  may  reap  the  benefit  of  your  coun-.. 
sels  and  assistance.  In  short,  since  such  i$  ou^ 
fortune,  that  we  must  necessarily  submit  to  the 
present  system  of  public  affairs,  suffer  it  not  to 
be  suspected,  that  it  is  not  so  much  the  death 
of  your  daughter,  as  the  fate  of  the  republic,  and 
the  success  of  our  victors,  that  you  deplore. 

But  it  would  be  ill-manners  to  dwell  any- 
longer  upon  this  subject,  as  I  should  seem  to 
question  the  efficacy  of  your  own  good  sense, 
J  will  only  add,  therefore,  that  as  we  have  often 
seen  you  bear  prosperity  in  the  noblest  manner, 
and  with  the  highest  applause,  shew  us,  likewise,, 
that  you  are  not  too  sensible  of  adversity^* 'but 
know  how  to  support  it  with  the  same  advan-? 
tage  to  your  character.  In  a  word,  let  it  not 
be  said,  that  fortitude  is  the  single  virtue  to 
M'hich  my  friend  is  a  straqger'". 

As 

,:  '®  Sulpicius  bas  drawn  togctLer,  in  ttiis  aamired  lettei^ 
'whatever  human  philosophy  has. of  force  to  compose  the  p^^^ 
li^rbiiUons  of  a  muid  under  the  di:»(^uietude  of  severe  a^li^ 


13 


'If  As  for  what  concerns  nij^^df,  I  #ifl  send  you 
an  account  "of  the  state  of  this  proviAc^;  and  of 
\^hat  is  transacting  in  this  part  of  the  world, 
as  soon  as  I  shall  hear  that  you  are  sufficiently 
composed  to  receive  the  informatioii*  Farewel 


i  iiiii 


Ai 


.lij     ■  LETTER  IV. 


-mr^jj 


To  Servius  Suli>icius. 
I  JOIN  withy, ou,  my  dear  Sulpicius,  in  wish- 
ing  that  ypu  ]iad  been  in^jpq  AY^ep^  U^^^^ 
s^yj^TQ  calamijty  hefel  ine.    I  a^^  sei^ajblQ  of  the 
advantage  I  should  have  received,  frpip,ypur 

presence,  and  I  had  .a^li^Ps;  ;?ft^o3^'?M')f^3^^1 
p^rficipation  of  my  grief,  by:  l^aving^  found 
myself  sompwitiat  morip  .^^pmposed  af|^  i  J^d 
r^^  your  lette;:.  It  furnished  me,  indeed,  with 
^fguments  extremely  proper  to  soot^i^the  anguish 
o|^9tion,  an4  evidently  %^ed  from  a  hea^t 
that  sympathized  with  the.  spri;ap  it,,  f fl$^^^^ 
y9^^re4,tp.^,3suage.  But,  although  J  cpul^  not 
eiyoy  the  benefit  of  your  own  good  pffic^§w 
pp^son,  I  hji^,}];^, ad  vantage,  ho^ey^j)  of  your 
^n>,  who  gave  me  a  proof,  by  every  tender  as- 

.     §isjtance 

tiotrs.  But,  it  is  evident,  that  all  arguments  of  the  sort  here 
produced,  tend  rather  to  silence  the  clamours  of  sorrow,  than 
to  soften  and  subdue  its  anguish.  It  is  a  much  more  exalted 
philosophy,  indeed,  that  must  supply  the  effectual  remedies  tor 
thispurpd^c;  to  whicb»  no  other  but  that  of  Christianity  aloiw^ 
will  be  found,  on  the  uial,  to  be  in  any  rational  degree  suffi- 
cient. 


\i 


14 


The   letters 


Book  XL 


Book  XL 


ofCICEHO.: 


15 


sistance  that  could  be  contributed  upon  so  me* 
lancholy  an  occasion,  how  much  he  imagined' 
that  he  was  acting  agreeably  to  your  senti- 
ments, when  he  thus  discovered  the  affection 
of  his  own.  More  pleasing  instances  of  his 
friendship,  I  have  frequently  received,  but 
never  any  that  were  more  obliging.  As  to  those 
for  which  I  am  indebted  to  yourself,  it  is  not 
only  the  force  of  your  reasonings,  and  the  very 
considerable  share  you  take  in  my  afflictions, 
that  have  contributed  to  compose  my  mind;  it 
is  the  deference,  likewise,  which  I  always  pay 
to  the  authority  of  your  sentiments.  For, 
knowing,  as  I  perfectly  do,  tile  superior  wis- 
dom with  which  you  are  enlightened,  I  should 
be  ashamed  not  to  support  my  distresses  in 
the  manner  you  think  I  ought,  I  will  acknow- 
ledge, nevertheless,  that  they  sometimes  almost 
entirely  overcome  me;  and  I  am  scarce  able  to 
resist  the  force  of  my  grief  when  I  reflect,  that 
I  am  destitute  of  those  consolations  which  at- 
tended others,  whose  examples  I  propose  to  my 
imitation.  Thus  Quintus  Maximus*  lost  a  son 
of  consular  rank,  and  distinguished  by  many 

brave 

*  Quintus  Fabius  Maximus,  so  well  known  for  his  brave 
and  judicious  cunduct  in  opposing  the  progress  of  Hannrbars 
arms  in  Italy,  was  tive  times  advanced  to  the  consular  of- 
fice ;  the  last  of  which  was  in  the  year  of  Rome  545.  At  the 
expiration  ofhu  fourth  consulate,  he  was  succeeded  in  that 
office  by  his  son,  Marcus  Fabius,  who,  likewise,  distinguished 
^  himself 


brave  and  illustrious  actions ;  Lucius  Paulus* 
was  deprived  of  two  sons  in  the  space  of  a  sin- 
gle week,  and  your  relation  Gallus^,  together 
with  Marcus  Cato*,  had  both  of  them  the  un- 
happiness  to  survive  their  respective  sons,  who 
were  endowed  with  the  highest  abilities  and 

virtues. 

himself  by  his  military  achievements.  It  does  not  appear 
when,  or  by  what  accident,  Marcus  died  ;  but  his  illustrious 
father  was  so  much  master  of  his  grief  upon  th^t  occasion, 
as  to  pronounce  a  funeral  eulogy  in  honour  of  his  son,  be- 
fore a  general  assembly  of  the  people.  Liv.  xxiv.  43.  Plut. 
in  vit.  Fab, 

*  A  very  few  days  before  Paulus  iEmilius  made  his  public 
entry  into  Rome,  in  the  year  585,  on  occasion  of  his  victory 
oyer  Perseus,  he  had  the  misfortune  to  lose  one  of  his  sons; 
and  this  calamity  was  succeeded  by  another  of  the  same  kind, 
which  befel  him  about  as  many  days  after  his  triumph.  Liv, 
xlv.  41. 

^  Manutius  conjectures,  that  the  person  here  mentioned, 
is  Cains  Sulpicius  Galkis,  who  was  consul  in  the  year  586. 

*  The  censor.  His  son  was  piaetor  in  the  year  of  Rome 
638,  and  died  whilst  he  was  in  the  administration  of  that 
ofKce»  I  cannot  forbear  transcribing  upon  this  occasion  a 
noble  passage  from  Cicero's  treatise  concerning  old  age,  as 
I  find  it  extremely  well  translated  to  my  hand,  by  a  late  in- 
genius  writer  (Mr,  Hughes,  if  I  mistake  not)  in  the  Specta- 
toi^j.  Our  author  represtnts  Catoas  breaking  out  into  the  fol- 
lowing rapture  at  the  thoughts  of  his  approaching  dissolu- 
tion :  **  O  happy  day," (-^ays  this  amiable  moralist)  **  when  I 
**  shall  esCHpe  from  this  crowd,  this  heap  of  pollution,  and 
*'  be  admitted  to  that  divine  assembly  of  exalted  spirits ! 
"when  I  shall  go — to  my  Cato,  my  son;  than  whom  a  better 
'*  man  was  never  born,  and  whose  funeral  rites  I  myself  per- 
**  formed  ;  whereas,  he  ought  raiher  to  have  attended  mine. 
•*'  Yet  has  not  his  soul  de^^erted  me,  but  seeming  to  cast  a 
•'  look  on  me,  is  gone  before  to  those  habitations  to  which  rt 
"  was  sensible  I  should  follow  him.  And  though  I  might  ap- 
**  pear  to  have  borne  my  loss  with  courage,!  was  not  unaffected 
**:with  it;  but  I  comforted  myself  in  the  assurance,  that  it 
"  would  not  be  long  before  we.  should  raeei  again,  and  bedi- 
"'vorced  no  more."  Pigh.  Annul,  ii.  f)9-  Plut,  in  tit.  Caton, 
Cic,  de  Srnect,  23.  Spect,  Vol  J.  Numb.  537. 


I 


m 


The  letters 


Book  XL 


Book  XL 


OF  CICERO. 


17 


virtues.     Yet  these  unfortunate  parents  lived 
in  times  when  the  honours  they  derived  from 
the  republic  might,  in  some  measure,  alleviate 
the  weight  of  their  domestic  misfortunes.    But' 
as  for  myself,  after  having  been  stripped   of 
those  dignities  yoif  mention,   and  which  I  had 
acquired  by  the  most  laborious  exertion  of  my 
abilities,  I  had  one  only  consolation  remaining ; 
and  of  that  I  am  now  bereaved  !     I  could  no 
longer  divert  the  disquietude  of  my  thoughts, 
by  employingmyself  in  the  causes  of  my  friends, 
or  the  business  of  the  state ;  for  I  could  no 
longer,  with  any  satisfaction,  appear  either  in 
the  forum,  or  the  senate.     In  short,   I  justly 
considered  myself  as  cut  off  from  the  benefit  of 
allthoscalleviatingoccupations  in  which  fortune 
and  industry  had  quahfied  me  to  engage.    But  I 
considered,  too,  that  this  was  a  deprivation  which 
I  suffered  in  common  with  yourself,  and  some 
others ;  and,  whilst  I  was  endeavouring  to  recon- 
cile my  mind  to  a  patient  endurance  of  those  ills, 
there  was  one  to  whose  tender  offices  I  could 
have  recourse ;  and,  in  the  sweetness  of  whose 
conversation  I  could  discharge  all  the  cares  and 
anxiety  of  my  heart.  But  this  lastfatal  stab  to  my 
peace,  has  torn  open  those  wounds  which  seem* 
ed  in  some  measure  to  have  been  tolerably  heal- 
ed.    For  I  can  now  no  longer  lose  my  private 
sorrows  in  the  prosperity  of  the  commonwealth, 
3  as- 


as  I  was  wont  to  dispel  the  uneasiness  I  suffered 
upon  the  public  account,  in  the  happiness  I  re- 
ceived at  home.  Accordingly,  I  have  equally 
banished  myself  from  my  housed  and  from  the 
public ;  as  finding  no  relief  in  either,  from  the 
calamities  I  lament  in  both.  It  is  diis,  there- 
fore, that  heightens  my  desire  of  seeing  you 
here ;  as  nothing  can  afford  me  a  more  effec- 
tual consolation  than  the  renewal  of  our 
friendly  intercourse :  a  happiness  which  I  hope, 
and  am  informed,  indeed,  that  I  shall  shortly 
enjoy.  Among  the  many  reasons  I  have  for 
impatiently  wishing  your  arrival,  one  is,  that 
we  may  previously  concert  together  our  scheme 
of  conduct  in  the  present  conjuncture ;  which, 
however,  must  now  be  entirely  accommodated 
to  another's  will.  This  person',  it  is  true,  is  a 
man  of  great  abilities  and  generosity ;  and  one, 
if  I  mistake  not,  who  is  by  no  means  my  ene-* 
my;  as  I  am  sure  he  is  extremely  your  friend. 
Nevertheless,  it  requires  much  consideration,  I 
do  not  say  in  what  manner  we  shaH  act  with 
respect  to  public  affairs,  but  by  what  methods 
we  may  best  obtain  his  permission  to  retire 
from  them.     Farewel. 

LETTER 

*  Cicero,  upon  the  death  of  his  daughter,  retired  from 
bis  own  house,  to  one  belonging  to   Att:cu^,   near  Rome : ' 
fron:  which,  perhaps,  this  letter  was  written. 

•  Caesar. 

Vol.  III.  C 


18 


The  letters 


Book  XL 


LETTER  V. 

[A.  U.  708.] 

To  Lucius  LuccEius\ 

All  the  letters  1  have  received  from  you,  upon 
the  subject  of  my  late  misfortune,  Mere  ex- 
tremely acceptable  to  me,  as  instances  of  the 
highest  affection  and  good  sense.  But  the  great 
advantage  I  have  derived  from  them,  princi- 
pally results  from  that  animating  contempt  with 
which  you  look  down  upon  human  affairs,  and 
that  exemplary  fortitude  which  arms  you 
against  all  the  various  assaults  of  fortune.  I 
esteem  it  the  most  glorious  privilege  of  philo- 
sophy, to  be  thus  superior  to  external  accidents, 
and  to  depend  for  happiness  on  ourselves  alone  : 
a  sentiment,  which,  although  it  was  too  deeply 
planted  in  my  heart  to  be  totally  eradicated,  has 
been  somew^hat  weakened,  I  confess,  by  the  vio- 
lence of  those  repeated  stomis  to  which  1  have 
been  lately  exposed.  But  you  have  endea- 
voured, and  with  great  success  indeed,  to  restore 
it  to  all  its  usual  strength  and  vigour.  I  can- 
not, therefore,  either  too  often,  or  too  strong- 
ly, assure  you,  that  nothing  could  give  me  an 
higher  satisfaction  than  your  letter.  But,  pow- 
erful 

*  The  same  to  whom  the  COlh  letter  of  the  first  book  is 
written.     Sec  an  account  ot  him  in  rem.  1.  on  that  epistle. 


Book  XL 


OF  CICERO. 


19 


erful  as  the  various  arguments  of  consolation  are 
which  you  have  collected  for  my  use,  and  ele- 
gantly as  you  have  enforced  them,  I  must  ac- 
knowledge, that  nothing  proved  more  effectual 
than  that  firmness  of  mind  which  I  remarked  in 
your  letters,  and  which  I  should  esteem  as  the 
utmost  reproach  not  to  imitate.   But  if  I  imitate, 
I  must  necessarily  excel  my  guide  and  instructor 
in  this  lesson  of  fortitude ;  for  I  am  altogether 
unsupported  by  the  same  hopes  which  I  find 
you  entertain,  that  public  affairs  will  improve. 
Those  illustrations,  indeed,  which  you  draw  from 
the  gladiatorial   combats'^,  together  with  the 
whole  tendency  of  your  reasoning  in  general,  all 
concur  in  forbidding  me  to  despair  of  the  com- 
monwealth.    It  w^ould  be  nothing  extraordi- 
nary, therefore,  if  you  should  be  more  com- 
posed than  myself,  whilst  you  are  in  possession 
of  these  pleasing  hopes :  the  only  wonder  is, 
how  you  can  possibly  entertain  any.     For  say, 
my  friend,  what  is  there  of  our  constitution 
that  is  not  utterly  subverted  ?  Look  round  the 
republic  and  tell  me,  (you  who  so  well  under- 
stand 

^  Manuyu3isupposes,  with  great  probability,  that  Luc- 
ceius,  in  the  letter  to  which  this  is  an  answer,  had  endea- 
voured to  persuade  Cicero  not  to  despair  of  better  times, 
by  reminding  him  of  what  sometimes  happened  at  the  gla- 
diatorial shews,  where  it  was  not  unusual  to  see  a  combat- 
ant that  seemed  almost  entirely  vanquished,  un«xpectedly 
recover  his  ground,  and  gain  the  day  from  his  antagonist. 

C2 


(20 


The  letters 


Book  XI. 


stand  the  nature  of  our  government)  what  part 
of  it  remains  unbroken  or  unimpaired  ?  Most 
unquestionably  there  is  not  one ;  as  I  would 
prove  in  detail,  if  I  imagined  my  own  discern- 
ment was  superior  to  yours,  or  were  capable 
(notwithstanding  all  yourpowerful  admonitions 
and  precepts)  to  dwell  upon  so  melancholy  a 
subject  without  being  extremely  affected.    But 
I  will  bear  my  domestic  misfortunes  in  the  man- 
ner you  assure  me  that  I  ought ;  and  as  to  those 
of  the  public,  1  shall  support  them,  perhaps, 
with  greater  equanimity  than  even  my  friend. 
For  (to  repeat  it  again)  you  are  not,  it  seems, 
without  some  sort  of  hopes ;  whereas,  for  myself, 
I  have  absolutely  none  :  and  shall,  therefore,  in 
pursuance  of  your  advice,  preserve  my  spirits 
even  in  the  midst  of  despair.    The  pleasing  re- 
collection of  those  actions  you  recal  to  my  re- 
membrance, and  which,  indeed,  I  performed 
chiefly  by  your  encouragement  and  recommen- 
dation, will  greatly  contribute  to  this  end.    To 
say  the  truth,  I  have  done  every  thing  for  the 
se^^^ice  of  my  country  that  I  ought,  and  more 
than  could  have  been  expected  from  the  cou- 
rage and  counsels  of  any  man.     ¥o\j  will  par- 
don me,  I  hope,  for  speaking  in  this  advantage- 
ous manner  of  my  own  conduct,  but,  as  you 
advise  me  to  alleviate  my  present  uneasiness  by 
1  a  retro- 


BooK  XI. 


OF  CICERO. 


21 


a  retrospect  of  my  past  actions,  I  will  confess, 
that,  in  thus  commemorating  them,  I  find  great 
consolation. 

I  shall  punctually  observe  your  admonitions, 
by  calling  off  my  mind  as  much  as  possible  from 
every  thing  that  may  disturb  its  peace,  and  fixing 
it  on  those  speculations  which  are  at  once  an 
ornament  to  prosperity,  and  the  support  of  ad- 
versity. For  this  purpose,  I  shall  endeavour  to 
spend  as  much  of  my  time  with  you  as  our 
health  and  years  will  mutually  permit :  and  if  we 
cannot  meet  so  often  as  I  am  sure  we  both  wish, 
we  shall  always  at  least  seem  present  to  each  other 
by  a  sympathy  of  hearts,  and  an  union  in  the 
same  philosophical  contemplations.     Farewel 


LETTER  VI. 

[A.u.ros.] 

LUCCEIUS  to  CiCEEO. 


iJiUiiiJt 


I  SHALL  rejoice  to  hear  that  you  are  well.  As 
to  my  own  health,  it  is  much  as  usual ;  or  ra- 
ther, I  think,  somewhat  worse. 

I  have  frequently  called  at  your  door,  and  am 
much  surprised  to  find  that  you  have  not  been  in 
Rome  since  Caesar  left  it.  What  is  it  that  so 
strongly  draws  you  from  hence  ?  If  any  of  your 
usual  engagements  of  the  literary  kind  renders 
you  thus  enamoured  of  soUtude,  I  am  so  far 

C  3  from 


GO 


The  letters 


Book  XI, 


Book  XI. 


OF  CICERO. 


2S 


\ 


\ 


from  condemning  your  retirement,  that  I  think 
of  it  with  pleasure.  There  is  no  sort  of  Hfe, 
indeed,  that  can  be  more  agreeable,  not  only  in 
times  so  disturbed  as  the  present,  but  even  in 
those  of  the  most  desirable  calm  and  serenity  : 
especially  to  a  mind  like  yours,  which  may  have 
occasion  for  repose  from  its  public  labours,  and 
which  is  always  capable  of  producing  something 
that  will  aftbrd  both  pleasure  to  others  and  ho- 
nour to  yourself  But  if  you  have  withdrawn 
from  the  world,  in  order  to  give  a  free  vent  to. 
those  tears  which  you  so  immoderately  indulged 
when  you  were  here,  I  shall  lament,  indeed, 
your  grief:  but  (if  you  will  allow  me  to  speak 
the  truth)  I  never  can  excuse  it.  For  tell  me, 
my  friend,  is  it  possible  that  a  man  of  your  un- 
common discernment  should  not  perceive  what 
is  obvious  to  all  mankind  ?  Is  it  possible  you 
can  be  ignorant  that  your  perpetual  complaints 
can  profit  nothing,  and  only  serve  to  increase 
those  disquietudes  which  your  good  sense  re- 
quires you  to  subdue?  But  if  arguments  can- 
not prevail,  entreaties  perhaps  may.  Let  me 
conjure  you,  then,  by  all  the  regard  you  bear 
me,  to  dispel  this  gloom  that  hangs  upon  your 
heart ;  to  return  to  that  society  and  to  those 
occupations  which  were  either  common  to  us 
both,  or  peculiar  to  yourself     But  though  I 

would 


would  fain  dissuade  you  from  continuing  your 
present  w^ay  of  life,  yet  I  would  by  no  means 
suffer  my  zeal  to  be  troublesome.  In  the  dif-^ 
ficulty,  therefore,  of  steering  between  these  two  ] 
inclinations,  I  will  only  add  my  request  that 
you  would  either  comply  with  my  advice,  or 
excuse  me  for  offering  it.     Farewel. 

LETTER  VIL 

[A.  U.  708.] 

To  Lucius  Luce  EI  us. 

Every  part  of  your  last  letter  glowed  with 
that  warmth  of  friendship,  which,  though  it  was 
by  no  means  new  to  me,  I  could  not  but  ob- 
serve with  peculiar  satisfaction ;  I  would  say 
pleasure,  if  that  were  not  a  word  to  which  1  have 
now  for  ever  bidden  adieu.  Not  merely,  how- 
ever, for  the  cause  you  suspect,  and  for  which, 
under  the  srentlest  and  most  affectionate  terms, 
you,  in  fact,  veiy  severely  reproach  me ;  but 
because  all  that  ought  in  reason  to  assuage  the 
anguish  of  so  deep  a  wound  is  absolutely  no 
more.  For  w^iither  shaU  I  fly  for  consolation  ? 
Is  it  to  the  bosom  of  my  friends  ?  But  tell  me 
(for  we  have  generally  shared  the  same  com- 
mon amities  together)  how  few  of  that  num- 
ber are  remaining  ?  how  few  that  have  not  pe- 
rished by  the  sword,  or  that  are  not  become 

C4  strangely 


S4 


The  letters 


Book  Xt 


Book  XI. 


OF  CICERO. 


S5 


i 


Strangely  insensible?  You  will  say,  perhaps^ 
that  I  might  seek  my  relief  in  your  society ; 
and  there,  indeed,  I  would  willingly  seek  it 
The  same  habitudes  and  studies,  a  long  inter- 
course of  friendship — in  short,  is  there  any  sort 
of  bond,  any  single  circumstance  of  connexion 
wanting  to  unite  us  together  !  Why  then  ar^ 
we  such  strangers  to  one  another  ?  For  my  own 
part,  I  know  not :  but  this  I  know,  that  mc 
have  hitherto  seldom  met,  I  do  not  say  in 
Rome,  where  the  Forum  usually  brings  every 
body  together*,  but  when  we  were  near  neigh- 
bours at  Tusculum  and  Puteolae. 

I  know  not  by  what  ill  fate  it  has  happened, 
that,  at  an  age  when  I  might  expect  to  flourish 
in  the  greatest  credit  and  dignity,  I  should  find 
myself  in  so  wretched  a  situation  as  to  be  a- 
shamed  that  I  am  still  in  being.  Despoiled,  in- 
deed, of  every  honour  and  every  comfort  that 
adorned  my  public  life,  or  solaced  my  private, 
what  is  it  that  can  now  afford  me  any  refuge  ? 
My  books,  I  imagine  you  will  tell  me :  and  to 
these,  indeed,  I  very  assiduously  apply.  For,  to 
what  else  can  I  possibly  have  recourse?  Yet  even 
these  seem  to  exclude  me  from  that  peaceful  port 
*'  which 

•  The  forum  was  a  place  of  general  resort  for  tbe  whole 
city.  1j  was  here  that  the  lawyers  pleaded  their  causes,  that 
the  peers  recited  iheii  works,  and  that  funeral  orations  were 
spoken  in  honour  of  the  dead.  It  was  here,  in  shori,  twery 
thing  was  going  forward,  that  could  engage  the  active,  oi 
amuse  the  idle.     Vid.  Hor.  lib.  I .  sat.  4.  74.  sat.  6. 42. 


which  I  fain  would  reach,  and  reproach  me,  as 
it  were,  for  prolonging  that  lift  which  only  in- 
creases my  sorrows  with  my  years.  Can  you 
wonder  then  that  I  absent  myself  from  Rome, 
where  thei^  is  nothing  under  my  own  roof  to 
afford  me  any  satisfaction,  and  where  I  abhor 
both  public  men  and  public  measures,  both  the 
forum  and  the  senate  ?  For  this  reason  it  is  that 
I  wear  away  my  days  in  a  total  application  to 
literary  pursuits :  not,  indeed,  as  entertaining 
so  vain  a  hope,  that  I  may  find  in  them  a  com- 
plete cure  for  my  misfortunes,  but  in  order  to 
obtain,  at  least,  some  little  respite  from  their 
bitter  remembrance. 

If  those  dangers  with  which  we  were  daily 
menaced,  had  not  formerly  prevented  both  you 
and  myself  from  reflecting  with  that  coolness 
w€  ought,  we  should  never  have  been  thus  se- 
parated. Had  that  proved  to  have  been  the 
case,  we  should  both  of  ns  have  spared  our- 
selves much  uneasiness :  as  I  should  not  have 
indulged  so  many  groundless  fears  for  yoiit 
health,  nor  you  for  the  consequences  of  my 
grief  Let  us  repair  then  this  unlucky  mistake 
as  M^U  as  we  may  :  and  as  nothing  can  be  more- 
suitable  to  both  of  us,  than  the  company  of 
each  other,  I  purpose  to  be  with  you  in  a  few 

days.     Farewel. 

.    LETTER 


26 


The  letters 


Book  XI. 


LETTER  VIIL 

[A.  U.  708.] 

To  Marcus  Marcellus. 

Notwithstanding  that  I  have  nothing* 
new  to  communicate  to  you,  and  am  in  ex- 
pectation of  a  letter  from  you  very  shortly,  or 
rather,  indeed,  of  seeing  you  in  person;  yet  I 
Avould  not  suifer  Theophilus  to  go  away,  with- 
out sending  you  a  line  or  two  by  his  hands. 
Let  me  entreat  you  then  to  return  amongst  us^, 
as  soon  as  possible ;  and,  be  assured,  you  are 
impatiently  expected,  not  only  by  myself,  and 
the  rest  of  your  friends,  but  by  all  Rome  in 
general  I  am  sometimes,  however,  inclined 
to  fear,  that  you  will  not  be  extremely  forward 
to  hasten  your  journey :  and,  indeed,  if  you 
w^ere  possessed  of  no  other  sense  but  that  of 
seeing,  I  could  easily  excuse  you  if  there  are 
some  persons  whom  you  would  chuse  to  avoid. 
But  as  the  difference  is  very  inconsiderable  be- 
tween hearing  and  being  a  spectator  of  what 
one  disapproves  ;  and  as  I  am  persuaded  it  is 
of  great  consequence,  both  in  respect  to  youjr 
private  affairs,  as  well  as  upon  every  other  con- 
sideration, that  you  should  expedite  your  re- 
turn, I  thought  it  incumbent  upon  me  to  tell 
you  so.  And  now,  having  acquainted  you  with 

my 

*  See  let.  If),  vol.  ii.  p.  343. 


Book  XI, 


OF  CICERO, 


27 


my  sentiments,  the  rest  must  be  left  to  your 
own  determination :  but  I  should  be  glad  to 
know,  however,  when  we  may  expect  you, 
Farewel, 


LETTER  IX. 

[A.  U.  708.] 

To  Tiro. 

Believe  me,  my  dear  Tiro,  I  am  greatly 
anxious  for  your  health :  however,  if  you  per- 
severe in  the  same  cautious  regimen  which  you 
"have  hitherto  observed,  you  will  soon,  I  trust, 
be  well.  As  to  my  library,  I  beg  you  would 
put  the  books  in  order,  and  take  a  catalogue 
of  them,  when  your  physician  shall  give  you 
his  consent :  for  it  is  by  his  directions  you  must 
now  be  governed.  With  respect  to  the  gar- 
dener, I  leave  you  to  adjust  matters  as  you 
shall  judge  proper. 

I  think  you  might  come  to  Rome  on  the  first 
of  next  month,  in  order  to  see  the  gladiatorial 
combats,  and  return  the  following  day :  but 
let  this  be  entirely  as  is  most  agreeable  to  your 
own  inclinations.  In  the  mean  time,  *if  you 
have  any  affection  for^  me,  take  care  of  your 

Jnealth.     Farewel, 

LETTER 


i 


28 


The  letters 


Book  XI. 


i 


LETTER  X. 

[A.  U.  708.] 

Servius  St  LPicius  to  Cicero. 

The  news  I  am  going  to  acquaint  you  with, 
will,  I  am  sure,  prove  extremely  unwelcome  : 
yet,  as  you  cannot  but,  in  some  measure,  be 
prepared  for  it,  by  being  sensible  that  every 
man's  life  is  subject  to  casualties,  as  well  as  to 
the  general  laws  of  nature,  I  thought  proper  to 
send  you  a  circumstantial  account  of  the  uh- 
*  happy  accident  that  has  lately  happened. 

I  arrived  at  Pircceus,  from  Epidaurus',  on 
the  23d  instant ;  where  I  continued  all  that 
day,  merely  to  enjoy  the  company  of  my  col- 
leage,  Marcellus\  The  next  day  I  took  my 
leave  of  him,  with  an  intention  of  going  from 
Athens  into  Boeotia^  in  order  to  finish  the  re- 
mainder of  my  circuit* :  and  I  left  him  in  the 
resolution,  as  he  told  me,  of  sailing  to  Italy  by 
the  way  of  Malea^     The  day  following,  as  I 

was 

'^  A  city  in  the  Peloponnesus,  now  called  Pigrada,  situated 
upon  the  bay  of  Engia, 

^  It  las  already  been  noted,  that  Marcellus  and  Sulpicius 
were  colleagues  in  the  consular  office,  A.  U.  702. 

'  A  district  of  G  recce,  under  the  jurisdiction  of  Sulpicius, 
governor  of  that  province, 

♦  The  Roman  governors  were  obliged  to  visit  the  principal 
cities  of  their  province,  in  order  to  administer  justice,  and 
settle  other  affairs  relating  to  their  function. 

'  A  promontery  in  the  south-east  point  of  the  Pelopon- 
nesus, now  called  cape  Mails. 


Book  XL 


OF  CICERO. 


S» 


was  preparing  to  set  out  from  Athens,  his  friend 
Posthuniius  came  to  me,  about  four  in  the 
morning,  and  informed  me  Marcellus  had  been 
stabbed  the  night  before  by  Magius  Gilo,  whilst 
they  were  sitting  together  after  supper^  :  that 
he  had  I'eceived  two  wounds  from  a  dagger,  on^ 
of  which  was  in  his  breast,  and  the  other  under 
his  ear;  but  that  neither  of  them,  he  hoped,  was 
mortal     He  added,  that  Magius,  after  having 
committed  this  barbarous  action,  immediately 
killed  himself;  and  that  Marcellus  had  dis- 
patched him  in  order  to  give  me  this  account, 
and  likewise  to  desire  that  I  would  direct  my 
physicians'  to  attend  him.  This  I  instantly  did : 
and  followed  them  myself  as  soon  as  it  was 
light.   But  when  I  had  almost  reached  Piraeeus, 
\fXiet  a  servant  of  Acidanus,  with  a  note  to  ac- 
quaint me  that  our  friend  expired  a  little  be;i 
fore  day-break.     Thus  did   the  noble  Mar- 
cellus unworthily  fall  by  the  hand  of  a  vil- 
lainous assassin :  and  he  whose  life  his  very  ene- 
mies had  spared  in  reverence  to  his  illustrious 

virtues, 

*  The  reason  which  induced  Cilo  to  murder  his  friend,  is 
not  certainly  known.  It  was  suspected  by  some,  at  Rome, 
that  it  was  at  the  secret  instigation  of  Caesar :  but  the  cir- 
cumstance of  Cilo  immediately  afterwards  killing  himselt; 
renders  that  suspicion  altogether  improbable,  and  seems  to 
determine  the  motive  to  some  personal,  and  perhaps  sudden 
resentment.     Vid.  ad  Jit.  xiii.  10. 

'  The  ancient  physicians  practised  surgery  as  well  as  me- 
dicine. 


if 


39 


The  letters 


Book  XI. 


Book  XI. 


OF  CICERO. 


^i 


ii 


1^4 


i 


virtues,  met  with  an  executioner,  at  last,  in  his 
own  friend  !  However,  I  proceeded  to  his  pa- 
villion,  where  I  found  only  two  of  his  freed^ 
men  and  a  few  slaves;  the  rest,  I  was  told,  hav- 
ing fled  in  apprehension  of  the  consequences  in 
which  they  might  be  involved  by  this  murdet 
of  their  master*.  I  was  obliged  to  place  the 
body  of  Marcellus  in  the  same  sedan  that 
brought  me,  and  to  make  my  chairmen  carry  it 
into  Athens ;  where  I  paid  him  all  the  funeral 
honours  that  city  could  supply;  which,  indeed, 
were  not  inconsiderable.  But  I  could  not  pre- 
vail with  the  Athenians  to  suffer  him  to  be  bu- 
ried within  their  walls  ;  a  privilege,  they  assured 
me,  which  their  religious  ordinances  would  by 
no  means  admit.  Thev  i^rauted  me,  however, 
what  was  the  next  honour,  and  which  they  had 
never  permitted  to  any  stranger  before :  they 
allowed  me  to  deposit  his  ashes  in  any  of  the 
Gymnasia  I  should  think  proper.  According- 
ly, I  fixed  upon  a  spot  belonging  to  the  Acade- 
my9 ;  one  of  the  noblest  colleges  in  the  whole 

world. 

*  Manutius  remarks,  that,  by  the  Roman  law,  where  a  man 
was  murdered  in  his  own  house,  hi*  slaves  were  punishable 
with  death.     V\d.  TacU,  AnnaL  xiv.  4-2. 

^  "  This  ceiebraidd  place  look  its  name  from  one  Acade* 
"  mus,   an  ancient  hero,  who  posbessed  it  in  the  time  of  the 
Tyndaridx.    But,  famous  as  it  was,  it  was  purchased  after- 
wards fur  about  lOOl.  and  dedicated  to  the  public  for  the 
convenience  of  walks    and   exercises  for  the  citizens  of 
**  Athens,  and  was  gradually  improved  by  the  rich,  who  had 

**  received 


4C 


«i 


14 


world.  In  this  place  I  caused  a  funeral  pile  to 
be  erected :  and  afterwards  persuaded  the 
Athenians  to  raise  a  marble  monument  to  his 
memory,  at  the  public  expence.  Thus  have  I 
paid  to  my  relation  and  colleague,  both  during 
his  life  and  after  his  deatli,  every  friendly  office 
he  had  a  right  to  expect  from  me.     Farewel. 

Athens,  May  31. 

LETTER  XI. 

[A.U.  708.] 

To  Tiro. 

1  iMPATiENTLYexpectaletterfrom'yoUjUpon 
affairs  of  many  and  various  kinds  :  but  it  is  with  j 
much  greater  impatience,  however,  that  I  ex- 
pect yourself.  In  the  mean  time,  endeavour  to 
gain  Demetrius  over  to  my  interest,  and  to  ob- 
tain whatever  other  advantage  you  shall  be 
able.  I  know  your  care  is  not  wanting  to  re- 
cover the  money  which  is  owing  to  me  from 
Aufidius :  but  I  beg  you  would  be  as  expedi- 
tious in  that  matter  as  possible.  If  it  is  upon 
that  account  you  delay  your  return,  I  admit 
it  to  be  a  good  reason :  if  not,  fly  hither,  I 

charge 

"  received  benefit  or  pleasure  from  it,  with  plantations  of 
"  groves,  stately  porticos,  and  commodious  apartments,  for 
"  the  professors  of  the  academic  school."  MiddktotCs  life  of  - 
Ck,  iii.  325. 


I'if 


I 


32 


The  letters 


Book  XI. 


Book  XI. 


OF  CTCEKO. 


3S 


4 


f 


charge  you,  with  the  utmost  speed.  To  re- 
peat it  once  more  :  I  expect  a  letter  from  you 
with  great  impatience.     Farewel. 

LETTER  XIL 

[A.  U.  T08.] 

Vatinius*  to  Cicero. 

If  you  have  not  renounced  your  usual  custom 
of  defending  the  cause  of  your  friends,  an  old 
client  of  yours  desires  to  engage  you  as  his  ad- 
vocate :  and,  as  you  formerly  protected  him  in 
his  humiliation*,  I  dare  say  you  will  not  now 
abandon  him  in  his  glory.  Whose  aid,  indeed, 
can  I  so  properly  invoke  upon  tlie  occasion  of 
my  victories,  as  that  generous  friend's,  who  first 
taughtmehowtovtfwj^wi^A'.^Canl  doubt,  thathe 
who  had  the  courage  to  withstand  a  combination 

of 

'  I  have  already  had  occasion  to  sive  an  account  of  the 
character  of  Vatinius,  in  rem.  5.  p.  loO.  vol.  1.  He  was  at 
this  time,  hy  the  appointment  of  Cawar,  governor  of  niyficum ; 
which  comprehended  part  of  Austria,  Hungary,  Sclavonic, 
Bosnia,  and  Dalmatia.  He  was  sent  thither  with  a  consi- 
derable army,  to  reduce  the  people  of  that  province  to  obe- 
dience ;  and  having  obtained  some  success,  he  wrote  the  pre- 
sent letter  to  Cicero,  in  order  to  en^^ge  him  to  support  his 
pretensions  to  the  honour  of  a  pubhc  thanksgiving.  Pigk* 
Annal.  ii,  454. 

*  When  Cicero,  much  to  his  dishonour,  defended  Vati- 
nius against  the  impeachment  of  LiciniusCalvus.  See  vol.  i. 

p.  189. 

^  Alluding  to  his  having,  by  the  assistance  of  Cicero's  elo- 
quence, vanquished  his  adversaries  in  the  prosecution  men- 
tioned in  the  preceding  note. 


of  the  most  powerful  men  in  Rome,  who  had 
conspired  my  ruin,  will  not  be  able  to  beat  down 
the  envious  and  malignant  efforts  of  a  little  con- 
temptible party,  that  may  endeavour  to  oppose 
my  honours  ?  If  I  still,  then,  retain  the  share  I 
once  enjoyed  of  your  friendship,  take  me,  I  cut 
treat  you,  wholly  under  your  protection,  as  one 
whose  dignities  it  is  incumbent  upon  you  both 
to  support  and  advance.  You  are  sensible  that 
I  have  many  enemies,  whose  malevolence  I  have 
in  no  sort  deserved ;  but  what  avails  innocence 
against  so  unaccountable  a  fate  }  If  these,  there- 
fore, should  any  of  them  attempt  to  obstruct  the 
honours  I  am  soliciting,  I  conjure  you  to  exert 
your  generous  offices,  as  usual,  in  defence  of 
your  absent  friend.  In  the  mean  time,  you  will 
find,  at  the  bottom  of  this  letter,  a  copy  of  the 
dispatches  I  send  by  this  express  to  the  senate, 
concerning  the  success  of  my  arms,  ^ 

Being  informed  that  the  slave  whom  you  em- 
ploy as  your  reader  had  eloped  from  you  into 
the  country  of  the  Vardaei*,  I  have  caused  dili- 
gent search  to  be  made  after  him,  although  I 
did  not  receive  your  commands  for  that  pur- 
pose, I  doubt  not  of  recovering  him,  unless  he ' 
should  ta,ke  refuge  in  Dalmati^^ ;  and  even  in 

that 

*  A  people  contiguous  to  Dalmatia. 

'  Dalmatia  made  part  of  the  province  of  Illyricum,  but 
it  was  not,  at  this  time,  entirely  subdued  to  the  Roman  go- 
vernment. 

Vol.  III.  D 


i 


34 


The  letters 


Book  XI. 


that  case,   I  do  not  entirely  despair.     Farewel, 
and  continue  to  love  me. 

From  the  carop  at  Narana*,  July  the  lltli. 


LETTER  XIIL 

[A.  U.  708.] 

To  Tiro. 

You  are  not  mistaken  in  supposing  me  desi- 
rous of  your  company;  but,  indeed,  I  am  ex- 
tremely apprehensive  of  your  venturing  upon 
so  long  a  journey.  The  abstinence  you  have 
been  obliofed  to  observe,  the  evacuations  you 
have  undergone,  together  with  the  violence  of 
your  distemper  itself,  have  too  much  impaired 
your  strength  for  so  great  a  fatigue;  and  any 
nedisence  after  disorders  so  severe  as  yours,  is 
generally  attended  with  consequences  of  the 
most  dano-erous  kind.  You  cannot  reach  Cuma 
in  less  than  two  days,  and  it  will  cost  you  five 
more  to  complete  your  expedition.  But  I  pur- 
pose to  be  with  you  at  Formia,  towards  the  enrl 
of  this  month;  and,  I  hope,  my  dear  Tiro,  it 
will  not  be  your  fault  if  I  should  not  have  the 
satisfaction  of  finding  you  perfectly  recovered. 
My  studies  languish  for  want  of  your  assist- 
ance ;  however,  the  letter  you  sent  by  Acastns 

has 

*  In  Liburnia,  now  called  Croatia,  and  which  formed  pari 
of  Vaiiniua's  government. 


Book  XL 


OF  CICERO. 


3d 


has  somewhat  enlivened  them.  Pompeius  is 
now  here,  and  presses  me  much  to  read  to  him 
some  of  my  compositions ;  but  I  jocosely, 
though  at  the  same  time  tmly  assure  him,  that 
all  my  Muses  are  silent  in  your  absence,  i 
hope,  therefore,  you  will  prepare  to  attend  then* 
with  your  usual  good  oflSce^.  You  may  depend 
upon  mine  in  the  article,  and  at  the  time  I  pro- 
mised ;  for,  as  I  taught  you  the  etymology  of 
the  word  T^e*,  be  assured  I  shall  act  up  to  its 
full  import.  Take  care,  I  cliarge  you,  to  re- 
establish your  health ;  mine  is  perfectly  well 
Adieu. 

LETTER  XIV. 

[A.U.  708.] 

To  Varro. 

To  importune  the  execution  of  a  promise,  is  a 
sort  of  ill-manners,  of  which  the  populace 
themselves,  unless  they  are  particularly  insti- 
gated for  that  purpose,  are  seldom  guilty 7.  J 
cannot,  however,  forbear,  I  will  not  say  to  de- 
mand, but  to  remind  you  of  a  favour,  which 
you  long  since  gave  me  reason  to  expect.     Tq 

This  alludes  to  those  promises  of  public  shews,  which  iverc 

requently  made  to  the  people  by  the  magistrates,  and  others 

Who  affected  popularity  ;  some  particular  instances  of  which 

have  been  occasionally  produced  in  the  course  of  the  pre. 

ceding  remarks.  *^ 


VI 


36 


The  letters         Book  XI. 


UookXI. 


OF  CICERO. 


37 


i! 


I) 

M 


this  end,  I  have  sent  you  four  admonitors' ; 
but  admonitors,   perhaps,  whom  you  will  not 
look  upon  as  extremely  modest.     They  are  cer- 
tain philosophers,  whom  I  have  chosen  from 
amon^  the  disciples  of  the  later  academy' ;  and 
confidence,  you  know,  is  the  characteristic  of 
this  sect'.     I  am  apprehensive,  therefore,  that 
you  may  consider  them  as  so  many  importu^ 
nate  duns,  when  my  meaning  only  is,  that  they 
should  present  themselves  before  you  as  modest 
petitioners.     But  to  drop  my  metaphor,  I  have 
lono-  denied  myself  the  satisfaction  of  addres- 
sing- to  you  some  of  my  works,  in  expectation 
of  receiving  a  compliment  of  the  same  kind 
from  yourself     I  waited,  therefore,  in  order  ta 
make  you  a  return,  as  nearly  as  possible,  of  the 
same  nature.     But,  as  I  am  willing  to  impute 
your  delaying  this  favour  to  the  desire  of  ren- 
dering it  so  much  the  more  perfect,  I  could  no 
lon^rer  refrain  from  telling  the  world,  in   the 

best 

*  These  were  dialogues  entitled  Acadewica,  w>iicb  appear 
from  hence  lo  have  originally  consisted  otfour  books,  though 
there  is  only  part  of  one  now  remaining.  ;•*•'"* 

9  The  followers  of  ihe  Academic  philosophy  were  divideei 
into  two  sects,  called  the  old  and  the  nrd\  The  founder  of 
the  former  was  Plato;  of  the  latter,  Arce^ilas.  The  princi- 
pal dispute  between  them,  seems  to  have  related  to  the  degree 
of  evidence  upon  \yhich  human  knowledge  is  founded  ;  the 
earlier  Academics  maintaining  that  some  propositions  were 
certain  ;  the  latter,  that  none  were  more  than  probable. 
Vid.  Academ.  I.passi7n. 

'  Alluding  to  their  practice  of  queslioniog  all  opinions, 


best  manner  I  was  able,  that  we  are  united  both 
in  our  affections  and  in  our  studies.  With  this 
view,  I  have  drawn  up  a  dialogue  which  I  sup- 
pose to  have  passed  between  you  and  myself,  in 
conjunction  with  Atticus,  and  have  laid  the 
scene  in  your  Guman  villa.  The  part  I  have  as- 
signed to  you,  is  to  defend,  (what,  if  I  mistake 
not,  you  approve)  the  sentiments  of  Antiochus% 
as  I  have  chosen  myself  to  maintain  the  princi- 
ples of  Philo^  You  will  wpnder  to  find,  perhaps, 
in  the  perusal  of  this  piece,  that  I  have  repre- 
sented a  conversation,  which,  in  truth,  we  never 
had;  but  you  must  remember  the  privilege 
which  dialogue  writers  have  always  assumed. 

And  now,  my  dear  Varro^  let  me  hope  that 
we  shall  hereafter  enjoy  together  many  of  these 
philosophical  conversations.  If  we  have  too  long 
neglected  them,  the  public  occupations  in  which 
We  were  engaged,  must  be  our  apology ;  but  the 
time  is  now  arrived  when  we  have  no  such  ex- 

cuse 

'.o  1,  f  A  philosopher  at  Athens,  whose  lectures  Varro  had  for- 
hiefly  attended.  He  maintained  the  doctrines  of  the  old  Aca- 
demy.    Cic.  Academ,  1.3. 

^ ,  3  A  Greek  philosopher,  who  professed  the  sceptical  prin- 
ciples of  the  new  Academy.  Antiochus,  mentioned  in  the 
preceding  note,  had  been  bred  up  under  him,  though  he  af- 

'  terwards  became  a  convert  to  the  opposite  sect.  Cicero  took 
the  sceptical  part  in  this  dialogue,  not  as  being  agreeable  to 

,;  ills  own  sentiments,  but  in  order  to  pay  Varro  the  greater 

^l^ompliment  of  maintaining  the  moie  rational  opinion, 
Acadam.  ubi  sup.  ad  Att,  \\\\,  19< 

D  3 


and  assenting  to  none. 


38 


The  letters 


Book  XL 


Book  XL 


OF  CICERO. 


39 


cuse  to  pkad.  May  we,  then,  exercise  these 
speculations  together,  under  a  fixed  and  peace- 
able government,  at  least,  if  not  under  one  of 
the  most  eligible  kind  !  Though,  indeed,  if 
that  were  to  prove  the  case,  far  other  employ- 
ments would  engage  our  honourable  labours. 
But,  as  affairs  are  at  present  situated,  what  is 
there  else  that  can  render  life  desirable  ?  For 
my  own  part,  it  is  with  difficulty  I  endure  it, 
even  with  all  the  advantages  of  their  powerful 
assistance  ;  but,  without  them,  it  would  be  ut*- 
terly  insupportable.  But  we  shall  talk  farther 
and  frequently  upon  this  subject  when  we  meet; 
in  the  mean  time,  I  give  you  joy  of  the  new  ha- 
imitation  you  have  purchased,  and  highly  ap- 
prove of  your  removal.     Farewel. 

LETTER  XV. 

^  fA.U.708.] 

To  Tiro. 

Why  should  you  not  direct  your  letters  to 
me  M  ith  the  familiar  superscription  which  one 
friend  generally  uses  to  another  ?  However, 
if  you  are  unwilling  to  hazard  the  envy  ^vhich 
this  privilege  may  draw  upon  you,  be  it  as  you 
thmk  proper ;  though,  for  my  o\vn  part,  it  is  a 
maxim  which  I   have  generally  pursued  with 

respect 


respect  to  myself,  to  treat  envy  with  the  utmost 
disregard. 

I  rejoice  that  you  found  so  much  benefit  by 
your  sudorific ;  and  should  the  air  of  TusculuiJi 
be  attended  with  the  same  happy  effect,  ho\^ 
infinitely  will  it  increase  my  fondness  for  that 
favourite  scene  !  If  you  love  me,  then,  (aod 
if  you  do  not,  you  a-r*e  undoubtedly  the  most 
successful  of  all  dissemblers)  considerate  yom* 
whole  time  to  tlie  care  of  yoiur  health  ;  which, 
hitherto,  indeed,  your  assidiKvus  attendance 
upon  myself,  has  bu4:  too  mfucb  pi^veuted. 
You  well  know  the  rides  whidh  it  is  neces.sary 
you  should  observe  for  this  purpose,  and  I  me:&^ 
jnot  tell  you  that  your  diet  should  be  light,  and 
your  exercises  moderate  ;  that  you  should  keep 
your  body  open,  aad  your  mmd  amused.  Be 
it  your  care,  in  short,  to  return  to  me  perfectly 
jecovered^  and  I  shall  ever  afterwards  notp.nly 
love  you,  but  Tujsculum  so  much  the  mare  ax- 
•dently. 

I  wish  you  could  prevail  with  youriO^ighbour 
to  take  my  garden,  as  it  will  be  the  mo^  effec- 
tual means  of  vexing  that  rascal  Helico.  This 
fellow,  although  he  paid  a  thousand  sesterces^ 
for  the  rent  of  a  piece  of  cold  barren  ground, 
that  had  not  so  much  as  a  wall  or  a  shed  upon 


-I',  ij 


.  ....|. . 


It, 


'  About  Si.  of  our  money. 

D4 


I  M 


40 


The  letters 


Hook  XI. 


it,  or  was  supplied  with  a  single  drop  of  water, 
has  yet  the  assurance  to  laugh  at  the  price  I 
require  for  mine,  notwithstanding  all  the  money 
I  have  laid  out  upon  improvements.  But  let 
it  be  your  business  to  spirit  the  man  into  our 
terms,  as  it  shall  be  mine  to  make  the  same 
artful  attack  uponptho. 

Let  me  know  what  you  have  done  Avith  re^ 
spect  to  tk^  fountain  ;  though,  possibly,  this 
wet  season  may  now  have  over-supplied  it  with 
water.  If  the  w^eather  should  prove  fair,  I  will 
send  the  dial,  together  with  the  books  you  de*- 
bire.  But  how  happened  it  that  you  took  none 
with  you  ?  AVas  it  that  you  were  employed  in 
some  poetical  composition  upon  the  model  of 
your  admired  Sophocles  ?  If  so,  I  hope  you 
yilll  soon  oblige  the  world  with  your  perform- 
ance. > 

^^,  Ligurius,  Caesar's  great  favourite,  is  dead. 
He  was  a  very  worthy  man,  and  much  my 
friend.  I^t  me  know  when  I  may  expect  you  7 
in  the  mean  time  be  careful  of  your  health, 

LETTJLR 


A/ 


Book  XI. 


OF  CICERO. 


41 


LETTER  XVI. 

[A.  U.  r08.]  ^'^"' 

To  QuiNTus  Valerius  Orca^. 

I  HAVE  the  strongest  attachment  to  the  citi* 
zens  of  Volaterrse',  as  a  body  of  men,  who, 
having  received  great  obligations  from  me,  have 
abundantly  returned  them.  Their  good  offices, 
indeed,  have  never  been  wanting  in  any  season 
of  my  life,  whether  of  adversity  or  prosperity. 
But  were  I  entirely  void  of  all  personal  con- 
nexions with  this  community,  I  should,  never- 
theless, merely  from  my  great  aflfection  to- 
wards  yourself,  and  in  return  to  that  which  I 
am  sensible  you  equally  bear  for  me,  most  ear- 
nestly recommend  them  to  your  protection; 
especially  as  they  have,  in  some  sort,  a  more 
than  common  claim  to  your  justice.  For,  in 
the  first  place,  the  gods  themselves  seem  to 
have  interposed  in  their  behalf,  when  they  so 
wonderfully  escaped  from  the  persecutions  of 

Sylla; 

^'^  He  was  praetor  in  the  year  of  Rome  697,  and  at  the  ex- 
piration of  his  ofBce  obtained  the  government  of  Africa. — 
Upon  the  breaking  out  of  the  civil  war,  be  took  possession  of 
Sardinia,  in  the  name  of  Caesar,  by  whom  he  was  at  this  time 
appointed  one  of  the  commissioners  for  dividing  those  estates, 
with  which  be  proposed,  upon  his  return  from  Spain,  to  re- 
ward the  valour  and  fidelity  of  bis  soldiers.  Pigh,  Annal.  ii. 
384. 

*  A  city  in  Tuscany. 

3 


42 


The  letters         Book  XL 


Book  XL 


OF  CICERO. 


Sylla* :  and,  in  the  next,  the  whole  body  of  the 
11  > man  people -expressed  the  warmest  concern 
for  their  interest,  when  I  stood  forth  as  their 
advocate  in  my  consulsliip.      For,  when  the 
tribunes  were  endeavouring  to  carry  a  most 
iniquitous  law  for  the  distribution  of  the  lands 
belonging  to  this  city,  I  found  it  extremely 
easy  to  persuade  the  republic  to  favour  the 
rights  of  a  community  which  fortune  had  so 
Temarkably  protected.     And  as  Caesar,  in  the 
Agrarian  law,  which  he  procured  during  his 
first  consulate',  shewed  his  approbation  of  the 
^rvices  I  had  thus  performed  for  them,  by  ex- 
pressly exempting  their  lands  from  all  future 
impositions,   I  cannot  suppose  that  he,  who  is 
per]>etttaily  displaying  new  instances  of  hisge- 
aiei'Ositv,  should  intend  to  resume  those  which 
hh  foa  mer  bounK  has  bestowed.     As  you  have 
folloj^ed,  then,  his  party  and  bis  power  with  so 
riwuch  honour  to  yourself,  it  should  seem  agree- 
able to  your  usual  prudence,  to  follow  liim 
likewise  in  tiiis  instance  of  liis  genei'Osity,  or 
jcertainly,  at  least,  to  leave  this  matter  entirely 
to  his  own  decision.     One  thing  I  am  sure  you 

can 

*  They  held  out  u  *»ie^o  of  two  )»ears  against  the  troops  of 
"Sylla,  who  in  vain  entleavourerl  to  compel  them  to  submii  to 
liis  edict  for  the  confiscation  of  their  lands.     Quartkr. 

*  The  law  alluded  to  seems  to  have  been  a  branch  df  that 
proposed  by  Rullus  ;  an  account  of  which  has  been  given  in 
these  remarks.     See  rem.  13.  p.  l6o,  vol.  I. 

1 


can  by  no  means  doubt ;  and  that  is,  whether 
you  should  wish  to  fix  so  worthy  and  so  illu^ 
trious  a  corporation  in  your  interest,  who  are 
distinguished  for  their  inviolable  adherence  to 
their  friends.     Thus  far  1  have  endeavoured  to 
persuade  you  to  take  tliese  people  under  your 
protection,  for  your  own  sake ;  but,  that  you 
may  not  imagine  I  have  no  other  plea  to  urge  in 
their  favour,  I  will  now  request  it  also  for  mine. 
You  cannot,  in  truth,  confer  upon  me  a  more 
acceptable  service,  than  by  proving  yourself  tlie 
friend  and  guardian  of  their  interests.    I  recom- 
mend, therefore,  to  your  justice  and  humanity 
the  possessions  of  a  city  whi<:h  have  been  hither- 
to preserved  by  the  peculiar  providence  of  tlie 
gods,  as  well  as  by  the  particular  favour  of  tlie 
most  distinguished  personages  in  the  whole  Ro- 
man  commonwealth.     If  it  were  in  my  power 
as  effectually  to  serve  those  who  place  tliem- 
selves  under   my  patronage,  as  it  once  was, 
there  is  no  good  office  I  would  not  exert,  ther^ 
is  no  opposition  I  would  not  encounter,  in  or- 
der to  assist  the  Volatcrraiiians.     But  I  flatter 
myself  I  have  still  the  same  interest  with  yon, 
that  I  formerly  enjoyed  with  the  world  in  ge- 
neral.    Let  me  entreat  you,   then,  by  all  the 
powerful  ties  of  our  friendship,  to  give  these 
citizens  reason  to  look  upon  it  as  a  providential 

circumstance, 


44 


The  letters 


Book  Xl. 


Book  XI. 


OF  CICERO. 


4S 


circumstance,  that  the  person  who  is  appointed 
to  execute  this  commission,  happens  to  be  one 
with  whom  their  constant  patron  has  the  great* 
est  influence.     Farewel. 

LETTER  XVIL 

[A.  U.  708.] 

To  Lepta* 

*  • 

I  AM  glad  that  Macula  has  acted  agreeably  to 
the  good  offices  I  have  a  right  to  expect  from 
him,  bv  offerini2:  me  the  use  of  liis  house.  I 
afways  thought  the  man's  Falernian*  was  well 
enough  for  road-wiue,  and  only  doubted  whe- 

,  jher  he  had  sufficient  room  to  receive  my  reti- 
nue: besides,  there  is  somethino*  m  the  situa- 
tion  or  his  villa  that  does  not  disj)lease  me.— - 

.  However,  I  do  not  give  up  my  design  upon 
^etrinum^     But  it  has  too  many  charms  to  be 

•tised  only  as  an  occasional  lodging;  its  beaii* 
ties  deserve  a  much  longer  stay. 

Balbus  is  confined  with  a  very  severe  fit  of  the 

^  gout,  and  docs  not  admit  any  visitors ;  so  that 

'"  riwrve  not  been  able  to  sec  him  since  you  left 
Rome.     However,  I  have  talked  with  Oppiiis 

*  ton't^ettiing  your  request  to  be  appointed  one  of 

9t^»  '-'*     ^v/  "VI J     .  the 

•  Thit'  #as  *a  favnurite  wine  among  the  Romans,  which 
took  its  name  from  Falgrnus,  a  Utile  hill  in  Campania,  where 
Ibe  grape  was  produced. 

'  A  tuwuiu  Campania^  where  Lepta  had  a  villa. 


the  managers  of  Caesar's  games'.     But,  in  my 
opinion,  it  would  bp  most  advisable  not  to  un-« 
dertakc  this  trouble ;  as  you  will  by  no  means 
find  it  subservient  to  the  point  you  have  ia 
view :  for  Ca;sar  is  surrounded  with  such  a  mul- 
titude of  pretenders  to  his  friendship,  that  he  i* 
more  likely  to  lessen,  than  increase,  the  num- 
ber ;  especially  where  a  man  has  no  higher  ser- 
vice to  recommend  him,  than  what  arises  froni 
little  offices  of  this  kind  ;  a  circumstance,  top, 
which  Cassar,  possibly,  may  never  be  acquaint- 
ed with.    But  if  he  should,  he  w^ould  look  upon 
himself  rather  as  having  conferred,   than  re- 
ceived,  a  favour.     Nevertheless,  I  wilitrVif 
this  affair  can  be  managed  in  such  a  mariner  as 
to  give  you  any  reasonable  hope  that  it  mil 
answer  your  purpose ;  otherwise,  I  think,  you 
should  be  so  far  from  desiring  the  employmcf^t, 
that  vou  ought  by  all  means  to  avoid  it.    ^  Vr 
I  believe  I  shall  stay  some  time  at  Astura*. 
as  I  purpose  to  wait  there  the  arrival  of  C^r 

sar'.     Farewel.  ;  a 

LETTER 

•  These  were  games  which  Caesar  proposed  tb  exhibit  in 
^  the  several  quarters  of  Rome,  upon  his  return  from  Spaing  io 

honour  of  his  victory  over  the  sons  of  Pompey.     S^iet,  intiit, 

Jul. 
to    i?  A  town  in  the  Campagna  di  Romoy  situated  Jn6?r  l^he 

sea-coast,   between    Civita   Vecchia,   and    Monte   Circello, 
'Where  Cicero  had  a  villa.     It  was  about  two  years  after  the 

dale  of  this  letter,  that  Cicero  was  murdered  i^a^  this  villa,^ 

ty  the  order  of  Antony.  tmar  ..    '.t  i 

'  From  Spain.  -     d? 


46 


The  letters 


Book  XL 


LETTER  XVIIL 

[A,  V.  7oa] 

To  Qi  iNTis  Valerius  Ohca'. 

I  AM  not  displeased  to  find  that  the  world  is 
apprised  of  the  fiiendshFp  which  subsists  be- 
tween us.  But  it  is  not,  you  may  well  imagine,, 
from  any  vain  ostentation  of  this  kind,  that  I 
interrupt  you  in  the  honourable  discharge  of 
that  troublesome  and  important  commission 
>\hich  Ccrsar  has  entrusted  to  your  care.  Ou 
the  contrary,  notwithstanding  tliat  th^  share  I 
enjoy  in  your  afiection  is  so  generally  known, 
as  to  occasion  many  applications  to  me,  yet  I 
would  not  be  tempted,  by  any  popular  mo- 
tives, to  break  in  upon  you  in  the  execution 
of  your  oiricc.  However,  I  could  not  refuse 
the  solici'tations  of  Curtius,  as  he  is  one  witlx 
whom  I  have  been  intimately  connected  from 
his  earliest  youth.  I  took  a  very  considerable 
part  in  the  misfortunes  he  suffered  from  the  un- 
just persecution  of  Sylla;  and  when  it  seemed 
agreeable  to  the  general  sense  of  the  people,  that' 
my  friend,  together  with  the  rest  of  those  who^ 
in  conjunction  with  himself,  had  been  deprived 
both  of  their  fortunes  and  their  country^  should 


'  See  rem   9.  on  let.  l6.  of  tJjis  B. 


b^ 


Book  XL 


OF  CICERO. 


47 


be  restored,  at  least,  to  the  latter ;  I  assisted 
him,  for  that  purpose,  to  the  utmost  of  my 
power.  Upon  his  return,  he  invested  all  that 
remained  to  him  from  this  general  wreck  of  his 
substance,  in  the  purchase  of  an  estate  at  Vo- 
laterrae ;  of  which,  if  he  should  be  dispossessed, 
I  know  not  how  he  will  support  the  senatorial 
rank  to  which  Caesar  has  lately  advanced  him. 
It  would  be  an  extreme  hardship,  indeed,  if  he 
should  sink  in  wealth,  as  he  rises  in  honours ; 
and  it  seems  altogether  inconsistent,  that  he 
should  lose  his  estate  in  consequence  of  Caesar's 
general  order  for  the  distribution  of  these  lands 
in  question ;  at  the  same  time,  that,  by  his  par- 
ticular favour,  he  has  gained  a  seat  in  the  se- 
nate. But  I  will  not  alledge  ail  that  I  well 
might,  for  the  equity  of  my  friend's  cause,  lest, 
by  enlarging  on  the  justice,  I  should  seem  to 
derogate  from  the  favour  of  your  compliance 
with  my  request.  I  most  earnestly  conjure 
you,  then,  to  consider  this  aifair  of  Curtius  as 
my  own  ;  to  protect  his  interest  as  you  would 
mine  in  the  same  circumstances ;  and  to  be  as- 
sured, that  whatever  services  you  shall'^hus 
confer  upon  my  friend,  I  shall  esteem  as  a  per- 
sonal obligation  to  myself.     Farewel. 

LETTER 

1^  ,7'ii0fj^; 


45  The  LETTERS 


Book  XL 


Book  XL 


o^  CICERO. 


LETTER  XIX, 

[A.  U.  706.] 

To  Fabius  Galtus*. 

Instances  of  your  friendship  are  perpetually 
meeting  me  wherever  I  turn  ;  and  I  have  lately^ 
in  particular,  had  occasion  to  experience  them 
in  regard  to  my  affair  with  TigeUius^  I  per-^ 
ceive  by  your  letter,  that  it  has  occasioned  you 
much  concern,  and  I  am  greatly  obliged  by 
this  proof  of  your  affection.  But  let  me  give 
you  a  short  history  how  the  case  stands.  It 
was  Cipius,  I  think,  that  formerly  said  *'  lam 
*^  not  asleep  J  or  everif  man^f  neither  am  \^ 
my  dear  Galhis,  so  meanly  complaisant  as  to 
be  the  humble  servant  of  every  minion.  The 
truth  of  it  is,  I  am  the  humble  servant  of 
none,  and  am  so  far  from  being  under  the 
necessity  of  submitting  to  any  servile  com- 
pliances, in  order  to  preserve  my  friendship 

with 

*  This  is  the  same  person  to  whom  the  llth  letter  of  the 
first  book  is  addressed. 

'  Tigellius  was  an  extravagant  debauchee,  who,  by  his 
pleasantry,  his  skill  in  music,  bis  agreeable  voice,  together 
with  his  other  soft  and  fashionable  qualifications,  had  €X-» 
tremely  ingratiated  himself  with  Caesar. 

♦Cipius  was  a  complaisant  husband,  who,  upon  some  oc- 
casions, would  affect  to  nod,  whilst  his  wife  was  awake  and 
more  agreeably  employed.  But  a  slave  coming  into  the  room 
wheTi  he  was  in  one  of  these  obliging  slumbers,  and  attempt- 
ing to  carry  off  a  fla^rqon  that  stood  upon  the  table,  "Sirrab.,** 
says  he,  **  non  omnibus  dormiQS* 


4f 


with  Caesar's  favourites ;  thai  there  is  not  one  of 
them,  except  this  Tigellius,  who  does  not  treat 
me  with  greater  marks  of  respect  than  I  ever 
received,  even  when  I  was  thought  to  enjoy  the 
highest  popularity  and  power.     But  I  think 
myself  extremely  fortunate  in  being  upon  ill 
terms  with  a  man  who  is  more  corrupted  than 
his  own  native  air^,  and  whose  character  is  no- 
torious, I  suppose,  to  the  whole  world,  by  the 
poignant  verses  of  the  satiric  Calvus^     But  to 
let  you  see  upon  what  slight  grounds  he  has 
taken  offence,  I  had  promised,  you  must  know, 
to  plead  the  cause  of  his  grandfather  Phameas . ' 
which  I  undertook,  however,  merely  in  friend- 
ship to  the  man  himself.     Accordingly  Pha- 
meas called  upon  me,  in  order  to  tell  me  that 
the  judge  had  fixed  a  day  for  his  trial :  which 
happened  to  be  the  very  same  on  which  I  was 
obfiged  to  attend  as  advocate  for  Sextius.     I 
acquainted  him,  therefore,  that  I  could  not  pos- 
sibly give  him  my  assistance  at  the  time  he  men- 
tioned ;  but  that  if  any  other  had  been  ap- 
pointed, 

'  Tigellius  was  a  native  of  Sardinia  :  an  psland  noted  fof 
its  nojiious  air.     See  rem.  8.  p.  24(5.  vol.  ii* 

*  Fate  seem«  to  have  decree^  that  Tigellius  sbouW  nqt 
want  a  poet  to  deliver  his  character  down  to  posterity :  for, 
although  the  versesof  Calvusare  lost,  tho^e  of  Horace  remain, 
in  which  Tigellius  is  delineated  with  all  those  inimitdble 
strokes  of  ridicule  which  distinguish  the  masterly  hand  of 
that  polite  satirist.     F/</.  Hor.  satyr,  lib,  1.  sat.  2  4*  3. 

Vol.  III.  E 


r 


60 


The  letters 


Book  XL 


Book  XL 


pointed,  I  most  assuredly  would  not  have  failed. 
Phameas,  nevertheless,  in  the  conscious  pride, 
no  doubt,  of  having  a  grandson  that  could  pipe 
and  sing  to  some  purpose,  left  me  with  an  air 
that  seemed  to  speak  indignation.  And  now, 
having  thus  stated  my  case,  and  shewn  you  the 
injustice  of  this  songster's  complaints,  may  I  not 
properly  say  with  the  old  proverb,  "  So  many 
"  Sardinians,  so  many  rival  r9gues\'' 

I  beg  you  would  send  me  your  Cato',  which 
I  am  extremely  desirous  of  reading.  It  is,  in- 
deed, some  reflection  upon  us  both,  that  I  have 
not  yet  enjoyed*  that  pleasure.     Farewel. 

LETTER 

'  The  literal  interpretation  of  this  proverb  is,  you  hate 
Sardinians  to  selU  each  a  greater  rogue  than  the  other  ;  but  a 
shorter  turn  has  been  adopted  in  the  translation,  in  order  to 
bring  it  nearer  to  the  conciseness  of  the  proverbial  style. 
This^proverb  took  its  rise  (as  Manutius  observes)  from  the 
great  number  of  Sardinian  slaves  with  which  the  markets  of 
Italy  were  overstocked,  upon  the  reduction  of  that  island  by 
Titus  Sempronius  Gracchus,  in  the  year  of  Rome  512. 

•  The  character  of  Cato  was,  at  this  time,  the  fashionable 
topic  of  declamation  at  Rome  :  and  every  man  that  pretend- 
ed to  genius  and  eloquence,  furnished  the  public  with  an  in- 
vective or  panegyric  upon  that  illustrious  Roman,  as  party  or 
patriotism  directed  his  pen.  In  this  respect,  as  well  as  in  all 
others,  Cato's  reputation  seems  to  have  been  attended  with 
every  advantage,  that  any  man  who  is  ambitious  of  a  good 
name  can  desire ;  for  the  next  honour  to  being  applauded 
by  the  worthy,  is  to  be  abused  by  the  worthless. 


OF  CICERO. 
LETTER  XX. 

[A.  U.  708.] 

To  Cluvius*. 


51 


}'■ 


In  the  visit  which,  agreeably  to  our  friend- 
ship and  that  great  respect  with  which  you  al- 
ways treat  me,  I  received  from  you  upon  vour 
setting  out  for  Gaul,  we  had  some  general  dis- 
course relating  to  those  estates  in  that  province 
which  are  held  of  the  city  of  Atella^  and  I  then 
expressed  how  much  I  was  concerned  for  the  in- 
terest of  that  corporation.  But,  in  confidence  of 
the  singular  affection  you  bear  me,  and  in  per- 
formance of  a  duty  which  it  is  incumbent  upon 
me  to  discharge,   1  thought  proper  to  write  to 
you  more  fully  upon  this  affair,  as  it  is,  indeed, 
ofthe  last  importance  to  acommunity  with  which 
I  have  the  strongest  connexions.  I  am  very  sen- 
sible, at  the  same  time,  both  ofthe  occasion  and 
extent  of  your  commission,  and  that  Caesar  has 
not  entrusted  you,  in  the  execution  of  it,  with 
any  discretionary  power.     I  hmit  my  request, 
therefore,  by  what  I  imagine  is  no  less  within 

the 

*  He  was  one  of  the  commissioners  nominated  by  Cxsar 
for  settling  the  division  of  the  lands  for  the  purposes  men- 
tioned in  note  9  on  let.  l6  of  this  Book.  The  department  as- 
signed to  him  was  Cisalpine  Gaul. 

^  A  city  in  Campania,  situated  between  Naples  and  Ca- 
pua -•  it  is  now  called  Santo  Avfino. 

E2 


52 


The  letters 


Book  XI. 


the  bounds  of  your  authority,  than  I  am  per- 
suaded it  is  not  beyond  what  you  would  be  wil- 
ling to  do  for  my  sake.     In  the  first  place, 
then,  I  entreat  you  to  believe,  what  is  truly  the 
fact,  that  the  whole  revenues  of  this  corpora- 
tion arise  from  these  lands  in  question,  and  that 
the  heavy  impositions  with  which  tliey  are  at 
present  burthened,  have  laid  them  under  the 
greatest  difficulties.     But  although,  in  this  re- 
spect, they  may  seem  to  be  in  no  worse  cx)ndi- 
tion  than  many  other  cities  in  Italy ;  yet,  be- 
lieve me,  their  case  is  unhappily  distinguished 
by  several  calamitous  circumstances  peculiar  to 
themselves.     1  forbear,  however,  to  enumerate 
them,   lest,  in  lamenting  the  miseries  of  my 
friends,  I  should  be  thought  to  glance  at  those 
persons  whom  it  is,  by  no  means,  my  design  to 
offend.    Indeed,  if  I  had  not  conceives!  strong 
hopes  that  I  shall  be  able  to  prevail  with  Caesar 
in  favour  of  this  city,  there  would  be  no  occa- 
sion for  my  present  very  earnest  application  to 
you.     But  as  I  am  well  persuaded  that  Ca9sar 
will  have  regard  to  tlie  dignity  of  this  illustri- 
ous corporation ;  to  the  zeal  which  they  bear 
for  his  interest ;  and,  above  all,  to  the  equity 
of  their  cause ;  I  venture  to  entreat  you  to 
leave  the  decision  of  this  affair  entirely  to  hi» 
ov^n  deterraination^     If  I  could  produce  no 

precedeat 

*  Caesar  was  not  yet  returned  out  of  Spain. 


Book  XL 


OF  CICERO. 


53 


precedent  of  yout  having  already  complied  with 
a  request  of  this  nature ;  it  is  a  request  which 
I  should  have  nevertheless  have  made,  but  I 
have  so  much  the  stronger  hopes  that  you  will 
not  refuse  me  in  the  present  instance,  as  I  am 
informed  you  have  granted  the  same  favour  to 
the  citizens  of  Regium**.  It  is  true,  you  have 
some  sort  of  connexion  with  that  city.  But,  in 
justice  to  your  affection  towards  me,  I  cannot 
but  hope,  that  what  you  have  yielded  to  your 
own  clients,  you  will  not  deny  to  mine,  especi- 
ally as  it  is  for  these  alone  that  I  solicit  you,  not- 
withstanding 80  many  others  of  my  friends  are 
in  the  same  situation.  I  dare  say  I  need  not  as- 
sure you,  that  it  is  neither  upon  any  ambitious 
motives  that  I  apply  to  you  in  their  behalf,  nor 
without  having  juSt  reason  to  be  their  advocate. 
The  fact  is,  I  have  great  obligations  to  them : 
and  there  has  been  no  season  of  my  life  in  which 
they  have  not  given  me  signal  proofs  of  their 
affection.  As  you  are  sensible,  therefore,  that 
tlie  interest  of  this  corporation,  with  which  I  am 
so  strongly  connected,  is  greatly  concerned  in 
the  success  of  my  present  request,  I  conjure  you, 
by  all  the  powerful  ties  of  our  mutual  friend- 
ship, and  by  all  the  sentiments  of  your  huma- 
nity, 

*  Now  called  Regio,  a  maritime  city  in  Calabria, 

E3 


54 


The  letters 


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Book  XL 


OF  CICERO* 


55 


nity,  to  comply  with  these  my  intercessions  in 
their  behalf.  If,  after  having  obtained  this  fa- 
vour, I  should  succeed  likewise  (as  I  have  rea- 
son to  hope)  in  my  application  to  Caesar,  I  shall 
consider  all  the  advantages  of  that  success  as 
owing  entirely  to  yourself.  Nor  shall  I  be  less 
obliged  to  you  though  I  should  not  succeed,  as 
you  will  have  contributed  all  in  your  power,  at 
least,  that  I  might.  In  one  word,  you  will,  by 
these  means,  not  only  perform  a  most  accept- 
able service  to  myself,  but  for  ever  attach  to 
the  interest  both  of  you  and  your  family,  a 
most  illustrious  and  grateful  city.     Farewel. 

LETTER  XXL 

[A.  U.  708.] 

To  Fabius  Gallus. 

You  need  be  in  no  pain  about  your  letter.  So 
far  from  having  destroyed  it,  as  you  imagine, 
it  is  perfectly  safe,  and  you  may  call  for  it 
whenever  you  please. 

Your  admonitions  are  extremely  obligino-, 
and  I  hope  you  will  always  continue  them  with 
the  same  freedom.  You  arc  apprehensive,  I 
perceive,  that  if  I  should  render  this  Ti<rellius 
my  enemy,  he  may,  probably,  make  me  mer- 
rier than  I  like,  and  teach  me  the  Sardiman 

laugh. 


laugh'.  In  return  to  your  proverb,  let  mepre* 
sent  you  with  another,  and  adviseyou  to  '*  throw 
aside  the  pencil'."  For  our  master"-  will  be  here 
much  sooner  than  was  expected :  and  I  am  afraid 
he  should  send  the  man  who  ventures  to  paint 
Catoin  such  favourable  colours,  to  join  the  hero 
of  his  panegyric  in  the  shades  below. 

Nothing,  my  dear  Gallus,  can  be  expressed 

with  greater  strength  and  elegance  than  that 

part  of  your  letter  which  begins,  **  The  ixst  are 

fallen,  &c."     But  I  whisper  this  applause  in 

your 

5>  It  is  said,  there  was  a  sea  weed  frequently  found  upon 
the  coasts  of  Sardinia,  the  poisonous  quality  whereof  occa- 
sioned a  convulsive  motion  in  the  features  which  had  the 
appearance  of  laughter  ;  and  that  hence  the  Sardinian  laugh 
became  a  proverb  usually  applied  to  those  who  concealed 
a  heavy  heart  under  a  gay  countenance.  Gallus  seems  to 
have  cited  this  proverb  as  a  caution  to  Cicero  not  to  be  too 
free  in  his  railleries  upon  Tigellius :  and  there  is  a  peculiar 
propriety  in  his  application  of  it,  as  Tigellius  was  a  Sardini- 
an. 1  must  acknowledge,  however,  that  I  have  departed 
from  the  sentiments  of  the  commentators,  in  supposing  that 
Tigellius  is  the  person  here  alluded  to  :  they  all  imagine,  on 
the  contrary,  that  it  is  Caesar.  But  this  letter  seems  evi- 
dently to  be  upon  the  same  subject  as  the  19th  of  this  book; 
and  was,  probably,  an  answer  to  one  which  Gallus  had  writ-^ 
ten  in  return  to  that  epistle. 

^*  This  proverb,  Victorious  supposes,  had  its  rise  from  the 
schools  of  the  painters :  where  the  young  pupils,  who,  in  the 
absence  of  their  master  were  amusing  themselves,  perhaps,  in 
drawing  their  pencils  over  the  piece  on  which  he  was  at 
work,  called  upon  each  other  when  they  saw  him  returning 
to  lay  them  aside.  Cicero,  in  the  application  of  this  pro- 
verb, alludes  to  the  panegyric  which  Gallus  had  written  upon 
Cato.     See  rem.  8.  on  the  Ipth  letter  of  this  book. 

*  Caesar :  who  was  at  this  time  upon  his  return  from 
Spain. 

*^  E4 


i 


56 


The  letters 


Book  XL 


Book  XL 


OF  CICERO. 


57 


your  ear ;  and  desire  it  may  be  a  secret,  even 
to  your  freedman  Apella.  Nobody,  indeed, 
writes  in  this  manner  except  ourselves.  How 
far  it  is  to  be  defended  or  not,  I  may  consider, 
perhaps,  another  time :  but  this,  at  least,  is  in- 
disputable, that  it  is  a  style  entirely  our  own. 
Persevere  then  in  these  compositions,  as  the 
best  and  surest  method  of  forming  your  elo- 
quence. As  for  myself,  I  now  employ  some 
part  even  of  my  nights,  in  exercises  of  the  same 
kind.     Farewel. 

LETTER  XXIL 

[A.  U.  708.] 

To  Marcus  Rutilius*. 

In  the  consciousness  of  that  affection  I  bear 
you,  and  from  the  proofs  I  have  experienced  of 
yours,  I  do  not  scruple  to  ask  a  favour  which 
a  principle  of  gratitude  obliges  me  to  request. 
To  what  degree  I  value  Publius  Sextius*,  is  a 
circumstance  with  which  my  own  heart  is  best 
acquainted  :'  but  how  greatly  I  ought  to  do  so, 
both  you  and  all  the  world  are  perfectly  well  ap- 
prised. As  he  has  been  informed  by  some  of 
his  friends,  that  you  are,  upon  all  occasions  ex- 
tremely 

•  lie  was  employed  in  a  commission  of  the  same  kind 
with  that  ol  Orca  and  Cluvius,  to  whom  the  l6'th  and  20ib 
letters  of  this  bu«)k  are  aildressed. 

'  See  rem.  9.  p.  l63.  vol.  1. 


tremely  well  disposed  to  oblige  me,  he  has  de- 
sired I  would  write  to  you  in  the  strongest 
terms  in  behalf  of  Caius  Albinius,  a  person  of 
senatorian  rank.  Publius  Sextius  married  his 
daughter :  and  he  has  a  son  by  her,  who  is 
a  youth  of  great  merit.  I  mention  these  cir- 
cumstances, to  let  you  see,  that  Sextius  has  no 
less  reason  to  be  concerned  for  the  interest  of 
Albinius,  than  I  have  for  that  of  Sextius.  But 
to  come  to  the  point. 

Marcus  Laberius  purchased,  under  an  edict 
of  Caesar,  the  confiscated  estate  of  Plotius, 
which  he  afterwards  assigned  over  to  Albinius, 
in  satisfaction  of  a  debt.  If  I  were  to  say,  that 
it  is  not  foT  the  credit  of  the  government  to  in- 
clude this  estate  among  those  lands  which  are 
directed  to  be  divided ;  I  might  seem  to  talk 
rather  in  the  style  of  a  man  who  is  dictating, 
than  of  one  who  is  making  a  request.  But  as 
Csesar  thought  it  necessary  to  ratify  the  sales 
and  mort2:as:es  that  had  been  made  of  those 
estates  which  were  confiscated  during  Sylla's 
administration,  in  order  to  render  his  own  pur- 
chasers of  the  same  kind  so  much  the  more  se- 
cure ;  if  these  forfeited  lands,  which  were  put 
up  to  auction  by  his  particular  order,  should 
be  included  in  the  general  division  he  is  now 
making,  will  it  not  discourage  all  future  bid- 
ders ?  I  only  hint  this,  however,  for  your  own 

judicious 


58 


The  LETTERS 


Book  XL 


judicious  consideration.  In  the  mean  time,  I 
most  earnestly  entreat  you  not  to  dispossess  Al- 
binius  of  the  farms  which  Laberius  has  thus 
conveyed  to  him  :  and  be  assured,  as  nothing 
can  be  more  equitable  than  this  request,  so  I 
make  it  in  all  the  warmth  and  sincerity  of  my 
lieart.  It  will  afford  me,  indeed,  not  only  much 
satisfaction,  but  in  some  sort,  likewise,  great 
honour,  if  Sextius,  to  whose  friendship  I  am  so 
deeply  indebted,  should  have  an  opportunity, 
throusrh  mv  means,  of  servino^  a  man  to  whom 
he  is  thus  nearly  related.  Again  and  again, 
therefore,  I  entreat  your  compliance ;  and  as 
there  is  no  instance  wherein  you  can  more  ef- 
fectually oblige  me,  so  you  may  depend  upon 
fnulin<r  me  infinitely  sensible  of  the  obligation. 
Tarewel, 

LETTER  XXIII. 

[A.  U.  708.] 

To  Vatixius. 

I  AM  by  no  means  surprised  to  find  that  you 
are  sensible  of  my  services^  On  the  contrary, 
I  perfectly  well  knew,  and  have,  upon  all  occa- 
sions, declared,  that  no  man  ever  possessed  so 

grateful 

^  Thf  services  here  allu(ied  to,  are,  probably,  those  which 
\'utinuis  solicited  in  the   12th  letter  of  this  book.     Cicero's 
answer  to  that  letter  is  lost,  as  well  as  Vatinius's  reply:  but; 
the  present  episstle  iL-ems  to  have   been  written  in  return  to  . 
Ike  latter. 


Book  XL 


OF  CICERO. 


59 


grateful  a  heart.  You  have,  indeed,  not  only 
acknowledged,  but  abundantly  returned  my 
good  offices :  be  assured,  therefore,  you  will  al* 
ways  experience,  in  me,  the  same  friendly  zeal 
in  every  other  article  of  your  concerns.  Ac- 
cordingly, after  having  received  your  last  letter, 
wherein  you  recommend  that  excellent  woman, 
your  wife,  to  my  protection*  ;  I  immediately 
desired  our  friend  Sura  to  acquaint  her,  that  if, 
in  any  instance,  she  had  occasion  for  my  ser- 
vices, I  hoped  she  would  let  me  know ;  and 
that  she  might  depend  upon  my  executing  her 
requests  with  the  utmost  warmth  and  fidelity. 
This  promise  I  shall  very  punctually  fulfil :  and 
if  it  should  prove  necessary,  I  Mall  wait  upon 
her  myself  In  the  mean  time  I  beg  you 
would  inform  her,  by  your  own  hand,  that  I 
shall  not  look  upon  any  office  as  difficult,  or 
below  my  character,  wherein  my  assistance 
can  avail  her  :  as,  indeed,  there  is  no  employ- 
ment in  which  I  could  be  engaged  upon  your 
account,  that  I  should  not  think  both  easy 

and  honourable^     ^  '^    ' 

I  entreat 

^  If  Vatinius  was  not  a  more  tender  husband,  than  be  ap- 
pears to  have  been  a  son,  this  lady  might  have  had  occasion 
for  Cicero's  protection,  in  some  instances,  which  she  would 
not,  perhaps,  have  been  very  willing  to  own :  for  among  other 
enormities  that  are  laid  to  the  charge  of  Vatinius,  it  is  said, 
that  be  had  the  cruelty,  as  well  as  the  impiety,  to  lay  violent 
hands  on  his  mother.     Or  at.  in  Vatin,  7- 

5  Who  would  imagine  that  this  is  the  same  person  of  whom 
Cicero  has  elsewhere  said,  that  "  No  one  could  look  upon 

him 


60 


Thu  letters 


Book  XL 


Book  XL  of  CICERO. 


61 


I  entreat  you  to  settle  the  affilif  with  Diony- 
sius :  and  any  assurance  that  you  shall  think 
proper  to  give  him,  in  my  name,  I  will  reli- 
giously perform.  But  if  he  should  continue 
obstinate,  you  must  e  en  seize  hirti  as  a  pri- 
soner of  war,  to  grace  your  triumphal  entry. 

May  a  thousand  curses  fall  upon  these  Dal- 
matians for  giving  you  so  much  trouble.  How- 
ever, I  join  with  you  in  being  well  persuaded, 
that  you  will  soon  reduce  them  to  obedience  : 
and  as  they  have  always  been  esteemed  a  war- 
like people,  their  submission  will  greatly  con- 
tribute to  the  glory  of  your  arms.     Farewel. 

LETTER 

**  bim  without  a  sigh,  or  sp«ak  of  him  without  execration  : 
"  that  he  was  the  dread  of  his  neighbouri-,  the  disgrace  of  his 
"**  kindred,  and  the  utter  abhorrence  of  the  public  in  gene- 
*•  ral."  Indeed,  when  Cicero  gave  this  character  of  Valmius, 
he  was  acting  as  an  advocate  at  the  bar,  and  endeavouring 
(o  destroy  his  credit  as  a  witness  against  his  friend  and  client. 
Bttt  whatever  allowances  may  be  raa^e,  in  general,  for  rhe- 
torical exaggerations,  yet  history  shews  that,  in  the  preseni 
instance,  Cicero's  eloquence  did  not  transgress  the  limits  of 
trulh.  For  Paterculus  has  painted  the  character  of  Vatinius 
in  the  same  disadvantageous  colours,  and  represented  him  ^s 
Ibe  lowest  and  most  worthless  of  men.  Orat.  ia  Vatin.  l6^ 
F</.  Paterc.  ii.  69. 


'♦?  J I  . 


LliTTER  XXIV. 

[A.  U.  708.} 
To  CORNIFICIUS*. 

It  was  with  great  satisfaction  I  found,  by  your 
Jetter,  that  you  allow  me  a  place  in  your  thoughts: 
and  it  is  by  no  means  as  doubting  the  constancy 
of  your  friendship,  but  merely  in  compliance 
with  a  customary  form,  that  I  entreat  you  ta 
preserve  im  still  in  your  remembrance. 

It  is  reported  that  some  commotions  have 
arisen  in  Syria :  at  which  I  am  more  alarn^d 
upftn  your  account  than  our  own,  as  you  arc 
placed  so  much  nearer  to  the  consequences.  As 
to  a^F^irs  at  Ronie,  we  are  enjoying  that  sort  of 
repose  which  I  am  sure  you  would  be  better 
pleased  to  hear  was  interrupted  by  some  vi- 
gorous measures  for  the  public  welfare.  And  I 

hope 

<  Quintus  Cornificius,  in  the  year  705,  obtained  the  pro- 
consulsfiip  of  Illyrijcum,     In  the  following  year  he  was,  re- 
moved from  thence  into  some  other  province,  the  name  of 
which  is  unknown:   but  it  appea/s  to  have  be«r|  CQntigi|t)U!S 
to  Syria.     In  this  province  he  resided  when  the  present  and 
twenty-sixth  letter  of  this  book  were  written  to  him.  He  was 
afterwards  appointed  governor  vf  Africa:  as  a|)pears  by  se- 
veral letters  addressed  to  him  in  the  ne^t  book  :  and  which 
will  afford  a  foriher  occasion  of  speaking  of  him.     He  had 
gre^Hly.  distinguished  himself  in  the  art  of  eloquence :  dfid  i» 
supposed  to  have  been  the  author  of  those  rhetorical   pieces 
xvhich  are  mentioned  by  Quintilian,  as  written  by  a  person  of 
this  name.     Pigk.  Aiml  ii-  4rtf  •  ^54.  466.     Quint,  in.  1. 
I 


6ft 


The  letters  Book  XL 


Book  XL 


OF  CICERO. 


63 


hope  it  shortly  will :  as  I  find  it  is  Cesar's  in- 
tention to  concert  methods  for  that  purpose. 

Your  absence  has  inspired  me  with  the  cou- 
rage of  engaging  in  some  compositions,  which 
otherwise  I  should  scarce  have  ventured  to  un- 
dertake :  though  there  are  some  among  them 
which  even  my  judicious  friend,  perhaps,  would 
not  disapprove.     The  last  that  I  have  finished 
is  upon  a  subject,  on  which  I  have  frequently 
had  occasion  to  think  that  your  notions  were 
not  altogether  agreeable  to  mine :  it  is  an  in- 
quiry into  the  best  species  of  eloquence'.  Though 
I  must  add,   that  whenever  you  have  differed 
from  mc,  it  was  always  with  the  complaisance 
of  a  master-artist  towards  one  who  is  not  wholly 
unskilled  in  his  art.  I  should  be  extremely  glad 
that  this  piece  might  receive  your  suffrage :  if 
not  for  its  own  sake,   at  least  for  its  author's. 
To  this  end,  I  shall  let  your  family  know,  that, 
if  they  think  proper,  they  may  have  it  tran- 
scribed, in  order  to  send  it  to  you.    I  imagine, 
indeed,  although  you  should  not  approve  my 
sentiments,   yet  that  any  thing  which  comes 
from  my  hand,  will  be  acceptable  in  your  pre- 
sent inactive  situation. 

When  you  recommend  your  character  and 
honours  to  my  protection,  it  is  merely,  I  dare 

say, 

^  This  is,  probably,  the  same  piece,  of  which  an  account 
ha3  been  given  in  rem.  10.  on  let.  15.  Book  10. 


say,  for  the  sake  of  form,  and  not  as  thinking 
it  in  the  least  necessary.  Be  assured,  the  afffec- 
tion  which,  I  am  persuaded,  mutually  subsists 
between  us,  would  be  sufficient  to  render  me 
o-reatly  zealous  in  your  service.  But  abstract- 
edly from  all  motives  of  friendship,  were  I  to 
consider  only  the  noble  purposes  to  which  you  . 
have  applied  your  exalted  talents,  and  the  great 
probabiUty  of  your  attaining  the  highest  dig- 
nity in  the  commonwealth^ :  there  is  no  man 
to  whom  I  should  give  the  preference  in  my 
good  offices,  and  few  that  I  should  place  in 
the  same  rank  with  yourself     Farewel. 

LETTER  XXV. 

[A.U.708.] 

CuRius^  to  Cicero.     ^|, 

I  LOOK  upon  myself  as  a  sort  of  property,  the 
possession  of  which  belongs,  'tis  true,  to  At- 
ticus ;  but  all  the  advantage  that  can  be  derived 
from  it  is  wholly  yours.  If  Atticus,  therefore, 
were  inclined  to  dispose  of  his  right  in  me,  I 
am  afraid  he  could  only  pass  me  off  in  a  lot  with 
some  more  profitable  commodity :  whereas,  if 
you  should  have  the  same  inclination,  how 
greatly  would  it  enhance  my  value  to  be  pro- 
claimed 

^  The  consular  office. 

s  See  rem.  6,  p.  36*1.  vol.ii. 


64 


Thb  LETTERS 


Book  XL 


claimed  as  one  eotirely  formed  into  what  he  is,* 
by  your  care  and  kindness  ?  I  entreat  you  then 
to  continue  to  protect  the  work  of  your  own 
hands,  and  to  recomn^nd  me  in  the  strongest 
terms  to  the  successor  of  Sulpicius  in  this  pro- 
vince^  This  will  be  the  surest  means  of  put- 
ting it  in  my  power  to  obey  your  commands  of 
returnii^g  to  you  in  the  spring :  as  it  will  faci- 
litate the  settling  of  my  affairs  in  such  a  man- 
ner, that  1  may  be  able»  by  that  time,  to  trans*^ 
port  my  effects,  with  safety,  into  Italy.  But  I 
hope,  xny  illustrious  friend,  you  will  not  com- 
municate this  letter  to  Attieus  :  for  as  he  ima- 
gines I  am  much  too  honest  a  fellow  to  pay  the 
same  compliment  to  you  both;  suffer  him,  I 
beseech  you,  to  remain  in  this  favourable  error. 
Adieu,  my  dear  patron,  and  salute  Tiro  in  my 
name. 

0 

Oct.  tbeSpth. 


ft. 


LETTER  XXVI. 
[A.  u.  ro8.] 

To  CORNIFICIUS. 

1  SHALL  follow  the  same  method  in  answerinsr 
your  letter,  which  I  have  observed  that  you  great 
orators  sometimes  practise  in  your  replies,  and 
begin  with  the  last  article  first.     You  accuse 


•  Greece. 


me 


Book  XI. 


OF  CTCfERO. 


U 


me,  then,  of  being  a  negligent  correspondent ; 
but,  believe  me,  I  have  never  once  omitted  writ- 
ing whenever  any  of  your  family  gave  me  no*^ 
tice  that  a  courier  was  setting  out  to  you. 

I  have  so  high  an  opinion  of  your  prudence 
that  I  expected  you  would  act  in  the  manners 
your  very  obliging  letter  assures  me  you  intend; 
and  that  you  would  not  determine  your  mea- 
sures, till  you  should  know  where  this  paltry 
Bassus^  designed  to  make  an  irruption.  I  en-» 
treat  you  to  continue  to  give  me  frequent  iil-^ 
telligence  of  all  your  purposes  and  motions,  as; 
well  as  of  whatever  else  is  going  forward  in* 
your  part  of  the  world.  r         - .  ; 

It  was  with  much  regret  that  I  parted  with 
you,  when  you  left  Italy.;  but  I  comforted 
myself  in  the  persuasion,  that  you  were  not  oiily 
going  into  a  scene  of  profound  tranquillity,  but/ 
leaving  one  that  was  threatened. with  great  com- 
motions. The  reverse,  however,  has  proved  to 
be  the  fact,  and  war  has  broken  out  in  your 
quarters,  at  the  same  time  that  it  is  extinguish- 
ed in  ours.  But  the  peace  we  enjoy  is  attended, 
nevertheless,  with  many  disgusting  circum'*^ 
stances,  and  disgusting,  too,  even  to  Csesar  him- 
self. ^ 

'  Cscilius  Bassus  was  a  Roman  knight  of  the  Pompei^n 
party,  who,   after  the   battle   of  Pharsalia,  fled  into  Syrm ; ' 
where  he  was,  at  this   time,  raising  some  very  formidable 
commotions  against  the  authority  of  Caesar.  Dio.  xlvii.p.  342 

Vol.  III.  F 


^ 


65 


The   letters 


Book  Xtl 


self,  it  is  the  certain  conseqiietice,  indeed,  of  all 
civil  wars,  that  the  vanquished  must  not  only 
submit  to  the  will  of  the  victor,  but  to  the  will 
of  those  also  who  assisted  him  in  his  conquest. 
But  I  am  now  become  so  totally  callous,  that  I 
[§aw  Bursa',  the  other  day,  at  the  games  which 
Caesar  exhibited,  without  the  least  emotion ; 
and  was  present  with  equal  patience  at  the 
farces  of  Puhlius  and  Laberius'.  In  short,  I 
am  sensible  of  nothing  so  much  as  of  the  want 
of  a  judicious  friend  ^vith  whom  I  may  freely 
laugh  at  what  is  thus  passing  amongst  us.  And 
such  a  friend  I  shall  find  iti  you,  if  you  will 
hasten  your  return  hither;  a  circuffl^tatic?e 
which  I  look  upon  to  be  as  much  your  oWn 
interest,  as  I  am  sure  it  is  mine.     Farewel. 

LETTER 

.  :^  Cicero's  inveterate  enemy,  who  had  been  banished  some 
years  before,  but  had  lately  been  recalled  by  Caesar.  See 
rem    5.  p.  268.  vol.  1. 

9  For  an  account  of  Labcrius,  see  rfto.  1.  p.  223.  vol.  1. 
Publiuk  Syrus  had,  likewise,  distinguished  himself  upon  the 
Koman  stage  in  those  buffoon  pieces  whkh  they  called  their 
mimes.  But,  alihoi^h  ihe^e  rival  poets  and  actors  were  both 
of  them  excellent  in  their  way;  yet,  it  appears,  that  their 
humour  was  too  low  and  inelegant  to  suit  the  just  and  ne- 
iined  taste  ol  Cicero.    Macrob,  iS«/wm.  ii.  7. 


BodK  XI.  OF  CICERO.  ^7 

LETTER  XXVII. 

[A.  U.  708.] 
To  DOLABELLA. 

I  REJOICE  to  find  that  Baiae*  has  changed  its 
nature,  and  is  become,  on  a  sudden,  so  won- 
drous  salutaryK  But,  perhaps,  it  is  only  in 
complaisance  to  my  friend,  that  it  thus  sus- 
pends its  usual  effects,  and  will  resume  its 
vented  qualities  the  moment  you  depart.  I 
shall  not  be  surprised,  should  this  prove  to  bo 
the  case ;  nor  wonder,  indeed,  if  heaven  an^ 
earth  should  alter  their  general  tendencies,  foF 
the  saHe  of  a  man  who  has  so  much  to  recom-r 
mend  him  to  the  favour  of  both*. 

I  did 

*  See  rem.  7.  p.  234.  vol.  ii. 

^  Dolabella  had  probably  informed  Cicero,  in  a  letter  f>oni 
Bais,  of  the  salutary  effects  he  experienced  from  th«  waters 
of  that  place;  in  answer  to  which,  Cicero  plays  u pen  the 
ambiguous  meaning  of  the  word  salubres,  and  applies,  in  a 
moral  sense,  what  Dolabella  had  used  in  a  medicinal. 

*  If  no  other  memoirs  of  these  times  remained  than  what 
might  be  collected  from  the  letters  of  Cicero,  it  is  certain, 
they  would  greatly  mislead  us  in  our  notions  of  the  principal 
actors,  who  now  appeared  upon  the  theatre  of  the  Roman 
republic.  Thus,  for  instance,  who  would  imagine  that  the 
person  here  represented  as  interesting  heaven  and  earth  ia 
his  welfare,  was,  in  fact,  a  monster  of  lewdness  and  inhu- 
manity .?  But  how  must  the  reader's  astonishment  be  raised 
when  he  is  informed,  that  it  is  Cicero,  himself,  who  tells  us 
80  ?  Dolabella — a  puero  pro  diliciis  crudelitasfuity  (says  our 
author  in  one  of  his  Philippic  orations)  deinde  ea  libidinum 
turpitudo  ut  in  hoc  sit  semper  ipse  IcBtatus,  quod  ea  faceret  quce 
sibi  objici  ne  ab  inimico  quidem  posseut  verecundo.  '  If  this  was 

F  2  a  true 


I 

*■ 


t  »i 


68 


The  letters         Book  XU 


I  did  not  imagine,  that  I  had  preserved, 
among  my  papers,  the  trifling  speech  which  I 
made  in  hehalt'  of  Deiotarus*  ;  however,  I  have 
found  it,  and  sent  it  to  you,  agreeably  to  your 
request.  You  will  read  it  as  a  performance, 
w^hich  was,  by  no  means,  of  consequence  enough 
to  deserve  much  care  in  the  composition  ;  and, 
to  say  truth,  I  was  willing  to  make  my  old 
friend  and  host  a  present  of  the  same  indelicate 
kind  with  his  own. 

May  you  ever  preserve  a  virtuous  and  a  gene- 
rous mind  !  that  the  moderation  and  integrity 
of  your  conduct,  may  prove  a  living  reproach 
to  the  violence  and  injustice  of  some  others 
amongst  our  contemporaries  !     Farewel. 

LETTER 

a  true  picture  of  Dolabella,  what  shall  be  said  in  excuse  of 
Cirer-',  for  having  disposed  of  his  daughter  to  him  in  mar- 
riage ?  Should  arky  too  partial  advocate  of  Ciccro*s>  mora] 
character  endeavour  to  palliate  this  unfavourable  circum- 
stance, by  telling  us,  that  he  had  never  enquired  into  Dola- 
beild's  conduct,  mijjht  it  not  justly  be  suspected,  that  he 
meant  to  bonier  ?  Yet,  this  is  the  very  reason  which  Cicero 
himself  assigns,  in  the  oration  from  whence  the  above  pas- 
sage is  cited.  Et  hie,  dii  immortaUs  !  aliquando  fnit  meus  ! 
occulta  enim  cratxitia  non  inquire!tti.  Strange  !  that  a 
man  who  loved  his  daughter  even  to  a  degree  of  extrava- 
gance, should  be  so  careless  in  an  article  wherein  her  hap- 
piness  But  I   need  not  finish  the  rest ;  where  facts  speak 

for  themselves,  let  me  be  spared   the  pain  of  a  comment, 
Vid.  Philip.  s\.U. 

♦  See  rem.  2.  p.  329-  vol.  u 


Book  XL 


-if 


OF  CICERO. 
LETTER  XXVIIL 

[A.  U.  708.] 

Vatinius  to  Cicero, 


69 


I  HAVE  not  been  able  to  do  any  thing  to  the 
purpose,  with  regard  to  your  librarian,  Dio- 
nysius' ;  and,  indeed,  my  endeavours  have  hi- 
therto proved  so  much  the  less  eftbctual,  as  the 
severity  of  the  weather,  which  obliged  me  to 
retreat  out  of  Dalmatia,  still  detains  me  here. 
However,  I  will  not  desist  till  I  have  gotten 
him  into  my  custody.  But  surely  I  am  always 
to  find  some  difficulty  or  other  in  executing 
your  commands,  why  else  did  you  write  to  me — 
I  know  not  what,  in  favour  of  Catilius*  ?  But 
avaunt,  thou  insidious  tempter,  with  thy  dan- 
gerous intercessions  !  And  our  friend  Servi- 
lius,  too,  (for  ?Jiine  my  heart  prompts  me  to  call 
him,  as  well  2iS  yours,)  is,  it  seems,  a  joint  pe- 
titioner  with  you  in  this  request.  Is  it  usual, 
then,  I  should  be  glad  to  know,  with  you 
orators,  to  be  tlie  advocates  of  such  clients, 
and  in  such  causes  .^     Is  it  usual  to  plead  in 

.       behaJf 

tn'-rfSee  let.  12.  p.  33.  of  this  vol. 

^  This  man  was  qusestor  in  the  year  702  ;  and,  during  the 
civil  war,  was  entrusted  with  some  naval  command  ;  but  it 
appears,  by  the  present  letter,  that  he  had  turned  pirate,  and 
committed  great  cruelties  and  depredations  upon  the  coasts 
of  lllvncum,     Pigh,  Jn/ial.  u,  4i2l, 

F3 


\ 

4 


70 


The  letters 


Book  XL 


behalf  of  the  most  cruel  of  the  human  race  ?  in 
defence  of  a  man  who  has  murdered  our  fellow- 
citizens,  plundered  their  houses,  ravished  their 
wives,  and  laid  whole  regions  in  desolation  ? 
This  worthless  wretch  had  the  insolence,  like- 
wise, to  take  up  arms  against  myself;  and  he 
is  now,  'tis  true,  my  prisoner.  But  tell  me,  my 
dear  Cicero,  in  what  manner  can  I  act  in  this 
affair  ?  I  would  not  willingly  refuse  any  thing 
to  your  request ;  and,  as  far  as  my  own  private 
resentment  is  concerned,  I  will,  in  compliance 
with  your  desires,  remit  the  punishment  I  in- 
tended. But  what  shall  I  answer  to  those  un- 
happy sufferers,  who  require  satisfaction  for 
the  loss  of  their  effects,  and  the  destruction  of 
their  ships  ?  who  call  for  vengeance  on  the  inur- 
derer  of  their  brothers,  their  children,  and  their 
parents  ?  Believe  mc,  if  I  had  succeeded  to  the 
impudence  as  well  as  to  the  office  of  Appius^, 
I  could  not  have  the  assurance  to  withstand 
their  cries  for  justice.  Nevertheless,  I  will  do 
every  thing  that  lies  iu  my  power  to  gratify 

your 

3  Manutius  observes,  that  ibis  is  not  the  same  Appius  to 
whom  the  letters  in  the  3cl  book  are  addressed  ;  and  refers  to 
a  passage  in  Valerius  Maximus,  to  prove,  that  he  perished 
early  in  the  civil  wars.  But  so  he  undoubtedly  might ;  and, 
ueverthelciis,  be  the  same  periion  here  alluded  to  ;  for  it  by 
no  means  appears  whm,  or  in  what  post  it  was,  that  Vatinius 
succeeded  to  this  Appius  in  question.  Impudence,  it  is  cer- 
tain, was  in  the  number  of  those  qualities,  which  distinguished 
that  Appius  to  whom  the  letters  above-mentioned  are  written. 
Vid.  Ad  Att.  iv.  18, 


Book  XI.  of  CICERO.  71 

your  inclinations.  He  is  to  be  defended  at  his 
tri^I  by  Volusius  :  ^nd,  if  his  prQsecutpr^  can 
\^t  vanquished  by  eloquence,  there  is  great  rea- 
son to  expect  tjij^t  the  force  of  your  ^isQiple's 
rhetoric  will  put  them  to  flight. 

\  depend  upop  your  being  my  a4 vacate  %t 

jRa^e,  if  there  should  be  any  ogcasipn.    Caesar, 

indeed,  ha^  not  yet  done  me  the  justice  to 

Dipvfi  for  a  public  thanksgiving,  for  the  suc- 

.  cess  of  my  arms  in  Dalm^tia ;  as  if,  in  truth,  I 

yitxt  not  entitled  to  i^iore,  and  might  not  justly 

cl^im  the  honpur  of  a  triumph  !     But  &s  there 

ar<s  ^Vove  threescore  cities  that  have  entered 

into  an  alliance  with  the  Dalmatians,  besid<3s 

Ihe  twenty  of  which  that  coui^try  ajjciently 

Cf)nsiste4 :  if  I  am  not  to  be  honoured  with  a 

public  thanksgiving,   till  I  sh^U  have  taken 

^w^fy  one  of  tbes^  considerable  towns,  I  am  by 

no  mfians  upon  cqu^l  terms  with  the  rest  of  our 

generals. 

Immediately  after  the  senate  had  appointed 
the  former  thanksgivings  for  my  victories^  I 

marched 

*  There  is  some  difficulty  in  reconciling  what  Vatinius 
here  says  of  a  supplcaiion  having  been  decreed  by  the  se- 
nate, with  the  complaint  he  makes  abave  against  Cssar,  for 
having  delayed  to  move  the  house  for  that  purpose.  Some 
of  the  corooientators,  therefore,  have  suspected,  that  this  is 
the  beginning  of  a  distinct  letler  ;  and  others,  that  it  is  a 
postscript,  written  a  considerable  distaoce  of  time  from  the 
body  of  the  epistle.  But  Mr*  Ross  has  offered,  I  think,  a 
much  better  solution,  by  supposing  that  the  thanksgiving, 

F  4  mentioned 


•  > 


72 


The  letters 


Book  XL 


marched  into  Dalmatia,  where  I  attacked,  and 
made  myself  master  of,  six  of  their  towns.— 
One  of  these,  which  was  of  very  considerable 
strength,  L  might  fairly  say  that  I  took  four 
several  times  :  for  it  was  surrounded  by  a  for- 
-tification  consisting  of  four  different  walls, 
which  were  defended  by  as  many  forts;  through 
a1lN^hi<*h  I  forced  my  way  to  the  citadel,  which 
I  likewise  compelled  to  surrender.  But  the  ex- 
cessive severity  of  the  cold,  together  with  the 
deep  snows  that  fell  at  the  same  time,  obliged 
me  to  retreat ;  so  that  I  had  the  mortification, 
my  dear  Cicero,  to  find  myself  under  the  ne- 
cessity of  abandoning  my  conquests,  just  as  I 
was  upon  the  point  of  finishing  the  war.  I 
entreat  you,  then,  if  occasion  should  require, 
to  be  my  advocate  with  Csesar,  and  in  every 
other  respect  to  take  my  interest  under  your 
protection  ;  in  the  assurance,  that  no  man  pos- 
sesses an  higher  degree  of  affection  for  you 
than  myself. 

Narooa,  Dec.  tie  15th.  ^f 

liiiii  LETTER 

mentioned  in  tbe  present  paragraph,  was  one  which  had 
been  decreed  on  account  of  seme  former  successes  of  Vati- 
nius  in  his  province  ;  And  that  the  thanksgiving,  concerning 
which  he  complains  of  Caesar's  neglect,  was  one  that  he  was 
now  soliciting  in  honour  of  those  successes  io  Dalmatia,  of 
^kicii  he  here  gives  an  account. 


1X3.0^5  ^^'WV    '• 


'T 


■a 


I  ■  f'rv 


LETTERS 


.nr\ 


i  ♦         .■■"■i       w  -^ 


OF 


*  -,--^  .  «■ 


\"V   I'  tt    "f 


MARCUS  TULLIUS  CICERO 


A  "♦  -J 


TO 


SEVERAL  OF  HIS  FRIENDS, 


BOOK  XIL 


.311 ». 


LETTER  L 

[A.  U.709.] 
To  CURIUS^ 

*Tis  true,  I  once  both  advised  and  exhorted 

you  to  return  into  Italy ;  but  I  am  so  far  from 

being  in  the  same  sentiments  at  present,  that, 

on  the  contrary,  I  wish  to  escape  myself^ 

To  some  blest  clime  remote  from  Pelop's  rac€\ 

■  My 

'  This  is  an  answer  to  the  25th  letter  of  the  foregoing 
book . 

*  Alluding  to  the  Caesarian  party.  See  rem.  7.  p.  362. 
vol.  ii. 


ill 


'I'lR* 


«fr 


74 


The  letters         Book  XIL 


Book  XII.        o^  CICERO. 


-7.5 


My  heart,  indeed,  most  severely  reproaches  me, 
for  submitting  to  be  the  witness  of  their  un- 
worthy deeds.  Undoubtedly,  my  friend,  you 
long  since  foresa\^  our  evil  days  approaching, 
when  you  wisely  took  your  flight  from  these 
unhappy  regions  :  for  though  it  must  needs  be 
painful  to  hear  a  relation  of  what  is  going  for- 
ward amongst  us,  yet  far  more  intolerable  it 
surely  is,  to  be  the  sad  spectator  of  so  wretch- 
ed a  scene.  One  advantage,  at  least,  you  have 
certainly  gained  by  your  absence  :  it  has  spared 
you  the  mortification  of  being  present  at  the 
late  general  assembly  for  the  election  of  quses- 
tors.  At  seven  in  the  morning,  the  tribunal 
of  Quintus  Maximus,  the  consul,  as  they  called 
him',  was  placed  in  the  field  of  Mars*;  when, 
news  being  brought  of  his  sudden  death,  it  was 
immediately  removed.  But  Caesar,  notwith- 
standing he  had  taken  the  auspices'  as  for  an 
assembly  of  the  tribes,  converted  it  into  that 

of 

'Caesar  (as  Manuiius  observes)  abdicated  the  consulship 
upon  his  late  return  froni  Spain,  and  arbitrarily  appointed 
Quintus  Maximus,  together  with  Trebonius,  consuls  for  the 
remaining  part  of  the  year.  Maximus,  therefore,  not  beilig 
Jega.Ily  elected,  Cicero  speaks  of  him  as  cue  whose  title  was 
acknowledged  only  by  the  prevailing  faction. 

*♦  Where  the  poll  for  the  election  of  magistrates  was  usu- 
ally taken.     It  was  situated  on  the  banks  of  the  Tiber. 

*  No  assembly  of  the  people  could  be  regularly  held,  nor 
any  public  act  performed,  till  the  augurs  had  declared  that 
the  omens  were  favourable  for  the  purpose  in  agitation. 

1 


of  the  centuries*,  and,  at  one  in  the  afternoon, 
declared  Caninius  duly  elected  consul     Be  it 
recorded,  then,  that,  during  the  consulate  of 
•Caninius,  no  man  had  time  to  dine,  and  yet 
^hat  there  was  not  a  single  disturbance  of  any 
Wnd  committed  :  for  he  was  a  magistrate,  you 
must  know,  of  such  wonderful  vigilance,  that 
he  never  once  slept  throughout  his  whole  ad- 
ministration.   The  truth  of  it  is,  his  administra- 
tion continued  only  to  the  end  of  the  year,  and 
both  expii'ed  the  very  next  morning.  But,  ridi- 
xjulous  as  these  transactions  may  appear  to  you, 
who  are  placed  at  so  great  a  distance  from 
them,  believe  me,  you  could  not  refrain  from 
tears,  if  you  were  to  see  them  in  all  their  true 
and  odious  colours.     How  would  you  i^  af- 
ifected,  then,  were  I  to  mention  the  numberless 
tinstances  of  the  same  arbitrary  kind  which  daily 
.  occur ! 

*  The  citizens  of  Rome  were  cast  into  three  general  di- 
visions ;  into  centuries,  into  curae,  and  into  tribes.  Some 
account  of  the  two  latter  has  been  already  given  in  rem.  50. 
|).  -202.  and  rem.  7-  p-  474.  vol.  i.  The  former  was  an  in- 
stitution of  Servius  Tullius,  who  distributed  the  people  into 
193  centuries,  according  to  the  value  of  their  respective  pos- 
sessions. These  companies  had  a  vote  in  all  questions  that 
came  before  the  people  assembled  in  this  manner,  aiid  the 
mtijority  of  voices  in  each  determined  the  suffrage  of  that 
particular  century.  But,  as  the  patricians  and  the  weajthiest 
citizens  of  the  republic  filled  up  98  of  these  189  classes,  the 
inferior  citizens  were  consequently  deprived  of  all  weight  in 
the  public  deliberations.  The  praetors,  consuls,  and  censors 
were  elected  by  the  people  assembled  in  centuries ;  but  the 
quaestors,  iediles,  and  tribunes,  were  chosen  in  an  assembly 
of  the  tribes.     Dion.  Halkarn,  iv.  20. 


I 


ffli 


•'■II 

m 


'li 


^l 


m 


76 


The  letters 


Book  XIF. 


BboK  XIL  ot  CICERO. 


Tf-; 


occur  !  For  my  own  part,  they  would  be  ut- 
terly insupportable  to  me,  had  I  not  taken  re- 
fuge in  philosophy,  and  enjoyed,  likewise,  that 
friend^  of  ours  for  the  companion  of  my  stu- 
dies, whose  properti/,  you  tell  me,  you  are',— 
However,  since  you  assure  me,  at  the  same 
time,  that  all  the  benefit  which  can  arise  from 
you  belongs  solely  to  myself,  I  am  perfectly 
well  contented ;  for  what  can  property  give 
more  ? 

Acilius,  who  is  sent  into  Greece,  at  the  head 
of  some  legions,  as  successor  to  Sulpicius,  has 
great  obligations  to  me ;  for  I  successfully  de- 
fended him  in  two  capital  prosecutions,  before 
the  commencement  of  our  public  troubles. 
He  is  a  man  of  a  very  grateful  disposition,  and 
one  who,  upon  all  occasions,  treats  me  with 
much  regard.  Accordingly,  I  herewith  send 
you  a  letter,  which  I  have  written  to  him  in 
your  favour,  in  the  strongest  terms ;  and  I  de- 
sire you  will  let  mc  know  what  promises  he 
shall  give  you  in  consequence  of  my  recom- 
mendation.    Farewel. 

LETTER 

^  Atticus. 

'  See  the  beginning  of  Curius's  letter  to  Cicero,  p,  63.  of 
this  vol. 


LETTER  H. 

[A.U.  709.] 

.....  * 

ToAucTus^  Proconsul. 

In  confidence  of  that  share  you  allow  me  in 
your  esteem,  and  of  which  you  gave  me  so  ma- 
ny convincing  proofs,  during  the  times  we  con- 
tiinued  together  at  Brundisium',  I  claim  a  sort 
of  right  of  applying  to  you  upon  any  occ^sipn 
wherein  I  am  particularly  interested.     I  take 

the 

.  5>  The  commentators  imagine  that  this  person  is  the  same 
whom  Cicero   mentions  in  the  foregoing  letter  to  have  suc- 
ceeded to  Sulpicius  in  ihe  government  of  Greece  j  and  that, 
therefore,  either  instead  of  Auctus,   the  true  reading  is  Aci- 
lius, or  thnt  he  was  called  Acilius  Auctus.     But,  though  it 
is  altogether  impossible  to  determine  who  the  person  was  to 
whom  this  letter  is  addressed,  or  in  what  year  it  was  written, 
yet  it  seems  highly  probable  that  Acilius  and  Auctus  were 
different  men  :  for  Cicero,  in  the  preceding  epistle,  mentions 
Acilius  as  one  on  whom  he  had  conferred  some  very  impor- 
tant services  :  whereas,  in  the  present  letter,  Cicero  appears  to 
have  been  the  person  obliged.     Now  it  is  by  no  means  credi- 
ble that  our  author,  if  he  had  ever  done  any  good  offices  to 
Auctus,  should  have  been  totally  silent  upon  a  circumstance 
which  would  have  given  him  a  much  higher  claim  to  the  fa- 
vour he  was  requesting,  than  any  which  he  produces.     And 
the  incredibility  grows  still  stronger,  when  it  is  remembered 
that  Cicero  never  fails  to  display  his  services  upon  all  occa- 
sions in  whicti  he  can  with  any  propriety  mention  them.     Bttt 
on  which  side  soever  of  this  question  the  truth  may  he,  it  is 
a  point  of  such  very  little  consequence,  that  perhaps  it  will 
scarce  justify  even  this  short  remark, 

'  Frobably  during  Cicero's  residence  in  that  city,  upon 
his  return  into  Italy,  after  the  battle  of  Pharsalia ;  an  account 

of  which  has  been  given  in  the  foregoing  observations, 


'^ 


Hi 


78 


The  letters 


EooK  XIL 


Book  Xlt        of  CICERO. 


7§ 


the  liberty,  therefore,  of  writing  to  you,  in  be- 
half of  Marcus  Gurius^,  ^  merchant  at  Patrse, 
with  whom  I  am  most  intimately  united.    Ma- 
ny are  the  good  offices  which  have  m.utually 
passed  between  us;  and,  what  indeed  is  of  the 
greatest  weight,  they  reciprocally  flowed  from 
the  most  perfect  affection.     If,  then,  you  have 
reason  to  promise  yourself  any  advantage  from 
my  friendship ;  if  you  are  inclined  to  render 
tTie:  obligations  you  hav^e  formerly  conferred 
upon  me,  if  possible,  even  still  more  valuable; 
in  a  word,  if  you  arc  persuaded  that  I  hold  a 
place  in  the  esteem  of  every  person  in  your  fa- 
mily,  let  these  considerations  induce  you  to 
comply  with  my  request  in  favour  of  Curius. 
Receive  liim,   I  conjure  you,  under  your  pro- 
tection, and  preserve  both  his  person  and  his 
property  from  every  injury  and  every  inconve- 
nience to  which  they  may  be  exposed.     In  the 
mean  time,   I  will  venture  to  assure  you  my- 
self,  (what  all  your  family  will,  I  doubt  not, 
confirm)   that  you  may  depend  upon  deriving 
great  satisfaction  from  my  friendship,  as  well 
as  much  advantage  from  the  faithful  returns  of 
my  gratitude.     Farewel. 

LETTER 


T* 


LETTER  III. 

[A.U.709.] 
To  CURIUS. 

Your  letter  affords  me  a  very  evident  proof 
ftiat  I  possess  the  highest  share  of  your  esteem, 
and  that  you  are  sensible  how  much  you  are 
endeared  to  me  in  return ;  both  which  I  have 
ever  been  desirous  should  be  placed  beyohd  a 
doubt.  Since,  then,  we  are  thus  firmly  assured 
of  each  other's  affection,  let  us  endeavour  to 
vie  in  our  mutual  good  offices ;  a  contest  in 
which  I  am  perfectly  indifferent  on  which  side 
the  superiority  may  appear. 

I  am  well  pleased  that  you  had  no  occasion 
to  deliver  my  letter  to  Acilius*.  I  find,  like- 
wise, that  you  had  not  much  for  the  services 
of  Sulpicius ;  having  made  so  great  a  progress/ 
it  seems,  in  your  affairs,  as  to  have  curtailed 
them  (to  use  your  own  ludicrous  expression) 
both  of  head  ^nd  feet,  I  wish,  however,  you 
had  spared  the  latter,  that  they  might  proceed  a, 
little  faster,  and  give  us  an  opportunity  of  one 
day  seeing  you  again  in  Rome.  We  want  you, 
indeed,  in  order  to  preserve  that  good  old  vein 
of  pleasantry  which  is  now,  you  may  perceive, 

well-nigh 

*  See  the  latter  end  of  the  first  letter  in  this  book. 


f 


ll 


80 


The  letters         Book  XII. 


Book  XII. 


..»...«■•-,-•—. 


OF  CICERO. 


8r 


well-nigh  worn  out  amongst  us  :  insomuch  that 
Atticus  may  properly  enough  say,  as  he  often, 
you  know  used,  "  if  it  were  not  for  two  or 
"  three  of  us,  my  friends,  what  would  become 
*'  of  the  ancient  glory  of  Athens  !"  Indeed, 
as  the  honour  of  being  the  chief  support  of 
Attic  elegance  devolved  upon  Pomponius*,  when 
you  left  Italy  ;  so,  in  his  absence,  it  has  now 
descended  upon  me.  Hasten  your  return,  then, 
J  be^ech  you,  my  friend,  lest  every  spark  of 
wit,  as  well  as  of  liberty,  should  be  irrecover-^ 
^bly  extinguished  with  the  republic.     Farewel,^ 

LETTER  IV. 

[A.  u.  ro9.] 

To  CORNIFIGIUS. 

I  RAVE  the  satisfaction  to  find,  by  3'our  very 
obliging  letter,  that  my  last  was  safely  deliver- 
ed. I  doubted  not  of  its  affording  you  plea- 
sure ;  and,  therefore,  was  so  much  the  more  un- 
easy lest  it  should  lose  its  way.  You  inform  me, 
at  the  same  time,  that  a  war  is  broken  out  in 
Syria*-,  and  that  Caesar  has  given  you  the  go- 
vernment of  this  province.  I  wish  you  much 
joy  of  your  command,  and  hope  success  will 

attend 

*  Pomponins  Atticus, 

^  See  rem.  7.  on  let.  26,  of  the  preceding  book. 


attend  it  fas,  in  full  confidence  ofySSt^sdom 
and  vigilance,  I  am  well  persuaded  it  wilL  Ne- 
vertheless, I  am  truly  alarmed  at  what  you 
mention  concerning  the  invasion,  which,  it  is 
suspected,  the  Parthians  are  meditating.  I  find 
by  your  letter,  that  the  number  of  your  forces 
is  agreeable  to  what  I  should  have  conjectured : 
I  hope,  therefore,  that  these  people  will  not  put 
themselves  in  motion,  till  the  legions  which  I 
hear  are  ordered  to  your  assistance,  shall  arritre. 
But  if  you  should  not,  even  with  these  supplies, 
find  yourself  in  a  conaition  to  face  the  enemy ; 
I  need  not  remind  you  to  follow  the  maxim  of 
your  predecessor  Marcus  Bibulus,  who,  you 
know,  during  the  whole  time  that  the  Parthians 
continued  in  your  province,  most  gallantly  shut 
himself  up  in  a  strong  garrison*.  Yet,  after  all, 
circumstances  will  best  determine  in  what  man- 
ner  it  will  be  proper  for  you  to  act :  in  the  mean 
time  I  shall  be  extremely  anxious,  till  I  receive 

an  account  of  your  operations. 

As 

*  This  seems  to  be  intended  as  a  sneer  upon  the  conduct 
of  Bibulu3.  Cicero  was  governor  of  Cilicia  ^hea  Bibulu9 
commanded  in  Syria,  and  they  both  solicited,  al  the  same 
time,  the  honour  of  a  public  thanksgiving  for  the  success  of 
their  respective  armjs.  Cato  gave  his  suffrage,  upon  thisoiC* 
casion,  in  favour  of  Bibulus;  but  refused  it  to  Cicero;  a  pre- 
ference which  extremely  exasperated  the  latter,  and  which 
was,  probably,  the  principal  cause  of  that  contempt  with 
which  he  speaks  of  Bibulus  in  the  pre&eiit  passage.  See  vol.  ii« 
p.  50.  rem.  2. 

Vol.  III.  G 


ii 


I 


82 


The  letters         Book  XIL 


Book  XIL 


OF  CICERO. 


ss 


As  I  have  never  omitted  any  opportunity  of 
writing  to  you,  I  hope  you  will  observe  the 
same  punctuality  with  respect  to  me.  But 
above  all,  let  me  desire  you  to  represent  me 
in  your  letters  to  your  friends  and  family  as 
one  who  is  entirely  yours.    Farewel. 

LETTER  V. 

[A.  U.  709.1 

Decimus  Brutus'  to  Marcus  Brutus 
and  Caius  Cassius. 

1  ou  will  judge  by  this  letter,  in  what  posture 

our  affairs  stand.      I  received  a  visit  yesterday 

■  .. 
m 

*  Deciffiui  Brutus,  rtf  the  same  family  with  Marcus  Bru- 
tus, served  under  Caesar  in  the  wars  in  Gaul :  at  the  cm\  of 
which,  in  the  year  703,  he  relumed  to  Rome,  and  was  chosen 
one  6f  the  city  quaestors.  It  does  not  appear  that  he  distin- 
guished himself  by  any  thing  remarlcable,  till  he  engaged 
with  Marcus  Brutus  and  Cas«<ius  in  the  conspiracy  against 
his  friend  and  benefactor.  This  was  executed,  as  all  the 
world  knows,  by  stabbing  Ccesar  in  the  senate,  on  the  ides, 
or  the  15th  of  March,  a  few  weeks  before  the  present  letter 
was  written.  When  one  considers  the  characters  of  those 
who  were  the  principal  actors  in  this  memorable  tragedy,  it 
is  astonishing  that  they  should  have  looked  no  farther  than 
merely  to  the  taking  away  of  Cccsar's  life  :  as  if  they  ima- 
gined, that  the  government  must  necessarily  return  into  its 
proper  channel,  as  soon  as  the  person  who  had  obstructed  its 
course,  was  removed.  They  were  altogether,  therefore,  un- 
prepared for  those  very  probable  contingencies  which  they 
ought  to  have  had  in  view,  and  which  accordingly  ensued. 
Whatever  then  may  be  determined  as  to  the  patriotism  of  the 
fact  itself,  it  was,  unquestionably,  conducted,  as  Cicero  fre- 
quently and  justly  complains,  by  the  weakest  and  most  im- 
politic counsels.  Antony,  (who  was  at  this  time  consul)  al- 
though 


in  the  evening  from  Hirtius^,  who  convinced 
me  of  Antony's  extreme  perfidy  and  ill  inten- 
tions towards  us.  He  assured  Hirtius,  it  seemsy 
that  he  could  by  no  means  consent  I  should 
take  possession  of  the  province,  to  which  I  have 
been  nominated^;  and  that  both  the  army  and 
the  populace  were  so  highly  incensed  against 
us,  that  he  imagined  we  could  none  of  us  con* 
tinue  with  any  safety  in  Rome.  ^  You  are  sen- 
sible, I  dare  sav,  that  both  these  assertions  are 
as  absolutely  false,  as  that  it' is  undoubtedly 
true,  what  Hirtius  added,  that  Antony  is  ap-  , 
preliensive  if  we  should  gain  the  least  increase 
of  power,  it  will  be  impossible  for  him  and  his 
party  to  maintain  their  ground.  I  thought, 
under  these  difficulties,  the  most  prudent  step 
I  could  take,  for  our  common  interest,  would 

be 

though  he  thought  proper,  at  first,  to  carry  a  fair  appearance 
towards  the  conspirators,  yet  secretly  raised  such  a  spirit 
against  them,  that  they  found  ir  expedient  to  withdraw  from 
Home.  Brutus  and  Cassius  retired  to  Lanuvium^  a  villa  be* 
longing  to  the  former,  about  fifteen  miles  from  the  city :  at 
which  place  they  probably  were,  when  Decimus  Brutus,  who 
had  not  yet  left  Rome,  wrote  the  following  letter. 

^  Hirtius  was  warmly  attached  to  Caesar,  and  extremely 
regretted  his  death  •  but  as  he  was  disgu-rled  with  Antony,  and 
perhaps  jealou*  fo«)  of  his  ritiiig  pcwer,  he  seems  to  have  op- 
posed the  cause  he  approved,  merely  from  a  spirit  of  personal 
pi(jue  and  envy.  F/if.  Jd.Att.  xiv.  22;  xv.  6. 

^1^  Caesar,  a  shorty  time  before  his  death,  bad  nominated 
Decimus  Brutus' to, t^be  government  of  Cisalpine  Gaul,  and 
Antony  fo  that  of  Macedonia.  But  as  Gaul  lay  more  con- 
veniently for  Antony's  present  purposes,  his  design  was  ta 
procure  the  administration  of  it  tor  himself. 

G2 


I 


84 


The  letters 


Book  XII. 


4 


Ml 
'I 


I 


be  to  request  that  an  lionorary  legation^  might 
be  decreed  to  each  of  us;  in  order  to  give  some 
decent  colour  to  our  leaving  Rome.     Accord- 
ingly, llirtius  has  promised  to  obtain  this  grant 
in  our  favour ;  though  I  nmst  add,  at  the  same 
time,   such  a  spirit  is  raised   against  us  in  the 
senate,  that  I  am  bv  no  means  clear  he  will  be 
able  to  perform  his  engagement.     And  should 
he  succeed,   yet  I  am  persuaded  it  will  not  be 
long  ere  they  declare  us  public  enemies,  or  at 
least  sentence  us  to  banishment.    It  appears  to 
me,  therefore,  our  wisest  method,  in  the  present 
conjuncture,  to  subnut  to  Fortune,  and  with- 
draw to  Rhodes,   or  to  some  other  secure  part 
of  the  world.     We  may  there  adjust  our  mea- 
sures to  public  circumstances,  and  either  return 
to  Rome,   or  remain  in  exile,  as  affairs  shall 
hereafter  appear  with  a  more  or  less  inviting 
aspect :  or  if  the  worst  should  happen,  we  may 
have  recourse  to  the  last  desperate  expedient*. 
Should  it  be  asked,   **  why  not  attempt  some- 
"  thing  at  present,    rather  than  wait  a  more 

''distant 

•  The  senators  conid  not  be  long  absent  from  Rome  with- 
out leave  of  ihe  senate.  When  their  private  affairs,  therefore, 
required  their  attendance  abroad,  it  was  usual  to  apply  for 
%vbat  they  called  a  legatio  libera^  which  gave  a  sanction  to 
their  absence,  and  invested  them  with  a  sort  oi  traiellwg  title, 
that  procured  them  the  greater  respect  and  honours  in  the 
countries  through  which  tbey  passed,  and  in  the  place  where 
they  proposed  to  reside. 

*  That  is,  (as  the  commentators  explain  it)  by  arming 
the  slaves,  throwing  open  the  prisons,  and  raising  foreign  na- 
tions in  theid  defence. 


Book  XII.  of  CICERO.  85 

"  distant  period  ?"  My  answer  is,  because  I 
know  not  where  we  can  hope  to  make  a  stand, 
unless  we  should  go  either  to  Sextus  Pom- 
peius',  or  to  Cfficilius  Bassus'.  It  is  probable, 
indeed,  that  when  the  news  of  Cesar's  death 
shall  be  spread  through  their  respective  pro- 
vinces, it  may  much  contribute  to  strengthen 
their  party  ;  however,  it  will  be  soon  enough 
to  joiQ  them,  when  we  shall  know  the  state  of 

their  forces. 

If  you  and  Cassius  are  desirous  I  should  en- 
ter into  any  engagement  on  your  behalf,  I  shall 
very  readily  be  your  sponsor:  and,  indeed,  it 
is  a  condition  which  Hirtius  requires.  I  desire, 
therefore,  you  would  acquaint  me  with  your  re- 
solution, as  soon  as  possible :  for  I  expect,  be- 
fore ten  o'clock,  to  receive  an  appointment  from 
Hirtius  to  meet  him  upon  these  affairs.  Let  me 
know,  at  the  same  time,  where  I  shall  find  you. 

As 

9  Sextus  Pompeius  the  younger  son  of  Pompey,  was  in 
Corduba,  when  his  brother  Ci.e.us  gave  battle  to  CJE»r, 
Cnems  attempi.ng  to  make  his  e.cape,  alter  the  total  delea 
of  h,s  army.  «a,  killed  by  some  of  the  conqueror  ssold.ers^ 
but  Sextus.  upon  the  enemy's  approach,  .n  "^der  to  ay  ^^e 
to  Corduba,  secretly  abandoned  that  c.ty,  and  concealed 
h°.ielf  ull'Cxsar's  return  -'o  Italy.  The  la.  er^  had  "«, 
.sooner  left  Spa.n,  than  Sextus  collected  b.s  broken  forces^ 
and  a  short  time  after  this  letter  was  *''"5"' ^'^.f  P^-g- ,!' 
the  head  of  no  less  than  six  legions.     Hirt.  dc  Bet.  Uisp. 

^'  rf  aclount  of  hira  has  already  been  given  in  rem.  7. 
p.  65.  of  this  vol. 

'^  G  3 


mt 


.,^     ,«.lir' 


86 


The  letters        Book  XII. 


Book  XII. 


OF  CICERO. 


87 


As  soon  as  Hirtius  shall  have  given  me  his 
final  answer,  I  purpose  to  apply  to  the  senate, 
that  a  guard  may  be  appointed  to  attend  us  in 
Ropie.  I  do  not  suppose  they  will  comply  with 
this  request,  as  our  appearing  to  stand  in  need 
of  such  a  protection,  will  render  them  extremely 
odious.  But  how  successful  soever  my  demands 
may  prove,  I  shall  not  be  discouraged  from 
making  such  as  I  think  reasonable.     Farewel. 

LETTER  VI. 

[A.  U.  709.] 

To  Tiro. 

JNoTwiTHSTANDiNG  I  wrote  this  morning  by 
Harpatus,  and  nothing  new  has  since  occurred : 
yet  I  cannot  forbear  making  use  of  this  oppor- 
tunity of  conveying  a  second  letter  to  you 
upon  the  same  subject :  not,  however,  as  en- 
tertaining the  least  distrust  of  your  care,  but  be- 
cause the  business  in  which  I  have  employed 
you,  is  of  the  last  importance  to  me\  My  whole 

design 

*  As  Cicero  was  known  to  favour  the  conspirators,  he  did 
Eol  thinlv  it  prudent  to  trust  himsflf  in  Rome  after  Brutus 
and  Cassius  had  found  it  necessary  to  withdraw  from  i hence  : 
and,  accordingly,  he  soon  afterwards  followed  their  example, 
by  retiring  into  the  country.  His  intention  at  this  lime  uaS, 
to  make  a  tour  into  Greece  for  a  few  months;  and  with  that 
view  he  had  dispatched  Tiro  to  Rome,  in  order  to  call  in  the 
several  mories  which  were  due  to  him,  and  likewise  to  dis- 
charge some  debts  which  he  had  himself  contracted. 


design,  indeed,  in  parting  with  you  was,  that 
you  might  thoroughly  settle  my  affairs.    I  de- 
sire, therefore,  in  the  first  place,  that  the  de- 
mands of  Otillius  and  Aurelius  may  be  satisfied. 
Your  next  endeavour  must  be  to  obtain  part, 
at  least,  if  you  cannot  procure  the  whole,  of 
what  is  due  to  me  from  Flamma :  and  particu- 
larly insist  on  his  making  this  payment  by  the 
first  of  January'.     With  regard  to  that  debt 
which  was  assigned  over  to  me ;  I  beg  you 
would  exert  your  utmost  diligence  to  recover 
it  •    but,  as  to  the  advance-payment  of  the 
other  not  yet  due,  I  leave  you  to  act  as  you 
shall  judge  proper.    And  this  much  for  my  pri- 
vate concerns.     As  to  those  of  the  public,  I 
desire  you  would  send  me  all  the  certain  intel- 
ligence you  can  collect.     Let  me  know  what 
Octavius*  and  Antony  are  doing;  what  is  the 

general 

3  When  the  new  consuls  were  to  enter  upon  their  office } 
by  which  time,  Cicero  proposed  to  return  ">  R«";^- 
^  *  Octavius,  who  was  afterwards  known  ''"^  "kbra.ed  by 
.h^  name  of  Augustus  Caisar,  was  the  son  of.  Atua,  Julms 
claTniece  His  uncle,  who  designed  him  for  the  he.r. 
£h  o  hilpower  aBd  his  fortunes,  had  sent  h.m,  about  s.x 
month    befo^re  his  death,  to  Apollonia,  a  learned  seminary  ^f 

&rsLnJ=s^?nS^'x^^^^^^^^^^^^ 

W..t  as  soon  as  Octavius  was  informed  of  the  death  ot  Cassar, 
Ld  that  he  bad  appointed  him  his  heir,  he  immediately  ha  - 

7SX,  were  now  attentively  turned  towards  h.m.  .n  order 

G  4f 


88  Thi  letters        Book  XIL 

general  opinion  of  Rome;  and  what  turn  you 
imagine  affairs  are  likely  to  take.  I  can  scarcely 
forbear  running  into  the  midst  of  the  scene : 
but  I  restrain  myself,  in  the  expectation  of  your 
letter. 

Your  news  concerning  Balbus,  proves  true ; 
he  was  at  Aquinum  at  the  time  you  were  told ; 
and  Hirtius  followed  him  thither  the  next  day. 
I  imagine  they  are  both  going  to  the  waters  of 
Baias :  but  let  me  know  what  you  can  discover 
of  dieir  motions. 

Do  not  forget  to  remind  the  agents  of  Dola- 
bella' :  nor  to  insist  upon  the  payment  of  what 
is  due  from  Papia.     Farewel. 

LETTER 

to  discoTcr  in  what  manner  he  would  act  in  this  very  critical 
situation,  both  of  his  own  affairs,  and  those  of  the  republic 
Dio.  /).  27 1 .  Jppian.  Bel.  Civil,  ii.  ^ 

Mt  appears  by  the  letters  written  to  Atticus  at  this  time, 
that  Cicero  had  some  considerable  demands  upon  Dolabella; 
tvhich  arose,  it  is  probable,  from  the  latter  not  having  yet 
returned  the  whole  of  Tullia's  portion,  agreeably  to  the  Ro. 
man  laws  in  cases  of  divorce. 


Boo]^  XIL 


OF  CICERO. 


89 


LETTER  VIL 


«^,,  !>'    ■;     ;  ■•       -    f  1    » 


[A.U.  709.] 
To  BlTHYNICUS*. 

I  HAVE  many  reasons  to  wish  that  the  repub- 
lic may  be  restored :  but,  believe  me,  the  pro- 
mise you  give  me  in  your  letter,  renders  it  still 
more  ardently  my  desire.  You  assure  me,  if  that 
happy  event  should  take  place,  you  will  con- 
secrate your  whole  time  to  me :  an  assurance 
which  1  received  with  the  greatest  pleasure,  as 
it  is  perfectly  agreeable  to  the  friendship  in 
which  we  are  united,  and  to  the  opinion  which 
tiiat  excellent  man  your  father'  entertained  of 
me.     You   have  received  more   considerable 
services,  I  confess,  from  the  men  who  are,  or 
lately  were,  in  power,  than  any  that  I  have  been 
capable  of  conferring  upon  you :  but,  in  allotlicr 
respects,  there  is  no  person  whose  connexions 
with  you  are  of  a  stronger  kind  than  my  o^vn. 
It  is  with  great  satisfaction,  therefore,  that  I  find, 

«  This  person  is  supposed,  by  Manutius,  to  be  the  son  of 
Quintus  Pompeius,  who  obtained  the  name  of  Bithynicus, 
in  honour  of  his  conquest  of  Bithynia. 

7  Cicero  mentions  him  in  his  treatise  of  celebrated  ora- 
tors, as  one  with  whom  he  had  enjoyed  a  particular  friend- 
ship.    He  attended  Pompey  in  his  flight  after  the   battle  of 
Pharsalia,  and  perished  with  him  in  Egypt.     Ctc.  de  clar. 
orat,  240. 


90 


The  letters 


Book  XIL 


I 


you  not  only  preserve  our  friendship  in  your  re- 
membrance, but  are  desirous,  likewise,  of  in- 
creasing its  strength.    Farewel. 

LETTER  VIIL 

[A.  U.  709.] 

To  Tiro. 

If  you  should  have  an  opportunity,  you  may 
register  the  money  you  mention :  though,  in- 
deed, it  is  an  acquisition  which  it  is  not  abso- 
lutely requisite  to  enroP.  i^o^^'e^'er,  it  may, 
perhaps,  be  as  well. 

I  have  received  a  letter  from  Balbus,  wherein 
he  excuses  himself  for  not  giving  me  an  account 
of  Antony's  intentions  concerning  the  law  I  in- 
quired ufter;  because  he  has  gotten,  it  seems,  a 
violent  deduction  upon  his  eyes.  Excellent  ex- 
cuse, it  must  be  owned  !  For  if  a  man  is  not 
able  to  write;  most  certainly,  you  know,  he 
cannot  dictate  !  Ikit  let  the  world  iro  as  it  will, 
SO  I  may  sit  down  quietly  herein  the  country. 

1  have  M^iitten  to  Bithynicus. — As  to  what 
vou  mention  concernino-  Servilius :  vou,  who 
are  a  young  man,  may  think  length  of  days  a 
desirable  circumstance ;  but,  for  myself,  I  have 

no 

•  I1ie  censors  every  five  years  nunibere<l  ihe  people  :  at 
Mrhich  time  each  cihzen  was  obliged  to  give  an  exact  account 
of  bis  esiate.  Uut,  if  in  tbe  interval,,  a  man  had  made  any 
new  acquisition,  he  was  required  to  enter  it  be/ore  lb< 
|>rjEtor. 


Book  XIL         of  CICERO. 


91 


no  such  wish^.  Atticus,  nevertheless  imagines, 
that  I  am  still  as  anxious  for  the  preservation  of 
my  life  as  he  once  knew  me ;  not  observing  how 
firmly  I  have  since  fortified  my  heart  with  all  the 
strength  of  philosophy.  The  truth  of  it  is,  he  is 
now  seized  in  his  turn  with  a  panic  himself;  and 
would  endeavour  to  infect  me  with  the  same 
groundless  apprehensions.  But  it  is  my  inten- 
tion to  preserve  that  friendship  unviolated,  which 
I  have  so  long  enjoyed  with  Antony' :  and,  ac- 
cordingly, I  intend  writing  to  him  very  soon.  I 

shall 

s>  Servilius  Isauricus  died  about  this  time,  in  an  extreme 
old  age  :  Manuiius  conjectures,  therefore,  and  with  great 
proba'bility,  that  Tiro,  in  the  letter  to  which  the  present  is 
an  answer,  had  given  Cicero  an  account  of  this  event,  and,  at 
the  same  lime,  expresbcd  his  wishes  of  living  to  the  same  ad- 
vanced period. 

'  Both  Antony  and  Cicero  seem  to  have  been  equally 
unwilling,  at  this  time,  to  come  to  an  open  rupture  :  but,  as 
10  a  real  friendship  between  them,  it  is  highly  probable  there 
never  had  been  any.    On  the  part  of  Antony,  at  least,  there 
were  some  very  strong   family  reasons  to  alienate   him  from 
Cicero.     For  Antony's  father  married  the  widow  of  Lentu- 
lus,  whom  Cicero  had  put  to  death  as  an  accomplice  in  Ca- 
tiline's conspiracy ;  and  he,  himself,  was  married  to  Fulvia, 
ihe  widow  of  Clodius,  Cicero's  most  inveterate  enemy.  These 
alliances  nlust  unquesiionably  have  made  impressions  upon 
Antony's  mind,  little  favourable  to  sentiments  of  amity  :  and, 
probably,  contributed,  among  other  reasons,   to  kindle  that 
resentment  which   terminated  in   Cicero's  destruction  :  but 
whatever  the  true  motive  of  their  enmity  towards  each  other 
might  have  been ;  the  first  coolness  seems  to  have  arisen  on 
the  side   of  Antony:  and,   if  Cicero  had   relented   it  with 
greater  moderation,  be  would  have  acted,  perhaps,  with  more 
prudence  in  regard  to  the  public  interest,  as -well  as  in  re- 
spect to  his  own.     Vid.  Ad  Att,  xiv.  19- 
1 


92 


The  letters 


Book  XIL 


shall  defer  my  letter,  however,  till  your  return : 
but  I  do  not  mention  this  with  ajiy  design  of 
calling  you  off  from  the  business  you  are  trans- 
acting*, and  which,  indeed,  is  much  more 
jiearly  my  concern. 

I  expect  a  visit  from  Lepta  to-morrow :  and 
^hall  have  occasion  for  all  the  sweets  of  your 
conversation,  to  temper  the  bitterness  with 
which  his  will  be  attended.     Farcwel. 

LETTER  IX.       • 

[A.  U.  709.] 
To  DOLABELLA,  ConSUP. 

I  DESIRE  no  greater  satisfaction,  my  dearDo- 
labella,  than  what  arises  to  mc  from  the  disin- 
terested part  I  take  in  the  glory  you  have  lately 
acquired  :  however,  I  cannot  but  acknowledge, 
I  am  infinitely  pleased  to  find,  that  the  world 
gives  me  a  share  in  the  merit  of  your  late  ap- 
plauded conduct.     I  daily  meet,  in  this  place, 

great 

*  S«c  rem.  2.  p.  86.  of  this  voL  * 

^  Cxsar  had  appointed  Ddlabella  to  succeed  him  in  the 
consulship  as  soon  as  he  shouid  hei  out  upon  his  Parthian  ex- 
pedition ;  and,  accordingiy,  Dolabelia,  upon  the  death  of  Cae- 
sar, immediately  assumed  the  administration  of  thnt  oOice. 
His  conduct  in  this  critical  conjuncture  had  rendered  it  some- 
what doubtful  which  side  he  was  mi^t  disposed  to  t'aTour : 
but  an  accident  had  lately  happened  which  gave  the  friends 
of  tbe  republic  great  ho|)es  that  he  would  support  the  cause 
of  the  conspirators.     Sonie  of  C9:>ar's  freodoieB  had  erecietl 

-    a  sort 


Book  XII.  or  CICERO.  95 

great  numbers  of  the  first  rank  in  Roifle,  who 
are  assembled  here  for  the  benefit  of  their  health, 
as  well  as  a  multitude  of  my  friends  from  the 
principal  cities  in  Italy:  and  they  all  agree  in 
joining  their  particular  thanks   to   me,  with 
those  unbounded  praises  they  bestow  upon  you. 
They  every  one  of  them,  indeed,  tell  me,  that 
they  are  persuaded  it  is  owing  to  your  compli- 
ance with  my  counsels  and  admonitions,  that 
you  approve  yourself  so  excellent  a  patriot  and 
so  worthy  a  consul.    I  might,  with  strict  truth 
assure  them,  that  you  are  much  superior  to  the 
want  of  being  advised  by  any  man ;  and  that 
you  actions  are  the  free  and  genuine  result  of 
your  own  uninfluenced  judgment.     But  al- 
though I  do  not  entirely  acquiesce  in  their 
compliment,  as  it  would  lessen  the  credit  of 
ypur  conduct,  if  it  should  be  supposed  to  flow 
aitogethcr  from  my  suggestions ;  yet,  neither 
do  I  wholly  reject  it :  for  the  love  of  praise  is 
a  passion,  which  I  am  apt,  you  know,  some- 
what 

a  sort  of  allar,  upon  the  spot  where  his  body  had  been 
burnt  r  at  which  the  populace  daily  assembled  in  the  most 
lumultuoas  and  alarming  manner.     Dolabella,  m  the  ab- 
sence of  his  colleague  Aatony,  interposed  his  consular  au- 
thotitv  in  order  to  suppress  this  mob :  and  having  caused 
the  alter  to  be  demolwhed,  he  exerted  a  rery  seasonable  act 
of  severity,  by  commanding  the  principal  ringleaders  of  the 
riot  to  be  imtdntly  put  to  death.     It  was  this  that  produced 
the  following  letter  from  Ciceto,  written  from  some  place  of 
public  resort,  pobably  from  the  Baths  of  Baiae.    Dto.  p. 
240.  267.  Jd  Att.  xiv.  15. 


9* 


The  letters         Book  XII. 


I 


I 


.  1 


M 


If. 


what  too  immoderately  to  indulge.  Yet,  after 
all,  to  take  counsel  of  a  Nestor,  as  it  was  an  ho- 
nour to  the  character  even  of  that  king  of 
kings,  Agamemnon  himself,  it  cannot  surely  be 
unbecoming  the  dignity  of  yours.  It  is  cer- 
tainly, at  least,  much  to  the  credit  of  mine,  that 
while  in  this  early  period  of  your  Hfe*,  you  are 
thus  exercising  the  supreme  magistracy  with 
universal  admiration  and  applause;  you  are 
considered  as  directed  by  my  guidance  and 
formed  by  my  instructions. 

I  lately  paid  a  visit  to  Lucius  Ccesar^  at  Na- 
ples ;  and  though  I  found  him  extremely  indis- 
posed, and  full  of  pain  in  every  part  of  his  body, 
yet  the  moment  I  entered  his  chamber  he  raised 
himself  with  an  air  of  transport,  and  without 
allowing  himself  time  to  salute  me,  "  O  my 
"  dear  Cicero,  said  he,  I  give  you  joy  of  your 
"  influence  over  Dolabella,  and  had  I  the  same 
*/  credit  with  my  nephew,  our  country  might 


(( 


now 

♦  Dolabella  was,  at  this  time,  no  more  than  twenty-five 
years  of  age:  which  was  almost  twenty  years  earlier  than  he 
could  legally  have  offered  himself  as  a  candiHare  for  the  con- 
sular dignity;  the  Roman  laws  having  verv  wisely  provided 
that  no  man  >hould  be  capable  of  exercistng  this  important 
office  till  he  had  attained  the  age  of  forty-two. 

*  He  was  a  distant  relation  to  Julius  Caesar,  and  uncle  to 
Mark  Antony.  Upon  the  celebrated  coalition  of  the  trium- 
virate, he  was  sacnfied  by  Antony  to  the  resentment  of  Oc-^' 
tavius:  as,  in  return,  Cicero  was  delivered  up  to  the  ven- 
geance of  Antony.  But  Lucius  escaped  the  consequence  of 
this  proscription  by  the  means  of  Julia,  Antony's  mother. 
r/ut.  in  vit.  Ant. 


Book  XII.  of  CICERO.  9S 

"  now  be  preserved.    But  I  not  only  congratu- 
"  late  your  friend  on  his  worthy  conduct,  but 
"  desire  you  would  return  him  my  particular 
"  acknowledgments:  as,  indeed,  he  is  the  single 
"consul  who  has  acted  with  true  spirit,  since 
"  you  filled  that  office."    He  then  proceeded 
to  enlarge  upon  your  late  glorious  action,  re- 
presenting it  as  equal  to  the  most  illustrious  and 
important  service  that  ever  was  rendered  to  the 
commonwealth.     And  in  this  he  only  echoed 
the  general  voice  of  the  whole  republic.    Suffer 
me,  then,  to  take  possession  of  those  encomi- 
um's  to  which  I  am  by  no  means  entitled,  and, 
in  some  sort,  to  participate  with  you  in  that  ge- 
neral applause  you  have  acquired.    To  be  seri- 
ous, however,  (for  you  will  not  imagine  that  I 
make  this  request  in  good  earnest)  I  would 
much  rather  resign  to  you  the  whole  of  my  own 
glory,  (if  there  be  any,  indeed,  I  can  justly 
claim)  than  arrogate  to  myself  the  least  portion 
of  that  which  is  so  unquestionably  your  due. 
For  as  vou  cannot  but  be  sensible  that  I  have 
ever  loved  you,  so  your  late  behaviour  Hs  rais- 
ed that  affection  into  the  highest  possible  ar- 
dour :  as,  in  truth,  there  cannot  be  any  thing 
more  engagingly  fair,  more  irresistibly  amiable, 
than  the  patriot  virtues.     I  need  not  tell  you 
how  greatly  the  exalted  talents  and  pohte  man- 
^  ners, 


96 


The  letters         Book  XII. 


Book  XII. 


OF  CICERO. 


97 


i 


Ml 

14 


J 


ners,  together  with  the  suigular  spirit  and  pro- 
bity of  Marcus  Brutus,  had  ever  endeared  him 
to  my  heart.  Nevertheless,  his  late  glorious 
achievement  on  the  ides  of  March,  has  wonder- 
fully heightened  that  esteem  I  bore  him :  and 
which  I  had  always  looked  upon  as  too  exalted 
to  admit  of  any  farther  advance.  In  the  same 
manner,  who  would  have  imagined  that  my 
friendship  towards  yourself  was  capable  of  in- 
crease? yet  it  actually  has  increased  so  very  con- 
siderably, that  the  former  sentiments  of  my 
heart  seem  to  have  been  nothing  more  than 
common  affection,  in  comparison  of  that  trans- 
cendent passion  which  I  now  feel  for  you. 

Can  it  be  necessary  that  I  should  either  exhort 
you  to  preserve  the  glory  you  have  acquired, 
or,  agreeably  to  the  usual  style  of  admonition, 
set  before  your  view  some  animating  examples  of  i 
illustrious  merit  ?  I  could  mention  none  for  thia 
purpose  more  forcible  than  your  own  :  and  you 
have  only  to  endeavour  to  act  up  to  the  charac- 
ter you  have  already  attained.  It  is  impossible,  si 
indeed,  after  having  performed  so  signal  a  service 
to  your  countrj',  that  you  should  ever  deviate 
from  yourself.  Instead,  therefore,  of  sending  you 
any  unnecessary  exhortations,  let  me  rather  con- 
gratulate you  upon  this  nobl^  display  of  your 
patriotism.  It  is  your  privilege  (and  a  privilege, 

perhaps, 


perhaps,  which  no  one  ever  enjoyed  before)  to 
l»ve  exercised  the  severest  acts  of  necessary  jus- 
tic5e,  not  only  without  incurring  any  odium,  but 
with  the  greatest  popularity  :  with  the  approba- 
tion of  the  lowest,  as  well  as  of  the  best  and 
highest  amongst  us.     If  this  were  a  circum- 
stance in  which  chance  had  any  share,  I  should 
congratulate  your  good  fortune :  but  it  was  the 
effect  of  a  noble  and  undaunted  resolution,  un- 
der the  guidance  of  the  strongest  and  most  en- 
lightened judgment.     I  say  this,  from  having 
read  the  speech  you  made  upon  this  occasion  to 
the  people ;  and  never  was  any  harangue  more 
judiciously  composed.    You  open  and  explain 
the  fact  with  so  much  address,  and  gradually 
rise  through  the  several  circumstances  in  so 
artful  a  manner,  as  to  convince  all  the  world 
that  the  affair  was  mature  for  your  animadver- 
sion.    In  a  word,  you  have  delivered  the  com- 
monwealth in  general,  as  well  as  the  city  of 
Rome  in  particular,  from  the  dangers  with 
which  they  were  threatened  :  and  not  only  per- 
formed a  singular  service  to  the  present  gene- 
ration, but  set  forth  a  most  meful  example  for 
times  to  come.     You  will  consider  yourself, 
then,  as  the  great  support  of  the  republic  ;  and 
i-emember,  she  expects  that  you  will  not  only 
protect,  but  distinguish  those  illustrious  per- 
Vol.  Ill,  H  sons 


1 


98 


The  letters 


Book  XII. 


BWokXII. 


OF  CICERO. 


99 


sons*  who  have  laid  the  foundation  for  the  re- 
covery of  our  liberties.  But  I  hope  soon  to 
have  an  opportunity  of  expressing  my  senti- 
ments to  you  more  fully  upon  this  subject  in 
person.  In  the  mean  while,  since  you  are  thus 
our  glorious  guardian  and  preserver,  I  conjure 
you,  my  dear  Dolabella,  to  take  care  of  your- 
self for  the  sake  of  the  whole  commonwealth'. 
Farewel. 

.  LETTER 

•  Brutus  and  Cassius,  together  ^ith  the  rest  of  the  con- 
spirators. 

^  Cicero  communicated  a  copy  of  this  letter  to  Atticus, 
•vho  appears  to  have  much  disapproved  of  those  enci»miuni.s 
wth  which  it  is  so  extravagantly  swelled.  The  hypeibole, 
indeed,  seertis  to  have  been  the  prevailing  figure  in  Cicero*> 
rhetoric;  and  he  generally  dealt  n  out,  both  to  his  friends 
and  to  his  enemies,  with  more  warmih  than  discretion.  In 
the  pre^jenf  instance,  at  least,  he  was  either  very  easily  ino- 
posed  upon  by  appearances,  or  he  changed  his  opinion  of  Do- 
labella's  public  actions  and  designs,  according  to  the  colour 
of  his  conduct  towards  hinvself.  Perhaps,  both  these  causes 
might  concur,  in  forming  those  great  and  sudden  variations 
^hich  we  find  in  our  author's  sentiments  at  this  period,  ^'uh 
-lespect  to  the  hero  of  the  panegyric  before  us  :  for,  in  a  le4- 
ter  to  Atticus,  written  very  shortly  after  the  present,  he 
speaks  of  Dolabella  with  high  displeasure ;  and,  in  another  to 
ihe  same  person,  a  few  months  later,  he  exclaims  against  him 
with  mucb  bitterness,  as  one  who  had  not  only  been  bribed 
by  Antony  to  desert  the  cause  of  liberty,  bat  who  had  eih- 
deavoured,  as  far  as  in  him  lay»  entirely  to  ruin  it.  The  ac- 
cusation sefm.>  to  have  been  just ;  but,  it  is  observable,  how- 
ever, that  in  both  the  letters  referred  to,  part  of  Cicero's  m- 
di^oa' ion  arises  from  some  persona!  ill-treatment  which  he 
c  mplains  of  having  received  from  Dolabella.  Fid,  AdAtt. 
xiY.  18.  xvi.  1^ 


'^r 


LETTER  X.      . 

[A.U.709.] 

To  Treboniuss 

1  HAVE  recommended  my  Orator  (for  that  is 
the  title  which  I  have  given  to  the  treatise  I 
promised  to  send  you)  to  the  care  of  y^ur  freed- 
man  Sabinus.  I  was  induced  to  trust  it  in  his 
charge,  from  the  good  opinion  I  entertain  of  his 
countrymen :  if,  indeed,  I  may  guess  at  his 
country  by  his  iiame^,  and  he  has  not,  hke  an 
artful  candidate  at  an  election,  usurped  an  ap- 
pellation to  which  he  has  no  right'.    However, 

there 

'  Some  account  has  already  been  given  of  Trebonius  in 
rem.  4.  p.  181.  vol.  ii.  Caesar,  upon  his  return  from  Spain, 
in  the  preceding  year,  appointed  him  consul  with  Quintus  Fa- 
bius  Maximus;  but  this  and  other  favours  of  the  same  kind 
were  not  sufficient  to  restrain  him  from  entering  into  the 
conspiracy  which  was  soon  afterwards  formed  against  Caesar's 
life.  At  the  same  time,  therefore,  that  Brutus  and  Cassius 
found  it  expedient  to  leave  Rome,  Trebonius  secretly  with- 
drew into  Asia  Minor,  which  had  before  been  allotted  to  him 
as  his  proconsular  province :  and  he  was  on  his  way  to  that 
government  when  the  present  letter  was  written.  Dto.  p. 
236',  24-7.     Ad  Att.  xiv.  10. 

>i,^:iCicero  supposes  that  Sabinus  was  so  called  as  being  a 
native  of  Sabinia,  a  country  in  Italy,  the  inhabitants  of 
which  were  celebrated  for  having  long  retained  an  uncor- 
rupted  simplicity  of  manners.  Hanc  olim  veteres  vitam  co- 
luere  Sabmi,  is  Virgil's  conclusion  of  that  charming  descrip- 
tion which  he  gives  of  the  pleasing  labours  and  innocent .  re- 
creations of  rural  life.     Georg.  ii.  532. 

*  It  was  an   artifice   sometimes  practised   by  the  candi- 
dates for  offices,  io  order  to  recommend  themselves-  to  the 

H  2  good 


100 


The  letters 


Book  XII. 


there  is  such  a  modesty  in  his  countenance, 
and  such  an  air  of  sincerity  in  his  conversation, 
that  I  am  much  deceived  if  he  does  not  possess, 
in  some  degree,  at  least,  the  true  Sabine  simpli- 
city. But  not  to  suffer  him  to  take  up  any 
more  of  my  paper,  I  will  now  turn,  my  dear 
Trebonius,  to  yourself  As  there  were  some 
circumstances  attending  your  departure  that 
increased  the  aifection  I  bear  towards  you,  let 
me  entreat  you,  in  order  to  sooth  the  uneasi- 
ness I  feel  from  your  absence,  to  be  as  frequent 
a  correspondent  on  your  part,  as  you  shall  cer- 
tainly find  me  on  mine.  There  are  two  reasons, 
indeed,  why  you  ought  to  be  more  so ;  the  first 
is,  that,  as  the  republic  can  now  no  longer  be 
considered  as  in  Rome,  but  removed  with  its 
glorious  defenders,  we,  who  remain  here,  must 
Expect  to  receive  from  our  provincial  friends 
what  we  used  to  transmit  to  them;  an  account, 
I  mean,  of  the  commonwealth.  The  next  rea- 
son is,  because  I  have  many  other  opportuni- 
ties in  your  absence,  besides  that  of  writing,  to 
give  you  proofs  of  my  friendship :  whereas, 
you  have  none,  I  think,  of  testifying  yours, 
but  by  the  frequency  of  your  letters.  As  to 
all  other  articles,  I  can  wait ;  but  my  first  and 

most 

good  graces  of  their  constituents,  to  pretend  a  kindred  to 
^hich  they  had  no  ri»ht,  by  assuming  the  name  of  some  fti-- 
vowite  and  popular  lamily.     Manut, 


Book  XII.  of  CICERO.  m 

most  impatient  desire,  is  to  know  what  sort  of 
journey  you  have  had,  where  you  met  Brutus*, 
and  how  long  you  continued  together.     When 
you  are  advanced  farther  towards  your  pro- 
vince, you  will  acquaint  me,  I  hope,  with  your 
military  preparations,  and  with  whatever  elae 
relates  to  our  public  affairs,  that  I  may  be  able 
to  form  some  judgment  of  our  situation.    1  am 
jure,  at  least,  I  shall  give  no  credit  to  any  iu- 
telligence  but  what  I  receive  from  your  hands. 
In  the  mean  time,  take  care  of  your  health,  and 
continue  to  allow  me  the  same  singular  share 
of  your  affection  which  I  have  always  enjoyed. 

Farewel.  LETTER 

»  Brutus  had  not  left  Italy  when  Trebonius  set  out  for 
Asia,  nor  did  he  leave  it  till  several  months  afterwards :  so 
that  .he  inquiry  which  C.cero  here  makes,  must  relate  to 
some  interview  which  he  supposed  thatTrebomustnightha>e 
had  with  Brutus  before  the  former  embarked.     Tia.M  Mt. 

xiv.  10.  y, 

H  3 


I,  ,      * 


i  r   I   4  I  '•  C     ■■  ^ 


f'lj?       lli\l       f 


:j  ■riiH    L 


im  11. 


,  'f » 


ft{  f>'*' 


t;    y 


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■I 


102 


The  letters         Book  XII. 


I 


LETTER  XI. 

[A.  U.  709.] 

Trebonius  to  Cicero*. 

J   ARRIVED  at   Athens  on   the  22d  of  this 
month,  where,  agreeably  to  my  wishes,  I  had 
the  satisfaction  of  finding  your  son  in  the  pur- 
suit of  the  noblest  improvements,  and  in  the 
highest  esteem  for  his  modest  and  ingenuous 
behaviour^.     As  you  perfectly  well  know  the 
place  you  possess  in  my  heart,  you  will  judge, 
without  my  telling  you,   how  much  pleasure 
this  circumstance  afforded  me.    In  conformitv 
indeed,  to  the  unfeigned  friendship  which  had 
so  long  been  cemented  between  us,  I  rejoice  in 
every  advantage  that  can  attend  you,  be  it  ever 
so  inconsiderable;  much  more,   therefore,   in 
one  so  important  to  your  happiness.     Believe 
me,  my  dear  Cicero,  I  do  not  flatter  you  when 
I  say,  there  is  not  a  youth  in  all  this  seminary 
of  learning  more  ardently  devoted  to  those  re- 
fined and  elevated  arts  which  are  so  peculi- 
arly your  passion,  or  who,  in  every  view  of  his 
character,    is   more  truly  amiable,    than   our 
young  man.  I  call  him  otu^s,  for,  be  assured^  I 

jiu      cannot 

'  This  letter  seems  to  have  been  written  before  the  pr«- 
ceding  epistle  bad  reached  the  hands  of  Trebonius. 
♦  See  the  remarks  on  let.  37.  of  this  book. 


I 


Book  XII.  of  CICERO.  H>3 

cannot  separate  myself  from  any  thmg  with 
which  you  are  connected.     It  is  with  great 
pleasure,  therefore,  as  well  as  with  strict  jus- 
tice, 1  congratulate  both  you  and  myself,  that 
a  youth  for  whom  we  ought  to  have  some  af- 
fection, whatever  his  disposition  might  be,  is  of 
a  character  to  deserve  our  highest.    As  he  inti- 
mated a  desire  of  seeing  Asia,  I  not  only  in- 
vited, hut  pressed  him  to  take  the  opportunity 
of  visiting  that  province  whilst  I  presided  there : 
and  you  will  not  doubt  of  my  supplying  your 
place  in  every  tender  office  of  paternal  care. 
But  that  you  may  not  be  apprehensive  this 
scheme  will  prove  an  interruption  of  those  stu- 
dies, to  which,  I  know,'  he  is  continually  ani- 
mated by  your  exhortations,  Cratippus'  shall 
be-  of  our  partv.     Nor  shall  your  son  want  my 
earnest  incitements  to  advance  daily  in  those 
sciences,  into  which  he  has  already  made  so 
successful  an  entrance. 

I  am  wholly  ignorant  of  what  is  going  for- 
ward at  Rome ;  only  I  hear  some  uncertain 
rumours  of  commotions  amongst  you.  But  I 
hope  there  is  no  foundation  for  this  report;  that 
we  may  one  day  sit  down  in  the  peaceful  posses- 
sion of  our  liberties,  retired  from  the  noise  and 
bustle  of  the  world :  a  privilege  which  hitherto 


-ft"! O  ■*»!!■!'■!   9 


It 


5  See  rem.  3.  p.  171.  of  this  vol. 


!N 


H4 


J04  Th£  LETTERS  Book  XII. 

it  has  not  been  my  fortune  to  enjoy.    However, 
ha-vhig  had  ashort  relaxation  from  business  dur- 
ing my  voyage  to  this  place.  I  amused  myself 
with  putting  together  a  few  thoughts,  which  I 
always  designed  as  a  present  to  you.     In  this 
performance  I  have  inserted  that  lively  observa- 
tion  which  you  formerly  made  so  much  to  my 
honour,  and  have  pointed  out,  by  a  note  at  the 
bottom,  to  whom  I  am  indebted  for  the  com- 
phment.     If,  in  some  passages  of  this  piece,  I 
should  appear  to  have  taken  great  liberties  •  I 
shall  be  justified,  I  persuade  myself,  by  the  cha- 
racter of  the  man  at  whom  my  invective  is 
ajmed«:  and  you  will,  undoubtedly,  excuse  the 
just  indignation  I  have  expressed  against  a  per- 
son  of  such  infamous  principles.    Why,  indeed, 
may  I  not  be  indulged  in  the  same  unbounded 
hcence  as  was  allowed  to  honest  Lucilius^  ?  He 
could  not  be  animated  with  greater  abhorrence 
of  the  vices,  which  he  has  so  freely  attacked  • 
and,  certainly,  they  were  not  more  worthy  of 
satire  than   those  against  which  I  have  in- 
veighed. 

I  hope  you  will  remember  your  promise,  and 
take  the  first  opportunity  of  introducing  me  as 
a  partyin  some  of  your  future  dialogues.  I  doubt 
not,  if  you  should  write  any  thing  upon  the  sub- 

,*  Probably  at  Antony. 

'  See  rem.  8.  p.  319.  vol.  ii. 


BOOTK  XII. 


OF  CICERO. 


105 


vl 


t  > 


ject  of  Caesar's  death,  that  you  will  give  an  in* 
stance  of  your  friendship  and  your  justice,  by 
ascribing  to  me  no  inconsiderable  share  of  that 
glorious  transaction. 

I  recommend  my  mother  and  family  to  your 
good  offices,  and  bid  you  fareweL 

Athens,  May  the  25th. 


•.  '-»./'■: 


LETTER  XII. 

[A.  U.  709.]         X 

To  Mat  I  US'. 

I  KNOW  not  whether  it  is  with  greater  pain 
or  pleasure,  that  I  reflect  on  the  visit  which  I 
lately  received  from  our  very  good  friend,  the 
well-natured  Trebatius.  He  called  upon  me 
the  next  morning  after  my  arrival  at  Tuscu- 

lum: 

»  It  is  principally  owing  to  this  and  the  following  letter, 
that  the  name  and  character  of  Matius  are  known  to  poste- 
rity: as  he  is  nowhere  mentioned  by  any  of  the  ancient  his- 
torians of  this  memorable  period.     His  inviolable  and  disin- 
terested affection  to  Caesar,  together  with  the  generous  cou- 
rage with  which  he  avowed  that  attachment  when  Caesar  wa« 
no  more  ;  as  they  strongly  mark  out  the  virtues  of  his  heart, 
so  they  will  best  appear  by  his  own  spirited  reply  to  the  pre- 
sent epistle.     But  Matius  was  as  much  distinguished  by  h\t 
genius  as  his  virtues:  and  he  was  perfectly  well  accomplishea 
in  those  arts,  which  contribute  to  the  innocent  pleasure  and 
embellishment  of  human  life.  Gardening  and  poetry,  in  par- 
ticular, seem  to  have  been  his  favourite  amusements :  in  the 
former  of  which,  his  countrymen  were  indebted  to  him  for 
some  useful  improvements  ;  as  they  likewise  were  in  the  lat- 
ter,  for  an  elegant  translation  of  the  Iliad.     Columel.  xii.44r. 
AuL  Gel,  vi.  6.  ix.  4. 
1 


I 


n\ 


i 


i 


U'-- 


i 


it 


» 


106  The  LETTERS         Book  XII. 

lum;  and  as  he  was,  by  no  means,  sufficiently 
recovered  from  his  late  indisposition,  I  could  not 
forbear  reproving  him  for  thus  hazarding  his 
health.  He  interrupted  me  with  saying,  that 
nothing  was  of  more  importance  to  him  than 
the  business  which  brought  him  to  my  house: 
and  upon  my  enquiry  if  any  thing  new  had  oc- 
curred ;  he  immediately  entered  into  an  ac- 
count of  your  complaints  against  me.  But  be- 
fore I  give  them  a  particular  answer,  let  me 
begin  with  a  few  previous  reflections. 

Amongst  all  my  acquaintance,  I  cannot  re- 
collect any  man  with  whom  I  have  longer  en- 
joyed a  friendship,   than  with  yourself;  and, 
although  there  are  several  for  whom  my  affec- 
tion commenced  as  early,  there  are  few  for 
whom  it  has  risen  so  high.    The  truth  of  it  is, 
I  conceived  an  esteem  for  you  from  the  first 
moment  I  saw  you :  and  I  had  reason  to  be- 
lieve,  that  you  thought  of  me  in  the  same  fa- 
vourable manner.  But  your  long  absence  from 
Rome,  which  immediately  succeeded  our  first 
acquaintance,  together  with  that  active  course 
of  life  wherein  I  was  engaged,  and  which  was 
so  entirely  different  from  yours,  did  not,  at  that 
time,  admit  of  our  improving  this  mutual  dis- 
position, by  a  more  frequent  intercourse.    Ne* 
vertheless,   even  so  long  ago  as  when  Casar 

i  **^was 


ii 


Book  XI t 


OP  €I€ERO- 


IW 


I.  f' 


was  in  Gaul,  and  many  years  before  tlie  com-t 
mencement  of  the  civil  war,  I  experienced  youfi 
friendly  inclinations  towards  me.     For  as  your 
imagined  that  my  union  with  Caesar  would  be 
greatly  advantageous  on  my  side,  and  not  alrr 
together  unserviceable  to  his,  you  generously 
recommended  me  to  his  favour,   and  was  the 
cause  of  his  cultivating  my  friendship.     libr-. 
bear  to  mention  several  instances  which  ocf 
curred  at  that  period,  of  the  unreserved  mann^ 
in  which  we  both  conversed  and  corresponde4 
together :  as  they  were  followed  by  others  of  a 
more  important  nature.     At  the  opening  of  the 
civil  war,  when  you  were  going  to  meet  C«sa4 
at  Brundisium,  you  paid  me  a  visit  in  my  For^ 
mian  villa.     This  single  favour,  had  itib<3en.*t-^ 
tended  with  no  other,   was,  at  such  a  critical 
juncture,  an  ample  testimony  of  your  afFectionJ 
But  can  I  ever  forget  the  generous  advice  you 
so  kindly  gave  me  at  the  same  time:  and  of 
which  Trebatius,   I  remember,  was  himself  a 
witness  ?    Can  I  ever  forget  the  letter  you  aft 
terwards  wrote  to  me,   when  you  went  to  joia 
Csesar  in  the  district,  if  I  mistake  not,  of  Tre^ 
bula  ?  It  was  soon  after  this,  that,  either  by 
gr;^itude,  by  honour,  or  perhaps  by  fateyuJ 
wajs  determined  to  follow  Pompey  into  Greecef 
Olid  was  there  any  instance  of  an  obliging  zeal, 
which  you  did  not  exert  in  my  absence,  both 

for 


-'•  '•  I 


' 


m 


f 


%i 


The  letters  Book  XII. 


I 


wWhe  and  for  my  family  ?  was  there  any  one, 
in  short,  whom  either  they  or  I  had  more  reason 
'iS'CsYeem  our  friend  ?  But  I  returned  to  Brun- 
disiuni :  and  can  I  forget  (let  me  ask  once  more, 
with  what  an  obliging  expedition  yoii  hastened, 
as  8oon  as  you  heard  of  my  arrival,  to  meet  me 
at  Taretltatn  ?    How  friendly  were  your  visits; 
how  kind  your  endeavours  to  reason  me  out  of 
<n^  dejection,  into  which  the  dread  of  our  o-c- 
neral  calamities  had  sunk  me  !  At  length,  how- 
eV^j^I  returned  to  Rome:  where  every  proof 
of  the  greatest  intimacy,   and  upon  occasions 
too  of  the  most  important  kind,  mutually  passed 
between  us.    It  was  by  your  directions  and  ad- 
vice,   that  I  learned  to  regulate  my  conduct 
^ith Respect  to  Caesar:  and  as  to  other  in- 
stances  of  your  friendship,  where  was  the  man, 
except  Ca2sar  himself,  at  whose  house  you  more 
frequently  visited,  or  upon  whom  you  bestowed 
$0  m^ny  agreeable  hours  of  your  conversation? 
'  in  some  of  which,  you  may  remember,  it  was, 
(at  you  encouraged  me  to  engage  in  my  phi- 
"losciphical  writings.     When  Caesar  afterwards 
returned  from  compleating  his  victories,  it  was 
jfour  fiVst  and  principal  endeavour  to  establish 
'^me  again  in  his  friendship  :  and  it  was  an  en- 
^eavouf,  m  which  you  perfectly  well  succeeded. 
But  to  what  purpose,  you  will  ask,  perhaps, 
this  long  detail  ?    Longer,  indeed,  I  must  ac- 


knowledge 


Book  XII.  ot  CICERO.  m 

knowledge  it  is,  than  I  was  myself  awar^ :  how- 
ever the  use  I  would  make  of  these  several  % 
cumstances,  is  to  shew  you  how  much  reason 
I  have  to  be  surprised,  that  you,  who  w^l 
know  the  truth  of  them,  should  believe  b^^- 
pable  of  having  acted  inconsistently  with  ^^ 
powerful  ties.   But  besides  these  motives  of  my 
attachment  to  you;  motives  known  and  visible 
to  the  whole  world ;  there  are  others  ot  a  ^x 
kss  conspicuous  kind ;  and  which  I  am  ajj^a 
loss  to  represent  in  the  terms  they  desery|. 
Every  part,  indeed,  of  your  character^  I  ad- 
mire :  but  when  I  consider  you  as  the  wise,  tje 
firm  and  the  faithful  friend ;  as  the  ppUj^  t^* 
witty,   and  the  learned  companion;  these,  I 
confess,   are  the  striking  points  amidst  your 
many  other  illustrious  qualifications,  with  wh,ch 
I  an;  particularly  charmed.     But  it  is  tj^^  to 
return  to  the  complaints  you  have  alledged 
against  me.     Be  assured  then,„^,ne;ff^^oncc 
credited  the  report  of  your  having  voted  for  the 
law  you  mentioned  to  Trebatius :  and.ji^ejd 
if  I  had,  I  should  have  been  well  persuaded  that 
..you  were  induced  to  concur  in  promoting^it, 
.  upon  some  very  just  and  rat^or^^l  motive.    But 
-J  die  dignity  of  your  character  dra^s  upon 
hyou  the  observation  of  all  the^YfO^}d^^,.t|?ei?a- 
kvolence  of  mankind  wiU,  sometimes,  giye^e- 
verer  constructions  to  your  actions,  than^pst 


.!■  " 


\\, 


1^1 


^i     I 


i    51 


1 


I' 


m  The  LETTERS  Book  Xiri 

certaiaJy  they  merit.  If  no  instance*  of  this  kind 
have  CTer  reached  your  knowledge,  I  know 
not  uj  what  manner  to  proceed  in  my  justifica- 
tion.     Believe  me,  however,  1  have  always  de- 
fended you,  upon  these  occasions,  with  the  same 
warmth  and  spirit,  with  which  I  am  sensible  you 
are  wont  to  oppose,  on  your  part,  the  calumnies 
that  are  thrown  out  upon  myself.     Thus,  with 
regard  to  the  law  I  just  now  mentioned,  I  have 
always  peremptorily  denied  the  truth  of  the 
charge:  and  as  to  your  having  been  one  of  the 
maiiagers  of  the  late'  games,  I  have  constantly 
insisted  that  you  acted  agreeably  to  those  pious 
offices  that  are  due  to  the  memory  of  a  departed 
inend.     In  respect  to  the  latter,  however,  you 
cannot  be  ignorant,  that  if  Cesar  was  really  a 
«}.Taut,  (as  I  think  he  was")  your  zeal  may  be 

considered 

*a,M.  u,  cxh.bit  some  games  in  honour  „f  Venus ;  a  divinity 
Ubm  woom   he  affected  to  be  thought  a  desce^.dLn.      Octa-' 
tms   ..on  alter  h.s  return  to  Komerup.n  thedcath  of  S 
celebrated  these  games  at  h.s  own  expence  :  and  Ma  rurun! 
dortook  .0  be  one  ot  the  managers.'  As  this  waVa  pubUc 
mark  of  respect  pa,u  to  the  memory  of  C^r,  and   might 
.«nd  to  inflame  themtndsof  the  populace  against  the  con J,i 
mors,  u  gave  much  disgust  to  ?he  fr.ends'of  t^  republTc 

had  «„,n7'      '1 P'"'-?'''^'  ^^  in  "-e  number  of  those  who 
had  openly  spoken  of  ,t  with  displeasure.     He  did  so    a2 
leas.,  in  a  letter  to  Atticus.     Fid.\Md  Att  xv    9      J^"- 
Bel.  Civil,  ji.  407.  •-  «"•  wa  .att.  xv.  2.    Jppta,,. 

denS' "  fhif  rl!'""-' "'""  ^"^i^  "•"  celebrated  queen  of  Sw„ 
den)      that  C«=ar  is  accused  of  being  a  tyrant :  if  to  gq- 


Book.  XII. 


OF  CICERO. 


rif 


considered  in  two  very  different  views.    It  may 
be  said,  (and  it  is  an  argument  which  I  never 
fail  to  urge  in  your  favour)  that  you  shewed  a 
very  commendable  fidelity,  in  thus  displaying 
your  aflfection  to  a  departed  friend.     On  the 
other  hand,  it  may  be  alledged  (and,  in  fact,  it 
is  alledged)  that  the  liberties  of  our  country 
ought  to  be  far  preferable  even  to  the  life  itself 
of  those  whom  we  hold  most  dear.    I  wish  you 
had  been  informed  of  the  part  I  have  always 
taken,  whenever  this  question  has  been  started. 
But  there  are  two  circumstances  that  reflect  the 
brightest  lustre  upon  your  character,  and  which 
none  of  your  friends  more  frequently  or  more 
warmly  commemorate,  than  myself;  I  mean 
your  having  always  most  strongly  recommend^ 
ed  pacific  measures  to  Caesar,  and  constantly 
advised  him  to  use  his  victory  with  moderarion : 
in  both  which,  the  whole  worid  is  agreed  with 
me  in  acknowledging  your  merit.  . 

I  think 

-govern  "Rome  was  the  most  important  servce  he  could 
»  have  performed  to  his  country."  It  .s  certam  that  the 
republic  was  well-n.gh  reduced  to  a  state  of  total  anarchy, 
when  C«sar  usurped  the  command  :  but  u  .s  equally  certam. 
rhat  he  himself,  had  been  the  principal  author  and  fomen  er 
of  tho  e  coX  ons.  which  rendered  an  absolute  au.hor.ty 

L  only  PO"'''''  "P*-*'-'  f"/  '^'Tl  t      IfThtSTtfu. 
iato  8  State  of  tranquilliiy  and  good  order.     If  this  be  iru«, 

U  1ms  no  very  intricate  question  to  determine,  what  ver. 
dicTo^ght  to  be  passed  upon  Ctesar.     But  surely  .t  .s  d  ffi- 
col   to  \now  by  what  principles  Cicero  can  be  acqu.  tej 
who  reviled  that  maa  when  dead,  whom  he  was  the  hrst  to 
liatter  whea  living. 


112 


0. 


The  letters         Book  XII. 


I  think  myself  much  obliged  to  our  friend 
Trebatius,  for  having  given  me  this  occasion  of 
justifying  myself  before  you.  And  you  will 
credit  the  professions  I  have  here  made,  un- 
less you  imagine  me  void  of  every  spark 
both  of  gratitude  and  generosity  :  an  opinion, 
than  which  nothing  can  be  more  injurious  to 
my  sentiments,  or  more  unworthy  of  yours. 
Farewcl. 


LETTER  XIII. 

[A.  U.  709.] 

Matius  to  Cicero. 

1  ftECETVED  great  satisfaction  from  your  let- 
ter, as  it  assured  me  of  my  holding  that  rank 
in  your  esteem,  which  I  have  ever  wished  and 
hoped  to  enjoy.     Indeed  I  never  doubted  of 
your  good  opinion :  but  the  value  I  set  upon 
it,    rendered   me  solicitous    bf   preserving  it 
without  the  least  blemish.   Conscious,  however,, 
that  I  had  never  given  just  offence  to  any  can- 
did  and  honest  mind,  I  was  the  less  disposed  to 
believe,  that  you,  whose  sentiments  are  exalted 
by  the  cultivation  of  so  many  generous  arts, 
could  hastily  credit  any  reports  to  my  disadvan- 
tage: especially  as  yoy  were  one  for  whom  I  had 

.    at 


I 


Book  XII.         ot  CICERO. 


113 


at  all  times  discovered  much  sincere  good  will. 
But  as  I  have  the  pleasure  to  find  that  you  think 
of  me  agreeably  to  my  wishes,  I  will  drop  this 
subject,  in  order  to  vindicate  myself  from  those 
calumnies  which  you  have  sot)ften,  and  with  such 
singular  generosity,  opposed.  I  am  perfectly 
well  apprised  of  the  reflections  that  have  been 
cast  upon  me  since  Caesar's  deatbi  It  has  been 
imputed  to  me,  I  know,  that  I  lament  the  loss 
of  my  friend,  and  think  with  indignation  on  the 
murderers  of  the  man  I  loved.  "The  welfare 
"  of  our  country,"  say  my  accusers,  (as  if  they 
had  already  made  it  appear  that  the  destruction 
of  Caesar  was  for  the  benefit  of  the  common- 
wealth) "  the  welfare  of  our  country  is  to  be 
"  preferred  to  all  considerations  of  amity."  It 
may  be  so ;  but  I  will  honestly  confess,  that  I 
am  by  no  means  arrived  at  this  elevated  strain  of 
patriotism.  Nevertheless,  I  took  no  part  with 
Caesar  in  our  civil  dissentions ;  but  neither  did 
I  desert  my  friend,  because  I  disliked  his  mea- 
sures. The  truth  is,  I  was  so  far  from  approv- 
ing the  civil  war,  that  I  always  thought  it  un- 
justifiable, and  exerted  my  utmost  endeavours 
toextinguish  those  sparks  by  which  it  was  kind- 
led. In  conformity  to  these  sentiments,  I  did 
not  make  use  of  my  friend's  victory  to  the  grati- 
fication of  any  lucrative  or  ambitious  purposes 
Vol.  III.  I  of 


114 


The  letters       Book  XII. 


Book  XII.        of  CICERO. 


115 


of  my  own,  as  some  others  most  shamefully  did, 
whose  interest  with  Caesar  was  much  inferior  to 
mine.  Far,  in  truth,  from  being  a  gainer  by  his 
success,  I  suffered  greatly  in  my  fortunes  by 
that  very  law  which  saved  many  of  those  who 
now  exult  in  his  death  from  the  disgrace  of 
being  obliged  to  fly  their  country*.  Let  me 
add,  that  I  recommended  the  vanquished  party 
to  his  clemency,  witli  the  same  warmth  and 
zeal  as  if  my  own  preservation  had  been  con- 
cerned. Thus  desirous  that  all  my  fellow-citi- 
:zens  might  enjoy  their  lives  in  full  security,  can 
I  repress  the  indignation  of  my  heart  against  the 
assassins  of  that  man,  from  whose  generosity  this 
privilege  was  obtained  ;  especially,  as  the  same 
hands  were  lifted  up  to  his  destruction,  which 
had  first  drawn  upon  him  all  the  odium  and  envy 
of  his  administration  ?  Yet  I  am  threatened,  it 
Kerns,  with  their  vengeance,  for  daring  to  cour 
ilemn  the  deed.  Unexampled  insolence !  that 
some  should  glory  in  the  pepetration  of  those 
Climes,  which  others  should  not  be  permitted 
even  to  deplore  !  The  meanest  slave  has  ever 
been  allowed  to  indulge,  without  control,  the 
fears,  the  sorrows,  or  the  joys  of  his  heart ; 
.    .  but 

*  The  law  alluded  to,  is,  probably,  that  which  Casar 
enacted  for  the  relief  of  those  who  had  contracted  debts  be- 
fore the  commencement  of  the  civil  war,  of  which  see  rem. 
i  1.  p.  260.  vol.  II. 


but  these  our  assertors  of  liberty,  as  they  call 
themselves,  endeavour  to  extort  from  me,  by 
their  menaces,  this  common  privilege  of  every 
creature.  Vain  and  impotent  endeavours  !  no 
dangers  shall  intimidate  me  from  acting  up  to 
the  o-enerous  duties  of  friendship  and  humanity; 
persuaded,  as  I  have  ever  been,  that  death  in  an 
honest  cause  ought  never  to  be  shunned,  and 
frequently  to  be  courted.  Yet,  why  does  it  thus 
move  their  displeasure,  if  I  only  wish  that  they 
may  repent  of  what  they  have  perpetrated  ?  for 
wish  I  will  acknowledge  I  do,  that  both  they 
and  all  the  world  may  regret  the  death  of  Csesar. 
"  Butasamember,  (saythey,)  of  thecommon- 
*'  wealth,  you  ought,  above  all  things,  to  desire 
"  its  preservation.'  Now  that  I  sincerely  do  so, 
if  the  whole  tenor  of  my  past  conduct,  and  all 
the  hopes  I  can  reasonably  be  supposed  to  en* 
tertain,  will  not  sufficiently  evince,  I  shall  not 
attempt  to  prove  it  by  my  professions.  I  conjure 
you,  then,  to  judge  of  me,  not  by  what  others 
may  say,  but  by  the  plain  tendency  of  my  ac- 
tions; and,  if  you  believe  I  have  any  interest  in 
the  tranquillity  of  the  republic,  be  assured,  that 
I  will  have  no  communication  with  those  who 
would  impiously  disturb  its  peace.  Shall  I  re- 
nounce, indeed,  those  patriot  principles  I  stea- 
dily pu^sijL(j:d  in  uiy  youth,  when  warmth  and 

1 2  inexperience 


»' 


116 


The  letters  Book  XII. 


inexperience  might  have  pleaded  some  excuse 
for  errors  ?  Shall  I,  in  the  sober  season  of  de- 
clining age,  wantonly  unravel,  at  once,  the 
whole  fair  contexture  of  my  better  days  ?  Most 
assuredly  not;  nor  shall  I  ever  give  any  other  of-  • 
fence  than  in  bewailing  the  severe  catastrophe  of 
a  most  intimate  and  illustrious  friend  !  Were  I 
disposed  to  act  otherwise,  I  should  scorn  to  de- 
ny it ;  nor  should  it  be  ever  said,  that  I  covered 
my  crimes  by  hypocrisy,  and  feared  to  avow 
what  I  scrupled  not  to  commit. 

But  to  proceed  to  the  other  articles  of  the 
charge  against  me ;  it  is  farther  alledged  that  t 
presided  at  those  games  which  the  young  Octa- 
vius  exhibited  in  honour  of  Csesar's  victories. 
The  charge,  I  confess,  is  true  ;  but  what  con- 
nexion has  an  act  of  mere  private  duty,  with 
the  concerns  of  the  republic  ?  It  was  an  office, 
not  only  due  from  me  to  the  memory  of  my 
departed  friend,  but  which  I  could  not  refuse 
to  that  illustrious  youth,  his  most  worthy  heir. 
I  am  reproached,  also,  with  having  been  frequent 
in  paying  my  visits  of  compliment  to  Antony  ; 
yet  you.will  find  that  the  very  men  who  impute 
this  as  a  mark  of  disaffection  to  my  country, 
appeared  nmch  more  frequently  at  his  levee, 
eitlier  to  solicit  his  favours,  or  to  receive  them. 
But,  after  all,  can  there  be  any  thing,  let  me 

1  ask, 


BookXIL        of  CICERO. 


117 


ask,  more  insufferably  arrogant  than  this  accu- 
sation? Caesar  never  opposed  my  associating 
with  whomsoever  I  thought  proper,  even  though 
it  were  with  persons  whom  he  himself  disap- 
proved ;  and  shall  the  men  who  have  cruelly 
robbed  me  of  one  friend,  attempt,  likewise,  by 
their  malicious  insinuations,  to  alienate  me  from 
another  ?  But  the  moderation  of  my  conduct, 
will,  I  doubt  not,  discredit  all  reports  that  may 
hereafter  be  raised  to  my  disadvantage ;  and  I  am 
persuaded,  that  even  those  who  hate  me  for  my 
attachment  to  Caesar,  would  rather  choose  a 
friend  of  my  disposition,  than  of  their  own. 
In  fine,  if  my  affairs  should  permit  me,  it  is  my 
resolution  to  spend  the  remainder  of  my  days 
*  at  Rhodes.  But,  if  any  accident  should  render 
it  necessary  for  me  to  continue  at  Rome,  my 
actions  shall  evince,  that  I  am  sincerely  desi- 
rous of  my  country's  welfare.  In  the  mean 
time,  I  am  much  obliged  to  Trebatius  for  sup- 
plying you  with  an  occasion  of  so  freely  laying 
open  to  me  the  amicable  sentiments  of  your 
heart ;  as  it  affords  me  an  additional  reason  for 
cultivating  a  friendship  with  one  whom  I  have 
ever  been  disposed  to  esteem.     Farewel. 

1 3  LETTER 


I J -J'  «•"■ 


118 


The  letters 


LETTER  XIV. 


Book  XIL 


Book  XIL 


OF  CICERO. 


119 


[A.  U.  709.] 

Marcus  Brutus  and  Caius  Cassius,  Prse- 
torsS  to  Mark  Antony,  Consul. 

If  we  were  not  persuaded  of  your  honour  and 
friendship,  we  should  not  trouble  you  with  the 
present  application;  which,  in  confidence  of 
both,  we  doubt  not  of  your  receiving  in  the 
most  favourable  manner. 

We  are  informed,  that  great  numbers  of  the 
veteran  troops  are  already  arrived  in  Rome,  and 
that  many  more  are  expected  by  the  first  of 
June.  Our  sentiments  would  be  extremely 
changed,  indeed,  if  we  entertained  any  fears  or 
suspicions  with  regard  to  yourself.  However,, 
as  we  resigned  ourselves  entirely  to  your  direc- 
tion, and,  in  compliance  with  your  advice,  not 
only  publibhed  an  edict,  but  wrote  circular  let- 
ters in  order  to  dismiss  our  friends  who  came 
to  our  assistance  from  the  municipal  towns,  we 
may  justly  look  upon  ourselves  as  worthy  of 
being  admitted  into  a  share  of  your  councils  ; 
especially  in  an  article  wherein  we  are  particu- 
larly 

'  They  had  been  appointed  praetors  for  the  present  year, 
by  Caesar.  The  reader  has  already  been  informed,  that 
Brutus  and  Cassius,  finding  it  necessary,  soon  after  the  as- 
sassination of  Caesar,  to  withdraw  from  Rome,  retired  to  a 
villa  of  the  former,  at  Lanuvium ;  from  whence  this  letter 
was  probably  written. 


larly  concerned.     It  is  our  joint  request,  there- 
fore,   that  you  would  explicitly   acquaint  us 
with  your  intentions,  and  whether  you  imagine 
we  can  possibly  be  safe  amidst  such  a  multi- 
tude of  veteran  troops,  who  Have  even  some 
design,    we   are   told,    of  replacing  the  altar* 
which  was  erected  to  Caesar ;  a  design,  surely, 
which  no  one  can  wish  may  meet  with  your 
approbation,  who  has  any  regard  to  our  credit 
or  security^     It  has  sufficiently  appeared,  that 
from  the  beginning  of  this  affair,  we  have  had  a 
view  to  the  public  tranquiUity,  and  have  aimed 
at  nothing  more  than  the  recovery  of  our  com- 
mon liberties.     No  man,  except  yourself,  has  it 
in  his  power  to  deceive  us,  because  we  never 
have  trusted,  nor  ever  will  trust,  any  other;  and 
most  certainly  you  have  too  much  integrity  tQ. 
betray  the  confidence  we  have  reposed  in  yoiu 
Our  friends,    however,   notwithstanding  that 
they  have  the  same  reliance  upon  your  good 
faith,  are  greatly  alarmed  for  our  safety ;  as  they 
think  so  large  a  body  of  veterans  may  much 
more  easily  be  instigated  to  violent  measures  by 
ill-designing  men,  than  they  can  be  restrained 

by 

♦  See  rem.  3.  p.  92.  of  this  vol. 

»  Because  the  suflFering  of  divine  honours  to  be  paid  to 
Caesar,  would  necessarily  impress  the  highest  sentiments  of 
him  upon  the  minds  of  the  populace ,  and,  consequently, 
tend  to  incense  them  against  those  who  were  concerned  in 
taking  away  his  life. 

14 


I   '  1 


m  The  letters        Book  XII. 

by  your  influence  and  authority.  We  entreat 
you,  therefore,  to  return  us  a  full  and  satisfac- 
tory answer.  To  tell  us  that  you  ordered  these 
troops  to  march  to  Rome,  as  intending  to  move 
the  senate  in  June  next,  concerning  their^  af- 
fairs, is  amusing  us  with  a  very  idle  and  tri- 
fling  reason ;  for  as  you  are  assured  that  we 
shall  not  attempt  to  obstruct  this^  design, 
from  what  other  quarter  can  you  possibly  sus' 
pect  that  it  will  be  opposed  ?  In  a  word,  it 
cannot  be  thought  that  we  are  too  anxious  for 
our  own  preservation,  when,  it  is  considered, 
that  no  accident  can  happen  to  our  persons 
without  involving  the  whole  republic  in  the 
mo^t  dangerous  commotions.    Farewel. 

LETTER 

«  Antony's  pretended  reason  for  drawing  together  this  body 
Of  veteran  troops,  was,  in  order  to  procure  a  ratification  from 
the  senate,  of  those  granu  of  lands  which  had  been  made  to 
them  by  Cassar,  as  a  reward  of  their  services ;  but  his  true 
reason  was,  to  strengthen  his  hands  against  those  who  should 
attempt  to  oppose  his  measures. 

'  The  conspirators  had  given  public  assurances  to  the  ve- 
tenin  troops,  that  they  would  not  endeavour  to  annul  the 
grants  which  Caesar  had  made  in  their  favour.     Dio,  p  357 


Book  XII.         of  CICERO.  121 

LETTER  XV. 

[A.U.709.] 

To  Caius  Cassius. 

Believe  me,  my  Cassius,  the  republic  is  the 
perpetual  subject  of  my  meditations;  or,  to 
express  the  same  thing  in  other  words,  you  and 
Marcus  Brutus  are  never  out  of  my  thoughts. 
It  is  upon  you  two,  indeed,  together  with  De- 
cimus  Brutus,  that  all  our  hopes  depend. — 
Mine  are  somewhat  raised  by  the  glorious  con- 
duct  of  Dolabella,    in    suppressing  the  late 
insurrection^ ;  which  had  spread  so  wide,  and 
gathered  every  day  such  additional  strength, 
that  it  seemed  to  threaten  destruction  to  the 
whole  city.     But  this  mob  is  now  so  totally 
quelled,  that  I  think  we  have  nothing  farther 
to  fear  from  any  future  attempt  of  the  same 
kind.     Many  other  fears,  however,  and  very 
considerable  ones  too,  still  remain  with  us ;  and 
it  entirely  rests  upon  you,  in  conjunction  with 
your  illustrious  associates,  to  remove  them.    Yet 
where  to  advise  you  to  begin  for  that  purpose, 
I  must  acknowledge  myself  at  a  loss.     To  say 
truth,  it  is  the  tyrant  alone,  and  not  the  ty- 
ranny, from  which  we  seem  to  be  delivered : 
for  although  the  man,  indeed,  is  destroyed, 

we 

•  See  rem.  3.  p.  92.  of  this  vol. 


V 


^ 

w 


122 


The  letters 


Book  XIL 


we  still  servilely  maintain  all  his  despotic  ordi- 
nances.    We  do  more ;  and,  under  the  pretence 
of  carrying  his  designs  into  execution,  we  ap- 
prove of  measures  which  even  he  himself  would 
never  have  pursued^:  and  the  misfortune  is, 
that  I  know  not  where  this  extravagance  will 
end.      When  I  reflect  on  the  laws  that  are 
enacted,  on  the  immunities  that  are  granted,  on 
the  immense  largesses  that  are  distributed,  on 
the  exiles  that  are  recalled,  and  on  the  fictitious 
decrees  that  are  published,  the  only  effect  that 
seems  to  have  been  produced  by  Caesar's  death 
is  that  it  has  extinguished  the  sense  of  our 
servitude,  and  the  abhorrence  of  that  detest- 
able usurper;  as  all  the  disorders  into  which  he 
threw  the  republic  still  continue.     These  are 
the  evils,  therefore,  which  it  is  incumbent  upon 
you  and  your  patriot  coadjutors  to  redress :  for 
let  not  my  friends  imagine  that  they  have  yet 

completed 

•  A  few  days  after  Caesar's  death,  Antony  assembled  the 
senate  in  the  temple  of  Tellus,  in  order  to  take  into  consider- 
ation the  stale  of  public  affairs.    The  result  of  their  delibera- 
tions was,  to  decree  a  general  act  of  oblivion  of  what  was  past, 
and  to  confirm  the  several  nominations  to  magistracies,  and 
other  grants,  which  had  been  made  by  Caesar.     This  was  a 
very  prudent  and  necessary  measure,  in  order  to  preserve  the 
public  tranquillity  ;  and  it  was  principally  procured  by  the 
authority  and  eloquence  of  Cicero.     But  Antony  soon  per- 
verted it  to  his  own  ambitious  purposes :  for  being  appointed 
to  inspect  the  papers  of  Caesar,  he  forged  some,  and  model- 
ed others,  as  best  suited  his  own  designs  ;  disposing  of  every 
thing  as  he  thoui^ht  proper,  under  the  authority  of  this  de^ 
Cree.     Dio.  p.  250.  256. 


i 


Book  XIL         of  CICERO.  123 

completed  their  work.     The  obligations,  it  is 
true,  which  the  republic  has  already  received 
from  you,  are  far  greater  than  I  could  have 
ventured  to  hope  :  still,  however,  her  demands 
are  not  entirely  satisfied  ;  and  she  promises  her- 
self  yet  higher  services  from  such  brave  and 
generous  benefactors.     You  have  revenged  her 
injuries,  by  the  death  of  her  oppressor ;  but 
you  have  done  nothing  more.     For,  tell  me, 
what  has  she  yet  recovered  of  her  former  dig- 
nity and  lustre  ?     Does  she  not  obey  the  will 
of  that  tyrant,  now  he  is  dead,  whom  she  could 
not  endure  when  living  ?     And  do  we  not,  in- 
stead  of  repealing  his  public  laws,  authenticate 
even  his  private  memorandums  ?     You  will  tell 
me,  perhaps,  (and  you  may  tell  me  with  truth) 
that  I  concurred  in  passing  a  decree  for  that 
purpose.     It  was  in  compliance,  however,  with 
public  circumstances ;  a  regard  to  which  is  of 
much  consequence  in  political  deliberations  of 
every  kind.     But  there  are  some,  however,  who 
have    most    immoderately    and    ungratefully 
abused  the  concessions  we  found  it  thus  ne- 

cessary  to  make. 

I  hope  very  speedily  to  discuss  this  and  ma- 
ny other  points  with  you  in  person.  In  the 
mean  time,  be  persuaded,  that  the  affection  I 
have  ever  borne  to  my  country,  as  well  as  my 
particular  friendship  to  yourself,  renders  the 

advancement 


Vtii 


h 


124  The  LETTERS         Book  XIL 

advancement  of  your  credit  and  esteem  with 
the  public  extremely  my  concern,     Farewel. 

LETTER  XVL 

[A.  U.  709.] 

To  Oppius*. 

1  HE  sentiments  and  advice  which  your  letter 
has  so  freely  given  me,  in  relation  to  my  leav- 
ing Italy^  together  with  what  you  said  to  At- 
ttcus,  in  a  late  conversation  upon  this  subject, 
have  greatly  contributed,  he  can  bear  me  wit- 
ness, to  dispel  those  doubts  that  occurred  on 
whichever  side  I  viewed  this  question.     I  have 
ever  thought,  indeed,  that  no  man  was  more 
capable  of  forming  a  right  judgment,  nor  more 
faithful  in  communicating  it,  than  yourself; 
as,  I  am  sure,  I  very  particularly  experienced' 
in  the  beginning  of  the  late  civil  wars.     For 
when  I  consulted  you  in  regard  to  my  follow- 
ing Pompey,  or  remaining  in  Italy,  your  ad- 
vice,  1  remember,  was,  that  "  I  should  act  as 
"  my  honour  directed."    This  sufficiently  dis- 
covered your  opinion ;  and  I  could  not  but 
look  with  admiration  on  so  remarkable  an  in- 

.i'x\ 

stance 

Uu    '^'•V*? ^^-  "»'>■ '"  'lie  name  of  the  person  to  whom  this 

If  .J^i^f    T"*;  '"""'  ''"*'"8  "  ^W»'«.  and  others  Oppivt. 
If  the  latier  be  the  true  reading,  perhaps  he  is  the  same  of 
•fawn  some  account  has  been  given  in  rem.  fl.  p.  134.  vol.  ii. 
*  bee  rem.  2.  p.  86.  of  this  vol. 


Book  Xlf.  of  CICERO. 


125 


stance  of  your  sincerity.     For  notwithstanding 
your  strong  attachment  to  Caesar,  who,  yoa 
had  reason  to  think,  would  have  been  better 
pleased  if  I  had  pursued  a  different  conduct ; 
yet  you  rather  chose  I  should  act  agreeably  to 
my  honour,  than  in  conformity  to  his  inchna- 
tion.    My  friendship  for  you,  however,  did  not 
take  its  rise  from  this  period  ;  for  I  was  sensible 
that  I  enjoyed  a  share  in  your  esteem  long  be- 
fore the  time  of  which  I  am  speaking.    I  shall 
ever  remember,  indeed,  the  generous  services 
you  conferred  both  upon  myself  and  my  fa- 
mily,  during  the  great  misfortunes  which  I 
suffered  in  my  exile  :  and  the  strict  intimacy 
in  which  we  conversed  with  each  other,  after 
my  return,  as  well  as  the  sentiments  which, 
upon  all  occusions,  I  professed  to  entertain  of 
you,  are  circumstances  which  none  who  were 
inclined  to  observe  them  could  possibly  over- 
look.    But  you  gave  me  a  most  distinguishing 
proof  of  the  good  opinion  you  had  conceived 
of  my  constancy  and  fidelity,  by  the  unre=- 
served  resignation  of  your  heart  to  me,  after 
the  death  of  Caesar.     I  should  think  myself, 
therefore,  a  disgrace  to  human  nature,  if  I  did 
not  justify  these  your  favourable  sentiments, 
by  every  kind  of  good  office  in  my  power,  a^ 
well  as  by  the  return  of  my  warmest  affection. 

Continue 


^ 


u 

u 

ii 
i 


126  The  LETTERS         Book  XII. 

Continue  yours  to  me,  my  dear  Oppius,  I  en- 
treat you ;  a  request,  however,  which  I  prefer 
more  in  compliance  with  the  customary  form, 
than  as  thinking  it  in  the  least  necessary.     I 
recommend  all  my  affairs  in  general  to  your 
protection,  and  leave  it  to  Atticus  to  inform 
you  in  what  particular  points  I  desire  your  ser- 
vices.    When  I  shall  be  more  at  leisure,  you 
may  expect  a  longer  letter.     In  the  mean  time 
take  care  of  your  health,  as  the  most  agreeable 
instance  you  can  give  me  of  your  friendship. 
Farewel. 


LETTER  XVIL 

[A.  U.  709.] 

To  Trebatius. 

1am  the  more  enamoured  with  this  city*,  be- 
cause I  find  you  are  much  the  favourite  of  eve- 
ry body  in  it.  But  I  know  not,  in  truth,  where 
you  are  otherwise ;  and  I  should  rather  have 
told  you,  that  even  the  absence  of  your  freed- 
man,  Rufio,  is  no  less  regretted  among  them, 

than 

♦  Cicero,  after  much  debate  with  himself,  concerning  the 
voyage  which  he  mentions  in  the  preceding  letter,  at  length 
fixed  his  resolution,  and  embarked.  He  sailed  along  the 
western  coast  of  Italy,  towards  Rhegiura  ;  but  came  ashore 
every  night,  in  order  to  lodge  at  the  villa  of  some  friend. — 
He  was  in  this  manner  pursuing  his  voyage  into  Greece, 
when  he  wrote  the  present  letter  from  Velia,  a  sea  port  town 
oa  the  coast  of  Lucania. 


Book  XIL         of  CICERO.  127 

than  if  he  were  a  person  of  as  much  conse- 
quence as  you  and  I.      However,    I   by  no 
means  disapprove  of  your  having  called  him 
from  hence,  in  order  to  superintend  the  build- 
ino-s  you  are  carrying  on  in  the  LupercaP  :  for, 
notwithstanding  your  house  at  Velia  is  altoge- 
ther as  agreeable  as  that  which  you  have  in 
Rome,  yet  I  should  prefer  the  latter  to  all  the 
possessions  you  enjoy  here.     Nevertheless,  if 
you  should  take  the  opinion  of  a  man  whose 
advice  you  seldom  reject,  you  will  not  part 
with  your  patrimony  on  the  banks  of  the  no- 
ble Heles,  nor  forsake  a  villa  which  had  once 
the  honour  of  belonging  to  Papirius ;  an  inten- 
tion which  the  citizens  of  Velia  are  in  some 
fear  lest  you  should  entertain.     But  although 
it  be  incommoded,  indeed,   by  the  great  con- 
course of  strangers  who  visit  the  adjoining 
grove ;  yet  that  objection  may  easily  be  re- 
moved, you  know,  by  cutting  down^  this  im- 
pertinent 

5  A  rans^e  of  buildings  in  Rome,  so  called  from  an  an- 
cient temple  of  the  same  name,  which  had  been  formerly 
erected  upon  that  spot,  to  the  god  Pan.      Dion,  Halicarn, 

*  Groves  were  generally  consecrated  to  some  divinity,  as 
this  seems  to  hnv^  been,  by  the  number  of  strangers  who  pro- 
bably trequented  u  on  a  religious  account.  Instead  oi  lu' 
cum,  therefore,  which  is  the  reading  adopted  by  Manutius, 
and  followed  in  the  translHiicn,  some  of  the  coramentatof* 
have  thought  it  should  he  lotvm  ;  because,  if  it  were  a  conse- 
crated grove,  it  could  not  be  cut  down  without  committing 
an  act  of  impiety.  But  this  objection  is  founded  upon  the 
mistake  that  Cicero  spoke  in  a  serious  sense,  what  he  »eeau, 
plainly  to  have  intended  in  a  ludicrous  one. 


128  The  LETTERS         Book  Xlt 

€  ■ 

pertinent  plantation ;  which  will  prove  a  very 
considerable  advantage  likewise  both  to  your 
pocket  and  your  prospect.     To   speak   seri- 
ously,  it  is  a  great  convenience,  especially  in 
such  distracted  times  as  the  present,  to  be  pos- 
sessed of  an  estate  which  affords  you  a  refuge 
from  Rome,  in  a  pleasant  and  healthy  situa- 
tion, and  in  a  place  where  you  are  so  univer- 
sally beloved.     To  these  considerations,  I  will 
add,  my  dear  Trebatius,  that,  perhaps,  it  may 
be  for  my  advantage  also,  that  you  should  not 
part  with  this  villa.     But,  whatever  you  may 
determine,  take  care  both  of  yourself  and  my 
affairs ;  and  expect  to  see  me,  if  the  gods  per- 
mit, before  the  end  of  the  year. 

I  have  purloined  from  Sextius  Fadius,  one  of 
Nico's  disciples,  a  treatise  which  the  latter  has 
written  concerning  the  pleasures  of  the  pzlkfe. 
Agreeable  physician  !  how  easily  will  he  make 
me  a  convert  to  his  doctrine?  Our  friend 
Baesus  was  so  jealous  of  this  treasure,  that  he 
endeavoured  to  conceal  it  from  me :  but  I  ima- 
gine, by  the  freedom  of  your  table  indulgen- 
cies,  that  he  has  been  less  reserved  in  commu- 
nicating the  secrets  of  it  to  you. — -The  wind 
has  just  now  turned  to  a  favourable  point,  so 
that  I  must  bid  you  farewel. 

Velia,  July  the  20ih. 

LETTER 


Book  XII.  of  CICERO. 


129 


1    4 


LETTER  XVIIL 

[A.tJ.rosf.j 

To  the  same. 

JL  ou  see  the  influence  you  have  over  me: 
though,  indeed,  it  is  not  greater  than  what  you 
are  justly  entitled  to,  from  that  equal  return  of 
friendship  you  make  to  mine.     I  could  not, 
therefore,  be  easy  in  the  reflection,  I  will  not 
say  of  having  absolutely  refused,  but  of  not 
having  complied,   however,  with  the  request 
you  made  me,  when  we  were  lately  together. 
Accordingly,  as  soon  as  I  set  sail  from  Veiia^ 
I  employed  myself  in  drawing  up  the  treatise 
you  desired,  upon  the  plan  of  Aristotle's  topics^: 
as,   indeed,   I  could  not  look  upon  a  citj  in 
which  you  are  so  generally  beloved,  without 
being  reminded  of  my  friend.  I  now  send  you 
the  produce  of  my  meditations:  which  I  have 
endeavoured  to  express  with  all  the  perspicuity 
that  a  subject  of  this  nature  will  admit     Ne- 
vertheless, if  some  passages  should  appear  dark ; 
you  must  do  me  the  justice  to  remember,  that 
no  science  can  be  rendered  perfectly  intelli- . 

gible 

'  The  treatise  here  mentioned,  is  still  extant  among  Ci- 
cero's works  :  and  appears  to  be  a  sort  of  epitome  of  what 
Aristotle  had  long  before  published  upon  the  same  subject. 
The  principal  design  of  it  is,  to  point  out  the  several  sources 
from  whence  arguments  upon  every  question  may  be  derived, 

VpL.  III.  K 


t 


130 


The  letters         Book  XIL 


Book  XIL         of  QCERO. 


i^^ 


gible,  without  the  assistance  of  a  master  to 
explain  and  apply  its  rules.  To  send  you  no 
farther,  for  an  instance,  than  to  your  own  pro- 
fession, could  a  knowledge  of  the  law  be  ac- 
quired merely  from  booUs?  Undoubtedly  it 
could  not :  for  although  the  treatises  which 
have  been  written  upon  that  subject  are  ex- 
tremely numerous ;  yet  they  are  by  no  means 
of  themselves  sufficient  instructors,  without  the 
help  of  some  learned  guide  to  enlighten  their 
obscurities.  However,  with  respect  to  the  ob- 
i^rvations  in  the  present  performance ;  if  you 
^Vc  them  a  frequent  and  attentive  pefiislil,  y6u 
will  certainly  be  able  to  enter  into  their  mean- 
ing: but  the  ready  application  of  them  can  only 
fte  attained  by  repeated  exercise.  And  in  this 
exercise  I  shall  not  fail  to  engage  you,  if  I 
should  return  safe  into  Italy,  and  find  the  f6- 
j^ublic  in  a  state  of  repose.     Farewd. 

Rhegium*,  July  the  28th. 


LETTER 


.    •  A  sea*port  upon  the  western  point  of  Calabria,  opposite 
to  Sicily  '.  it  is  now  called  Regw, 


f 


-If 


LETTER  XIX. 

[A.tJ.rog.]  '  J  : 

Brutus  and  Cassius,  Prastors^,  to  Antonf^ 

Consul. 

4  HE  letter  we  have  received  from  you  is  altot 
gether  agreeable  to  your  late  contumelious  and 
menacing  edict,  and  by  no  means  becoming 
you  to  have  written  to  us.  We  have  in  no  sort, 
Antony,  given  you  any  just  provocation  :  nor 
could  we  have  imagined,  that  you  would  lopk 
upon  it  as  any  thing  extraordinary,  if,  invested 
as  we  are  with  the  high  authority  oLpr«tor% 
we  thought  proper,  in  a  public  ananifesto,  tct 
signify  our  requests  to  the  consul.  But  if  ij 
raises  your  indignation  that  we  presumed  to 
take  this  liberty  as  praetors,  allow  us  to  laiD^ai 
that  you  should  not  indulge  us  in  it  at  least  ft$ 
friends. 

We  receive  it  as  an  instance  of  your  justice, 
that  you  deny  ever  having  complained  of  our 

levying 

»  The  praetors  could  not  letjally  absent  themselves  from 
Rome  for  above  ten  days,  unless  ihey  obtained  a  special  dis- 
pensation from  the  senate  for  that  purpose.  Brutus  and  Cas- 
sius, therefore,  not  thinking  it  safe  to  trust  themselves  in  the 
city,  published  a  son  of  manifesto,  directed  to  Antony  as 
consul,  requesting  him  to  move  the  senate  for  this  licence  in 
their  favour.  Antony,  instead  of  complying  with  jheir  re- 
quest, seems  to  have  answered  it  by  publi<hin;»  a  mdnifeslo 
oil  his  part,  which  was  followed,  likewise,  by  a  pi ivale  leil«r 
that  produced  the  present  epistle. 

Kg 


i 


132 


The  letters 


Book  XIL 


Book  XIL 


OF  CICERO. 


135 


levying  troops  and  contributions,  and  making 
applications  to  the  armies,  both  at  home  and 
abroad,  to  rise  in  our  defence:  a  charge,  which 
we  likewise  disavow,  in  every  particular.  We 
cannot  but  wonder,  however,  since  you  were 
silent  upon  this  head,  that  you  should  be  so 
Tittle  able  to  command  yourself  upon  another, 
as  to^  reproach  us  with  the  death  of  Csesar. 

We  leave  it  to  your  own  reflections  to  deter- 
mine what  sentiments  it  ought  to  create  in  us, 
that  the  praetors  of  Rome,  in  order  to  preserve 
the  tranquilHty  and  liberties  of  the  common- 
wealth, cannot  publish  a  manifesto  declaring 
their  desire  of  retiring  from  the  execution  of 
their  office,  without  being  insulted  by  the  con- 
.<lil.  'Tis  in  vain,  however,  that  you  would  in- 
timidate us  by  your  arms  :  for  it  would  ill  be-^ 
come  the  spirit  we  have  shewn,  to  be  discou- 
raged  by  dangers  of  any  kind.  As  little  should 
Antony  attempt  to  usurp  an  authority  over 
those,  to  whom  he  is  himself  indebted  for  the 
liberty  he  enjoys.  To  the  free  and  independent; 
the  menaces  of  any  man  are  perfectly  impotent. 
Had  we  a  design,  therefore,  of  having  recourse 
to  arms,  vour  letter  would  be  altogether  inef- 
fectual  to  deter  us  from  our  purpose.  But,  yoti 
are  well  convinced,  that  no  consideration  can 
prevail  with  us  to  rekindle  the  flames  of  a  civil 
war :  and,  perhaps,  you  artfully  threw  out  these 

menaces, 


menaces,  in  order  to  persuade  the  world  that 
oui'  pacific  measures  are  the  effect,  not  of  choice, 
but  timidity. 

To  speak  plainly  our  sentiments ;  we  wish  to 
see  you  raised  to  the  highest  honours ;  but  to 
honours  that  are  conferred  by  a  free  republic. 
It  is  our  desire,  likewise,  not  to  engage  with 
you  in  any  contests :  but  we  must  add,  that 
the  possession  of  our  liberties  is  of  far  higher 
value  in  our  esteem  than  the  enjoyment  of  your 
friendship.  Well  consider  what  you  undertake, 
and  how  far  you  may  be  able  to  carry  it  into 
execution ;  reflecting,  not  how  many  years  Cae- 
sar was  permitted  to  live,  but  how  short  a  pe- 
riod he  was  suffered  to  reign'.  In  the  mean 
while,  we  implore  the  gods  to  inspire  you  with 
such  counsels  as  may  tend  to  the  advantage 
both  of  yourself,  and  of  the  commonwealth. 
But  should  they  prove  otherwise,  we  wish  that 
the  consequence  may  be  as  little  detrimental  to 
your  own  interest,  as  shall  be  consistent  with 
the  dignity  and  safety  of  the  republic. 

August  the  4;th. 

LETTER 

'  Caesar  did  not  continue  longer  than  five  months  in  the 
ptaceable  enjoyment  of  bis  usurpation  :  for  he  returned  to 
Rome  from  the  conquest  of  Pompey's  sons  in  Spain,  in  the 
month  of  October  708,  and  was  assassinated  in  the  March 
following,     KeL  PaUrc.  ii.  56, 


'4 


n 


K  3 


194 


The  letters       BookXIL 


LETTER  XX. 

[A.  U.  700.] 

To  Plancus*. 

I  HAD  left  Rome,  and  was  actually  on  my 
voyage  to  Greece,  when  I  was  recalled  by  the 
general  voice  of  the  republic' :  but  the  conduct 
of  Marc  Antony,  ever  since  my  return,  has  not 

permitted, 

*  Some  general  account  of  Plancus  has  already  been  given 
in  rem.  6.  p.  221.  vol.  ii.  In  the  beginning  of  the  present 
year  he  was  appointed  by  Cx^ar  governor  of  the  farther  Gaul : 
where  he  now  was,  at  the  head  of  three  legions.  He  is  said, 
during  his  residence  in  that  province,  to  have  founded  the 
city  of  Lions.  Upon  the  death  of  Caesar,  to  whom  he  had 
been  warmly  attached,  Cicero  employed  all  his  art  to  engage 
him  on  the  hide  of  the  senate  :  and  Plancus,  after  much  he- 
sitation, at  length  declared  himself  accordingly.  Bui  this  de- 
claration seems  to  have  been  entirely  the  eftect  of  a  belief 
that  the  rupture  between  Antony  and  the  senate  was  upon 
the  point  of  being  accommodated:  it  is  ceitain,  at  least,  that 
it  was  not  sincere.  Fur  Plancus  soon  afterwards  betrayed  the 
caube  he  had  thus  professed  to  support,  and  went  over  with, 
his  troops  to  Antony.  Pigh.  Aimal.  ii.  465.  Senec.  Ep,  gi. 
Vel.  Paterc,  ii.  63.     See  note  1 1.  p.  384.  of  this  vol. 

•  The  principal  motive  of  Cicero's  intended  voyage  into 
Greece,  was  in  order  to  avoid  the  danger  of  taking  part  in  a 
civil  war,  which  he  apprehended  would  soon  break  out  be« 
tween  Antony  and  young  Pompey ;  the  latter  being  expected 
from  Spain,  at  the  head  of  a  considerable  army.  But  as  his 
leaving  Italy  at  so  critical  and  important  a  conjuncture 
might  justly  expose  hira  to  the  censure  of  ufiworthily  desert- 
ing the  republic,  he  was  long  and  greatly  embarrassed  between 
the  desire  of  preserving  his  character  on  the  one  side,  and  of 
fecuring  his  person  on  ihe  other:  the  two  points  which  seem, 
throughout  his  whole  life,  to  have  held  him  in  perpetual  sus- 
p«nse.  However,  he  at  length  embarked  *  but  he  no  sooner 
•ailed,  than  he  repented,  as  usual,  of  the  step  he  had  taken. 

Nevertheless 


Book  XII.         of  CICERO. 


135 


permitted  me  to  enjoy  a  moment  of  repose. 
The  ferocity  (for  to  call  it  pride  would  be  im- 
puting a  vice  to  him  which  is  nothing  uncom- 
mon) the  ferocity  of  his  tempef  is  so  excessive, 
that  he  cannot  bear  a  word,  or  even. a  look, 
which  is  animated  with  the  least  spirit  of  liber- 
ty. It  is  this  that  fills  my  heart  with  a  thou- 
sand disquietudes  :  but  disquietudes,  in  which 
my  own  preservation  is  by  no  means  concern- 
ed. No,  my  friend,  I  have  nothing  farther  to 
wish  with  respect  to  myself;  whetlier  I  consi- 
der the  years  to  which  I  am  arrived^  the  actions 
that  I  have  performed,  or  the  glory  (if  that  may 
be  mentioned  as  of  any  value  in  the  account) 
with  which  they  have  been  crowned.  All  my 
anxiety  is  for  our  country  alone ;  and  the  more 
so,  my  dear  Plancus,  as  the  time  appointed  for 


^fii  f. 


I.  ri »,' 


iifi  your 

Nevertheless,  he  pursued  his  voyage,  and  arrived  in  Sicily; 
from  whence  he  proposed  to  stretch  over  into  Greece  ;  but> 
in  attempting  this  passage,  he  was  blown  back  by  contrary 
winds  on  the  coast  of  Italy.  Upon  his  going  ashore,  iii  order 
to  refresh  himself,  he  was'informed,  by  some  of  the  principal 
inhabitants  of  that  part  of  the  country  who  were  just„arriy^d 
from  Rome,  that  there  were  great  hopes  Aotohy  would  aDp 
commodate  affairs  to  the  general  satisfaction  of  all  parti^ 
This  news  was  followed  by  a  letter  from  Atticus,  pressfng  him 
to  renounce  his  intended  voyage,  asalso  by  an  interview  >vitli 
Brutus,  who  likewise  expressed  his  disapprobation  of  tjat 
scheme.  Upon  these  considerations,  therefore,  he  gave  ~uj^ 
all  farther  thoughts  of  Greece,  and  immediately  returned  to 
Rome.     Vid,  AdAtt,  xiv.  13,  22.    xv.  19,  20,  ^1,  33..  xy^ 

6,7.  z.   ,     '  '   ^    ^ 

♦  Cicero  was,  at  this  time,  in  his  o3d  year. 

K  4 


135 


The  letters.  Bqok  XII. 


}r^ijLr  ^accession  to  the  consular  office^  is  so  re- 
ipote,  that  it  is  rather  to  be  wished  than  ex- 
pected, that  we  should  be  able  to  preserve  our 
liberties  so  long  alive.  What  rational  hopes, 
indeed,  can  possibly  be  entertained,  where  a 
commonwealth  is  totally  oppressed  by  the  arms 
of  the  most  violent  and  outrageous  of  men,  where 
neither  the  senate  nor  the  people  have  any  au- 
thority ;  where  neither  laws  nor  justice  prevail; 
and,  in  one  word,  where  there  is  not  the  least  trace 
or  shadow  of  civil  government  remainin*^? 
But  as  you  receive,  I  imagine,  the  public  ac- 
counts of  what  is  transacted  amongst  us,  I 
peefJ,  i^ot  descend  into  a  detail  of  particulars. 
Let  me  rather,  \n  consequence  of  that  aft'ection 
J  bear  you,  and  which  has  been  still  increasing 
from  our  earliest  youth ;  let  me  rather  remind 
and  exhort  you,  to  turn  all  your  thoughts  and 
cares  towards  the  republic.  If  it  should  not  be 
utterly  destroyed  ere  you  enter  upon  the  consu- 
lar office,  it  may,  without  difficulty,  be  steered 
right.  Tho'  I  will  add,  that  much  vigilance  as 
well  as  great  good  fortune  must  concur,  in  order 
to  preserve  it  to  that  desirable  period.  But  I 
hope  we  may  see  you  here,  somewhat  before  that 

time 

5  Plancus  was  in  the  number  of  those  whom  Cattar  had 
»amed  to  the  consulate,  in  that  general  designation  of  ma- 
gistrates uhich  he  made  a  short  time  before  his  death.  But 
as  Plancus  stood  la^t  id  the  list,  his  turn  was  not  to  commence 
till  the  ^ear  711. 


Baoi^XII         Fo  eiCERO. 


11 


t37 


'L 


time  shall  arrive.  Mean  w^hile,  besides  the  in- 
ducements that  arise  to  me  from  my  regard  to 
the  well-being  of  the  republic,  you  may  be  ^- 
sured  that,  from  my  particular  attachment  like- 
wise  to  yourself,  I  shall  exert  my  utmost  effi3rts 
for  the  advancement  of  your  credit  and  honours. 
By  these  means,  I  shall  have  the  satisfaction  to 
discharge,  at  once,  the  duties  I  owe  both  to  ipy 
country  and  to  my  friend :  to  that  country  which 
is  the  object  of  my  warmest  affections,  and'  lo 
that  friend  whose  amity  I  would  most  religi- 
ously cultivate. 

I  am  extremely  rejoiced,  though  by '^no 
means  surprised,  to  find  that  you  treat  Purni- 
us*^  agreeably  to  his  rank  and  merii  ''  WaJsur- 
ed  that  whatever  favours  you  shall  think  pro- 
per to  confer  upon  him,  I  shall  coAsVd^er^tfiem 
as  so  many  immediate  instances  of  your  regard 

to  myself     Farewel.        i 

LETTER 

^  He  was  lieutenant  to  Plancus  in  Gaul. 

I 


i  *j. >;  iC' i  wu v^  4  ia.j  i-^  c. 


>nt.  f 


i^; 


4 


138 


The  letters 


LETTER  XXL 


Book  XIL 


[A.U.  709.] 

Decimus  Brutus,  Consul" elect,  to  Cicero; 

If  I  entertained  the  least  doubt  of  your  incli- 
nations to  serve  me,  I  should  be  extremely  co- 
pious in  my  solicitations  for  that  purpose  :  but 
I  have  strongly  persuaded  myself,  that  my  in- 
terest is  already  a  part  of  your  care. 

I  led  my  army  against  the  most  interior  inha- 
bitants of  the  Alps,  not  so  much  from  an  am- 
bition of  being  saluted  with  the  title  of  Impe- 
rator*,  as  in  order  to  comply  with  the  martial 
spirit  of  my  troops,  and  to  strengthen  their  at- 
tachment to  our  rause.  In  both  these  vicM^s,  I 
have,  I  think,  succeeded  :  as  the  soldiers  have 
had  an  opportunity,  by  this  measure,  of  experi- 


ui. 


encmg 


^  DecimuF.  Brutus  was  nominated  by  Csesar  to  be  col- 
eaiTue  with  Plancus  :  of  whose  appoiatmeni  to  the  consular 
office,  Hiention  has  been  mude  in  rem.  5.  on  the.precedinc 
epistle,  hoon  after  the  rest  of  the  conspirators  found  it  ne- 
cessary lo  leave  Rome,  Deciinus  withdrew  into  Cisalpine 
Gaul,  in  order  to  lake  possession  of  that  province  which  had 
been  allotted  to  him  by  Caesar,  and  to  put  himself  in  a  pos- 
ture of  defence  against  the  attempts  which  Antony  was  nicdU 
tating.  Shortly  after  his  arrival  in  that  province,  he  cm- 
ployed  h;s  troops  in  an  expedition  against  certain  inhabitant* 
of  the  neighbouring  mountains;  and  having  happily  executed 
this  scheme,  he  wrote  the  following  letter  to  request  Cicero*s 
suffrage  in  procuring  him  thi-se  distinctions  which  the  senate 
usually  decreed  to  their  successful  generiiJs. 

•  See  vol  i.  p.  1.  rem.  I. 


Book  XII. 


OF  CICERO. 


139 


encing  the  courage  and  the  generosity  of  their 
general.  I  was  engaged  with  the  most  wariike 
of  these  people :  and  have  taken  and  destroyed 
great  numbers  of  their  forts.  In  short,  I 
thought  the  action  sufficiently  considerable,  to 
send  an  account  of  it  to  the  senate.  I  hope, 
therefore,  you  will  support  my  pretensions  with 
your  suffrage :  as  it  will,  at  the  same  time,  be 
greatly  contributing  to  the  credit  of  the  com- 
mon cause.    Farewel. 

LETTER  XXII. 

If;:  [A.U.  709.] 

To  Decimus  Brutus,  Consul  elect. 

It  is  of  much  consequence  to  the  success  of 
this  epistle,  whether  it  reaches  you  in  an  anxi- 
ous^ or  an  easy  hour.  Accordingly,  I  have  di- 
rected the  bearer  to  watch  the  favourable  mo- 
ment of  delivering  it  into  your  hands :  as  there  is 
a  time,  my  friend,  w^hen  a  letter,  no  less  than 
a  visit,  may  prove  extremely  unseasonable.  But 
if  he  should  observe  the  caution  I  have  enjoined 
him,  and  this  should  find  you,  as  I  hope  it  will, 
in  a  state  of  mind  perfectly  serene  and  undis- 
turbed, 1  doubt  not  of  your  ready  compliance 
with  the  request  I  am  going  to  make. 

Lucius  Lamia  offers  himself  as  a  candidate,  at 

the 


Wn 


I 


J  40 


T«£  LETTERS        Book  XII. 


Book  Xll^         *^r  CIGERO. 


,.'  ^"..A.  fc 


141 


the  ensuing  election  of  prsetors.     There  is  no 
man  with  whom  I  live  in  an  equal  degree  of 
familiarity :  as  we  are  intimately,  indeed,  unit- 
ed by  a  long  acquaintance.     But  what  greatly, 
h'kewise,  recommends  him  to  me  is,   that  no- 
thing affords  me  more  entertainment  than  his 
company.^  To  this  I  must  add,  the  infinite 
obligations  I  received  from  him  in  my  affair 
with  Clodius.    He  was  at  that  time  at  the  head 
^f  the  equestrian  order ;  and  he  entered  with 
so  much  spirit  into  my  cause,  that  the  consul 
Gabinius  commanded  him  to  withdraw  from 
Rome;    an  indignity  never  offered  before  to 
any  citizen  of  the  republic.     As  the  world  has. 
not  forgotten  what  he  thus  suffered  upon  my 
account,   I  am  sure  it  would  be  the  highest 
reproach  upon  my  character  if  I  did  not  re- 
member it  myself:    and,   therefore,   my  dear 
friend,  be  well  assured  that  the  good  or  ill  suc- 
cess of  Lamia,  in  his  present  pursuit,  will  no 
less  sensibly  affect  me,  than  if  I  were  person- 
ally concerned.    Notwithstanding,   therefore, 
the  ilhistripus  character  which  Lamia  bears,  to- 
gether with  the  great  popularity  he  has  acquired 
by  the  magnificence  of  the  games  he  exhibited 
when  he  was  aedile,  yet  I  am  labouring  with  as 
much  assiduity  to  promote  his  interest,  as  if  he 
had  none  of  these  advantages  to  recommend 

him. 


him*  If  them  1  possess  that  share  in  your  af-r 
ftsction  which  I  am  well  persuaded  I  enjoy ;  let 
m€  entreat  yott  to  write  to  Lupisa  to  secure  th^ 
votes  of  those  eq\iestrian  centuries,  over  which 
yoti  bear  an  unlimited  sway.  But  not  to  detaiit 
you  with  t  multiplicity  of  words,  I  will  cou-r 
ctedie  all  with  most  sincerely  assuring  you,  that 
although  there  is  nothing,  my  dear  BrutuS: 
which  I  have  not  reason  to  expect  from  your 
friendship ;.  yet  you  can,  in  no  instance,  more 
eflfectually  oblige  me,  than  by  complying  with 
my  present  request.     Farewel. 

LETTER  XXIII. 

[A.  u.  roe.] 

f    I  La,      *.l  ■ 

To  the  same^ 

There  is  none  of  my  friends  with  whom  I  live 
in  so  strict  an  intimacy,  as  with  Lamia.  To 
say  that  I  am  much  indebted  to  his  good  offi^ 
CCS,  would  not  be  speaking  of  them  in  the  terms 
they  deserve  ;  for  the  truth  is,  (and  it  is  a  tmth 
of  which  the  whole  republic  is  sensible)  he  ha^ 
conferred  upon  me  the  highest  and  most  gene- 
rous obligations.  Lamia,  after  having  passed 
through  the  office  of  asdile  with  the  greatest 
splendour  and  magnificence,  now  offers  himself 

•  Thii- letter  seemr  tt>  hawrHiieen  a  kind  of  dupJicatb'of 
the  former;  as  it  is  written  ta  the  same-  person,  and  upwi 
ih» same  occasion. 


^ 


m 


Ill 


142 


The  letters 


Book  XIL 


Book  XII. 


OF  CICERO. 


I4S 


I  I 


as  a  candidate  for  the  praetorship :  and,  it  i» 
universally  acknowledged,  that  he  wants  nei* 
^er  interest  nor  dignity  to  support  his  preten4 
sions.  However,  the  opposition  he  is  likely  to 
meet  with  from  his  competitors  is  so  strong, 
that  I  have  many  fears  for  the  event;  and, 
therefore,  think  myself  obliged  to  be  his  gene- 
ral solicitor  upon  this  occasion.  I  well  know 
how  much  it  is  in  your  power  to  serve  me  in 
this  affair,  and  I  have  no  doubt  of  your  inclir 
nation.  Be  assured,  then,  my  dear  Brutus, 
that  you  cannot  more  sensibly  oblige  me,  than 
by  assisting  Lamia  in  his  present  pursuit :  and 
it  is  with  all  the  warmth  of  my  heart  that  I  en- 
treat you  to  exert  your  utmost  interest  for  that 
purpose.     Farewel. 

LETTER  XXIV. 

[A.  U.  709.] 

To  Caius  Cassius. 

It  gives  me  great  pleasure  to  find  that  my  late 
speech'  has   received  your  approbation.     If  I 

could 

■  Upon  Cicero's  return  to  Rome,  (see  rem.  3.  p.  134.  o{ 
this  vol.)  he  received  a  summon'^  from  Antony  to  attend  a 
meeting  of  the  senate,  which  was  to  be  holden  the  next  morn- 
ing: but,  as  the  business  of  this  meeting  was  to  dtcree  cer- 
tain divine  honours  to  the  memory  of  Csesar,  our  author  exr 
cased  himself  from  being  present.  The  following  day,  hmv- 
ever,  Antony  being  absent,  Cicero  ventured  to  appear  in  the 
senate:  when  he  delivered  the  speech  to.  which  he  here  al- 
ludes, 


could  more  frequently  enforce  the  same  senti- 
ments, the  hberties  of  the  republic  might  easi- 
ly be  recovered.  But  that  far  more  desperate 
and  detestable  scoundrel*  than  he^  at  whose 
death  you  said,  **  the  worst  of  all  villains  is  ex^ 
'*  pired,"  is  watching  for  a  pretence  to  begin  his 
murderous  purposes :  and  his  single  view,  in 
charging  me  with  having  advised  the  killing  of 
Caesar,  is  merely  to  excite  the  veteran  soldiers 
against  my  life.  But  this  is  a  danger  which  I 
am  not  afraid  to  hazard,  since  he  gives  me  a  share 
with  you  in  the  honour  of  that  glorious  deed. 
Hence  it  is,  however,  that  neither  Piso,  who  first 
ventured  to  inveigh  against  the  measures  of  An- 
tony, nor  myself,  who  made  a  speech  to  the 
same  purpose  about  a  month*  afterwards,  nor 
Publius  Servihus,  who  followed  my  example,  can 
any  of  us  appear  with  safety  in  the  senate.  For 
this  inhuman  gladiator  has  evidently  a  design 
upon  our  lives  :  and  he  hoped  to  have  rendered 
me  the  first  victim  of  his  cruel  vengeance.  With 
this  sanguinary  vie  whe  entered  the  senate  on  the 
19th  of  September,  having  several  days  before 
retired  to  the  villa  of  Metellus,  in  order  to  pre- 
pare an  inflammatory  speech  against  me^    But 

who 

ludes,  and  which  is  the  first  of  those  that  are  called  his  Phi* 
lippics.     See  life  of  Cic.  lii.  81. 
*  Antony.  *»  CsEsar. 

The  speech  mentioned  m  the  preceding  remark. 
'  It  was  in  answer  to  this  speech  that  Cicero  composed 
I  hit 


144 


The  letters         BaoK  XII. 


wlio  shall  reconcile  the  silent  meditations  of  elo- 
quence with  the  noisy  revels  of  lewdness  and  de- 
bauchery ?  Accordingly,  it  was  the  opinion  of  alt 
his  audience,  (as  I  have  already,  I  believe,  men- 
tioned to  you  in  a  fonnef  letter,)  that  he  could 
not  so  properly  be  said  to  have  delivefed  a  speech, 
as  to  have  discharged,  with  his  usual  indecency, 
the  horrid  fumes  of  his  scandalous  infetnperaAc^/ 

You  are  persuaded,  you  tell  me,  that  my  cre- 
dit and  elocjuence  wiH  be  able  to  produce  some 
good  effect.  And  some  indeed  they  have  produ- 
ced, considering  the  sad  situation  of  our  affairs. 
They  have  rendered  the  people  sensible,  that 
there  are  three  persons  of  consular  rank,  who,  be- 
cause they  are  in  the  interest  of  the  republic,  and 
have  spoken  their  sentiments  in  the  senate  with 
freedom,  cannot  attend  that  assembly  withouf 
the  danger  of  being  assassinated.  And  this  is  all 
the  good  you  are  to  expect  from  my  oratory. 

A  certain  relation  of  yours*  is  so  captivated 
with  his  new  alliance,  that  he  no  longer  concerns 
himself  in  the  success  of  your  games ;  but,  on  the 
contrary,  is  mortified  to  the  last  degree  at  those 
peals  of  applause  with  which  your  brother  was 

distinguished. 

his  second  Philippic ;  which,  however,  he  did  not  deliver. 
For,  by  the  advice  of  his  friends,  he  absented  himself  from 
this  meeting  of  the  senate,  as  they  did  not  think  it  safe  for 
bim  to  be  present.     Manut. 

♦  Lepidus  is  supposed  to  be  the  person  here  meant :  ashe 
was  related  to  Cassius  by  his  own  marriage,  and  had  lately 
married  his  son  to  Antony's  daughter. 


Book  XII. 


OF  CICERO. 


145 


distinguished^  Another  of  your  family^  has 
been  softened  by  some  grants  which  it  is  pre- 
tended that  Caesar  had  designed  to  confer  upon 
him.  This,  however,  might  be  borne  with  pa- 
tience ;  but  is  it  not  utterly  beyond  endurance, 
that  there  should  be  a  man  who  dares  openly 
avow,  that  he  supports  the  measures  of  that 
scoundrel,  Antony,  with  the  hopes  that  his  son 
will  be  chosen  consul  when  you  and  Brutus  are 
entitled  to  be  candidates  for  that  office  ?  As 
to  our  friend,  Lucius  Cotta,  a  fatal  despair 
(for  so  he  terms  it  himself)  has  almost  entirely 
driven  him  from  the  senate.  Lucius  Caesar, 
that  firm  and  excellent  patriot,  is  prevented 
from  coming  thither  by  his  ill  state  of  health ; 
and  Servius  Sulpicius,  who  is  a  true  friend  to 
the  cause  of  liberty,  and  whose  authority  might 
be  of  infinite  service  in  thepresent  conjuncture, 
is,  unhappily,  absent  from  Rome.  After  hav- 
ing mentioned  these,  I  must  take  the  liberty  to 
say,  that  I  cannot  add  any  others,  excepting 
the  consuls  elect,  who  may  be  justly  deemed  as 
well-wishers  to  the  republic.     The  truth  is, 

these 

^  Brutus  and  Cassius  were  obliged,  as  praetors,  to  exhibit 
certain  games  in  honour  of  Apollo,  with  which  the  public 
were  annually  entertained  on  the  third  of  July ;  but  as  they 
had  withdrawn  themselves  from  Rome,  these  games  were 
conducted  by  the  brother  of  Cassius. 

•  It  is  not  known  to  whom  Cicero  alludes  ia  this  place, 
nor  in  the  period  immediately  following. 

Vol.  IIL  L 


146 


The  letters 


Book  XIL 


these  are  the  only  persons  upon  whose  advice 
and  authority  the  commonwealth  can  depend. 
And  small,    indeed,  would  their  number   be, 
even  in  the  best  of  times  ;  how  unequal,  then, 
must  their  strength  be  found,  to  combat  against 
the  worst  ?     All  our  hopes,  therefore^  rest  en- 
tirely upon  you  and  Brutus  ;  I  mean,  if  you 
have  not  withdrawn  from  us  with  a  view  only  to 
your  own  preservation ;  for,  if  that  should  be 
the  case,  we  have  nothing,  alas  !  to  hope  either 
from  Brutus  or  from  you.     But  if,  on  the  con- 
trary, you  are  forming  some  glorious  enterprise, 
worthy  of  your  exalted  characters,  I  doubt  not 
that  the  republic,  by  your  assistance,  will  soon 
Tccover  her  liberties  ;  and  I  have  only  to  wish, 
that  I  may  not  be  destroyed  ere  that  happy 
day  shall  arrive.     In  the  mean  time,  my  best 
services  neither  are,  nor  shall  be,  wanting  to 
your  family  ;  and  whether  they  should  apply 
to  me  for  that  purpose,  or  not,  I  shall  never  fail 
to  give  them  proofs  of  my  friendship  towards 

you.     Farewel. 

LETTER 


i 


Book  XIL 


OF  CICERO.  H7 


*.,•■'       Cr«i»  • 


LEXTEH  XXy. 

[A.  u,  rp9.] 

To  Plancus. 

Agedeably  tQ  the  friqadi^hip  which  subsists 
between  us,  my  servicer  should  npt  b^ve  beeft 
wanting  to  advance  your  dignities^  if  I  could 
have  been  present  in  the  senate,  qon&istently 
with  my  honour  or  my  safety.     But  no  nmn 
can  freely  deliver  hi^  opinion  in  that  assembly, 
without  being  exposed  to  die  violences  of  a  mi- 
litary force,   that  are  licensed  to  commit  theif 
outrages  with  full  impunity ;  and  it  would  ill 
become  my  rank  and  character  to  speak  upon 
public  affairs,  in  a  place  where  I  am  more  at- 
tentively observed,  and  more  closely  surround- 
ed,  by  soldiers  than  by  senators.     In  any  in- 
stance of  private  concern,  my  best  offices  shall 
not  be  wanting  to  you ;  nor  shall  thfy,  indeed, 
even  in  those  of  a  public  nature,  whatever  ha- 
zard I  may  run,  where  my  appearance  is  abso- 
lutely necessary  to  promote  your  interest.   But 
where  it  may  be  equally  advanced  without  my 
concurrence,  suffer  me,  I  entreat  you,  to  pay  a 
proper  regard  to  my  own  dignity  and  preser- 
vation,    Farewel. 

LETTER 

^  The  occasion  on  which  Plancus  had  applied  to  Cicero 
fox  hi»  services  in  the  sennte,  does  noi  appear. 

L2 


I 


148 


The  letters 


Book  XII. 


I 


LETTER  XXVL 

[A.  U.  709.] 

To  Caius  Cassius. 

The  malignant  spirit  of  your  friend*  breaks- 
out  every  day  w  ith  greater  and  more  open  vio- 
lence. To  instance,  in  the  first  place,  the  statue 
which  he  has  lately  erected  near  the  rostrum, 
to  Csesar,  under  which  he  has  inscribed,  To 

THE    EXCELLENT    FATHER     OF     HIS    COUN- 
TRY; intimating,   that  you  and  your  heroic 
associates  are  to  be  considered,  not  only  as 
assassins,  but  parricides.     In  which  number  I 
am,  likewise,    included;    for  this   outrageous 
man  represents  me  as  the  principal  adviser  ami 
promoter   of  your   most   glorious   enterprise. 
Would  to  heaven  the  charge  were  true !  for 
had  I  been  a  party  in  your  councils,  I  should 
have  put  it  out  of  his  power  thus  to  perplex  and 
•  embarrass  our  aifairs*.     But  this  was  a  point 

which 

*  Antony.  ' ;    ^         •  t  i 

»  Cicero  frequently  reproaches  the  conspirators  with  hav- 
mo  committed  a  capital  mistake  in  sparing  Antony  when 
they  destroyed  Caesar,  an  error  which  our  author  would  have 
prevented,  it  seems,  had  they  admitted  him  into  their  coun- 
cils. But  it  may  be  affirmed,  (and  upon  the  authority  of 
Cicero  himself)  that  nothing  could  have  been  more  unjusti- 
fiable than  to  have  rendered  Antony  a  joint  victim  with  Cae- 
sar.  'Tis  true,  there  was  an  ancient  law  subsisting  by  which 
every  one  was  authorised  to  lift  up  his  sword  against  the  man 
who  should  discover  any  designs  of  invading  the  public  liber- 
ties.    But  Antony  was  so  far  from  having  givca  indicatio^ 


Book  XII. 


oy  CICERO. 


,149 


which  depended  upon  yourselves  to  determine ; 
and,  since  the  opportunity  is  now  over,  I  can 
only  wish  that  I  were  capable  of  giving  you 
any  effectual  advice.  But  the  truth  is,  I  am 
utterly  at  a  loss  in  what  manner  to  act  myself, 
for  to  what  purpose  is  resistance,  where  one 
cannot  oppose  force  by  force  ? 

It  is  evidently  the  intent  of  Caesar's  party  to 
revenge  his  death.  And,  accordingly,  Antony 
being  on  the  2d  of  October  last  presented  to 
the  people  by  Canutius^,  mentioned  the  gene- 
rous deliverers  of  our  country  in  terms  that 
traitors  alone  deserve.  He  scrupled  not  to  as- 
sert, likewise,  that  you  had  acted  entirely  by 
my  advice ;  and  that  Canutius,  also,  was  under 
the  same  influence.  He  had  tlie  mortification, 
however,  to  leave  the  rostrum  with  great  dis- 
grace. In  a  wor<l,  you  may  judge  what  are  the 
designs  of  this  faction  by  their  having  seized 
the  appointments  of  your  lieutenant*;  for  does 
not  their  conduct,  in  this  instance,  sufficiently 

declare, 

of  this  kind  at  Catsar*s  death,  that  Cicero,  in  a  letter  written 
to  Atticus,  soon  afterwards,  tells  him,  he  looked  upon  An- 
tony as  a  man  too  much  devoted  to  the  indulgencies  of  a 
luxurious  life,  to  be  inclined  to  form  any  schemes  destruc- 
tive of  the  public  repose  :  que7n  quidem  ego  (says  he)  epula- 
ru?n  magts  arintror  rationem  habere,  qmm  quidquam  mali  co- 
jgitqre,     Plut.  in  vit.  Publicol.  Ad  Att.  vi,  3. 

•  He  was  one  of  the  tribunes  for  the  present  year. 

'  As  proconsul  of  SyHa  ;  to  which  province  Cassius  was, 
probably,   on  his  way  when  this  letter  was  written. 


^ 


156 


The  letters  Book  XII. 


Sock  XII. 


or  CICERO. 


151 


declare,  that  they  (?onsidef^d  this  money  aS 
going  to  be  remitted  to  a  public  enemy  ? 
Wretched  condition,  indeed  !  that  we,  who 
Scorned  to  submit  to  a  master,  i^hould  mott 
ignobly  crouch  to  one  of  our  fellow  slaves ! 
Nevertheless,  I  am  still  inclined  to  flatter  my- 
self, that  we  are  not  quite  deprived  of  all  hopes 
of  being  delivered  by  your  heroic  eflforts.  But 
where  then,  let  me  ask,  are  your  troops?  And 
with  this  question  I  will  conclude  my  letter ;  as 
I  had  rather  leave  the  rest  to  be  suggested  by 
your  own  reflections,  than  by  mine.    Farewel. 


i/ 


LETTER  XXVIL 

[A.U.  TOC^.] 
To  CORNIFICrUS. 

StratoIiius  has  given  me  an  ample  account 
of  the  md  situation  of  affairs  in  your  province*. 
Oh,  my  friend,  what  insufferable  outrages  are 
committed  in  every  part  of  the  Roman  domi- 
nions !  But  those  which  have  been  offered  to 
yourself)  are  so  much  the  less  to  be  borne,  as 
they  are  aggravated  by  the  superior  venera- 
tion which  is  due  to  your  illustrious  rank  and 
character.  Notwithstanding,  therefore,  that 
your  great  and  generous  spirit  may  incline  yOu 
to  look  upon  these  insults  with  calmness,  and, 

perhaps, 

*  Of  Africa.    See  rem.  6.  p.  6l.  of  this  vol. 


perhaps,  with  indifference,  yet  you  ought  by  no 
means  to  suffer  them  to  pass  unchastised. 

The  news  of  Rome,  I  well  know,  is  regularly 
transmitted  to  you,  otherwise  I  would  take  upon 
myself  to  be  your  informer;  and  particularly  of 
the  late  attempt  of  Octavius'.  The  fact  laid  to 
his  charge  is  considered  by  the  populace  as  a 
mere  fiction  of  Antony,  in  ordfer  to  gain  a  pre- 
tence to  seize  upon  the  young  man's  estate.  But 
the  more  penetrating  and  better  sort,  not  only 
credit  the  report,  but  highly  approve  thedesign. 
Indeed,  the  hopes  of  the  republic  are  greatly 
turned  towards  Octavius ;  as  there  is  nothing 
which  his  generous  thirst  of  glory,  'tis  believed, 
will  not  animate  him  to  perform.  My  friend  An- 
tony, at  the  same  time,  is  so  sensible  of  his  being 
generally  detested,  that  although  he  discovered 

the 

'  ''  Octavius,  in  order  to  maintain  by  stratagem  wbat  he 
**  could  not  gain  by  force,  formed  a  design  against  AnK^a/a 
"  life,  and  actually  provided  certain  slaves  to  assassinate 
faim,  who  were  discovered  and  seized  with  their  poigmrds, 
in  Antony's  house/'  Thus  far  Dr.  Mddleton  ;  who  might 
have  added  (as  a  learned  critic  has  remarked)  that  Cicero 
himielf,  togeiher  with  his  nephew  Quiotus,  were  charged  by 
Antony  with  being  accomplices  in  this  plot;  and  that  the 
charge  ap|)edrs  to  have  been  true.  For  though,  in  the  present 
leiter,  iiidvcd,  Cicero  VdXka  ©f  this  affair  as  if  he  was  no 
otherwise  acquainted  with  it  than  by  common  report  ;  yet, 
in  a  speech  which  he  afterwards  made  in  the  senate,  wheu 
Aniojiy  Uatl  relire<l  into  Gaul,  taking  notice  of  the  above- 
mentioned  accusation,  he  avows  and  glories  in  the  char^f. 
L^e  ofCk.  iii.  89.  Tunstal's  observ.  m  the  Uttef^behunn  Ck. 
and  Bntt.  p.  142.     PAUip,  iii.  7.  8. 

L4 


152 


The  letters 


BookXIL 


BookXIL         di*^  CICERO. 


153 


tli^e  assassins  in  his  house,  yet  he  would  not  ven- 
ture to  make  the  affair  public.     He  set  out  for 
Brundisium  on  theSth  of  October,  in  order  to 
meet  the  four  legions*  that  are  returning  from 
Macedonia;  he  hopes,  by  bribing  them  over  to 
his  interest,  to  conduct  them  to  Rome,  and  with 
their  assistance  to  fix  the  yoke  upon  our  necks. 
Thus  you  see  the  situation  of  the  republic  !  if  a 
republic,  indeed,  it  may  with  any  propriety  be 
called,  where  all  is  in  a  state  of  intestine  war.    I 
frequently  lament  your  fortune,  in  having  been 
born  so  late,  as  never  to  have  tasted  the  happi- 
ness  of  living  in  a  sound  and  well-regulated  com- 
monwealth.    You  remember  the  time,  however, 
when  there  was  a  prospect,  at  least,  of  better  days, 
but  now  that  prospect  is  no  more !  How  in  truth 
should  it  any  longer  subsist,  after  Antony  dared 
to  declare,  in  a  general  assembly  of  the  people, 
that    ''  Canutius  affected  to  rank  himself  with 
"  those^  who  could  never  appear  in  Rome,  so 
*'  long  as  he  preserved  his  life  and  authority." 
But  thanks  to  philosophy  for  having  taught  mc 
to  endure  this  and  every  other  mortificarion, 
whichhuman  nature  can  possibly  suffer;  and,  in- 
deed, it  has  not  only  cured  mc  of  all  my  disquie- 
tudes, 

♦These  were  part  of  that  army  which  Caesar  intended  to 
lead  arrainst  the  Pnribians,  and  which  he  had  sent  before  him 
into  Macedpnta,  to  wait  his  arrival  for  that  purpose. 

'  The  conspirators. 


tudcs,  but  armed  my  breast  against  every  fu- 
ture assault  of  fortune;  And  let  me  advise  you 
to  fortify  yourself  with  the  same  resolution ; 
in  the  full  persuasion  that  nothing  but  guilt 
deserves  to  be  considered  as  a  real  evil.  But 
these  are  reflections  which  you  know  much 
better  how  to  make,  than  I  can  instruct  you. 

Stratorius  has  always  been  highly  in  my  es- 
teem ;  but  he  has  rendered  himself  more  parti- 
cularly so,  by  the  great  dihgence,  fidelity,  Bttd 
judgment  he  discovers  in  the  management  of 
your  affairs.  Take  care  of  your  health,  as  the 
most  pleasing  instance  you  can  give  me  of  your 
friendship.     Farewel. 


^fT=' 


i  l.J  iJ    !».•,      lAt      ti 


'/rrrttn,! 


LETTER  XXVIII. 

[A.U.  ro9.] 
To  the  same. 

•      f      '       t  _l"     _         !»'  J 

M.  «'•        „"■■.  ;  »  ■  i  i'     '  '"^'^  .  «  n  7 
Y   very  intimate   and   most  accomphshed 

friend,  Caius  Anicius,  has  obtained  a  titular 
legation'^  into  Africa,  in  ordier  to  transact  some 
business  relating  to  his  private  concerns  in  that 
province.  Let  me,  therefore,  entreat  your  best 
offices  to  him  upon  all  occasions,  and  that  you 
would  give  him  your  assistance,  for  the  more 
easy  and  expeditious  dispatch  of  his  affairs.  But 
above  all  (as  it  is  superior  to  all  in  my  friend's 

estimation) 

*  See  rem.  S.  p.  84.  of  this  vol. 


154 


The  letters         Book  XIL 


Book  Xlf. 


4>  CICERO. 


ISS 


estimation)  I  recommend  the  dignity  of  his 
rank  and  character  to  your  peculiar  regard ; 
and  accordingly  I  make  it  my  request,  that 
you  would  appoint  lictors  to  attend  him.  This 
is  a  compliment  which  I  always  spontaneousty 
paid,  during  my  own  proconsulate,  to  those  of 
senatorial  rank,  who  came  into  my  province ; 
and  which  I  have  ever,  likewise,  myself  re- 
ceived upon  the  same  occasions ;  as,  indeed,  it 
is  what  I  have  both  heard  and  observed  to  have 
been  generally  practised  by  proconsuls  of  the 
greatest  distinction.  You  will  act,  then,  in 
the  same  manner,  my  dear  Cornificius,  in  the 
present  instance,  if  I  have  any  share  in  your 
affection  ;  and  in  all  other  respects  will  consult 
the  honour  and  interest  of  my  fripnd  ;  assuring 
yourself  that  you  cannot  confer  upon  me  a 
more  acceptable  service.     Farewel, 

LETTER  XXIX. 

[A.  U.  709.] 

To  Tiro. 
I  SEE  into  your  scheme:  you  have  a  design 
that  your  letters,  as  well  as  mine^  should  make 
their  appearance  in  public.     But,  tell  me,  how 

happened 

^  It  appears,  from  an  epistle  to  Atticu?,  tliat  Cicero  had 
£C)rined  a  design,  about  this  time,  of  publishing  a  collection 
of  his  letters.  It  is  probable,  however,  that  the  greater  part 
^f  thost  which  are  now  extant  were  sent  into  the  world  at 

different 


ha}ypened  it,  that  you^  who  are  wont  to  be  the 
supreme  judge  and  critic  of  my  writings,  should 
be  guilty  of  so  inaccurate  an  expression,  as  to 
desire  me  ^*  faithfully^  to  preserve  my  health?'' 
That  adverb  surely  can  have  no  business  there^ 
as  its  proper  employment!  is  to  attend  upon 
some  word  that  imports  a  moral  obligation* 
In  figurative  language,  its  u»e,  indeed,  is  vari- 
ous, as  it  may  be  applied  even  to  inanimate  and 
intellectual  objects,  provided  (as  Theophras* 
tus  observes)  the  metaphor  be  not  too  bold 
and  unnatural.  But  we  will  reserve  this  for  a 
conversation  when  we  meet. 

Demetrius  has  been  here :  but  I  had  the  ad- 
dress to  avoid  both  him  and  his  retinue. — 
Doubtless,  you  will  regret  that  you  lost  the 

'  '  opportunity 

different  times,  and  by  different  hands,  after  his  decease:  as 
there  are  many  of  them  which  one  can  scarce  suppose  that 
either  himself,  or  any  friend  who  had  a  regard  to  his  me- 
mory, would  have  suffered  to  come  abroad.  Vid,  Ad  Att, 
-\vi.  5. 

■  It  is  inllpossible,  perhaps,  to  determine,  preci^ly,  where- 
in the  impropriety  of  this  expression  Consisted ;  as  it  does 
Tiot  appear  from  the  original  whether  Tiro  spoke  of  his  own 
health  or  of  Cicero's.  In  the  translation,  however,  it  js  ap- 
plied to  the  latter;  as  it  seems  to  render  the  expressioti 
le«s  critically  just.  F©r  as  Tiro  was  Cicero's  slave,  the  care 
of  his  health  was  a  duty  which  the  former  owed  to  the  latter, 
as  a  necessary  means  of  enabling  him  to  perform  those  ser- 
vices to  which  Cicero  had  a  right.  Accordingly,  therefore, 
to  our  author's  own  remark,  concerning  the  literal  use  of  tLe 
vfordjidetisy  Tiro  might  very  properly  have  appHed  it  in  the 
«enne  here  mentioned.  But  there  was  no  such  duty  owifig 
from  the  master  to  the  slave ;  and  consequently  Tiro  could 
not,  in  strict  propriety,  have  applied  it  to  Cicero.  . 

1 


156 


The  letters         Book  XIL 


opportunity  of  seeing  him.  It  is  an  opportu- 
nity, however,  which  you  may  still  recover : 
for  he  returns,  it  seems,  to-morrow.  Accord- 
in  <yly,  I  purpose  to  leave  this  place  the  next 


mornmg. 


I  am  extremely  uneasy  about  your  health, 
and  entreat  you  not  to  omit  any  means  that 
may  contribute  to  its  re-establishment.  It  is 
thus  that  you  will  render  me  insensible  of  your 
absence,  and  abundantly  discharge  all  the  ser- 
vices I  require  at  your  hands, 
u  I  am  obhged  to  your  good  offices  towards 
Cuspius ;  for  I  greatly  interest  myself  in  the 
success  of  his  affairs.     Adieu. 


m 


-£i 


LETTER  XXX. 

[A.  U.  709.] 
To  CORXIFICIUS. 

QuiNTUS  TuRius,  who  was  an  African  mer- 
chant of  great  probity,  as  well  as  of  an -ho- 
nourable family,  is  lately  dead.  He  has  ap- 
pointed Cneius  Saturninus,  Sextus  Aufidius, 
andCaiusAnneius,  together  with  Quintus  Con- 
sidius  Gallus,  Lucius  Servilius  Posthumus,  and 
Caius  Rubellius,  all  of  them  men  of  the  same 
worthy  character  as  himself,  his  joint  heirs.  I 
find  you  have  already  treated  them  in  so  gene- 
rous 


i 


Book  XII. 


OF  CICERO. 


157 


rous  a  manner,  that  they  have  more  occasion 
for  my  acknowledgments  to  you,  than  my  re- 
commendation :  and,  indeed,  the  fkvours  they 
oratefully  profess  to  have  received  from  your 
hands,   are  more  considerable  than  I  should 
have  ventured,  perhaps,  to  request.     Never- 
theless, as  I  perfectly  well  know  the  regard  you 
pay  to  my  recommendation,  I  will  take  cou- 
rage, and  entreat  you  to  add  to  those  services 
which  you  have  already,  without  my  solicita- 
tion, so  liberally  conferred  upon  them.     But 
what  I  am  particularly  to  desire  is,  that  you 
would  not  suffer  Eros  Turios,  the  testator's 
freedman,  to  continue  to  embezzle  his  late  pa- 
tron's effects.     In  every  other  instance,  also,  I 
recommend  their  interest  to  your  protection, 
assuring  you  that  you  will  receive  much  satis- 
faction from  the  regard  and  attachment  of  these 
my  illustrious  friends.   Again  and  again,  there- 
fore, I  very  earnestly  recommend  them  to  your 
good  offices.     Farewel. 

LETTER 


f'l 


)  ;>!itr!f;ff)  r^'^* 


1  III  I-Bl 


^ili^ii. 


,'  r  • 


oq 


4 


f\mi 


fflOi: 


UMJ,'J 


ii  •-f-i-''. 


•UJilU 


mm 


i 

f 


159 


The  letters         Book  XIL 


LETTER  XXXL 

[A.  U.  709.] 

To  Decimus  Brutus,  Consul  elect 

When  our  friend  Lupus  arrived  with  your 
dispatches,  I  had  retired  from  Rome',  to  a  place 
where  I  thought  I  could  be  most  secure  from 
danger.  For  this  reason,  notwithstanding  he 
took  care  that  your  letter'  should  be  dehvered 
into  my  hands,  and  continued  some  days  in 
the  city,  yet  he  returned  without  receiving  my 
answer.  However,  I  came  back  hither  on  the 
gth  of  this  month*,  when  I  immediately,  as  my 
first  and  principal  concern,  paid  a  visit  to  Pan- 
sa^  from  whom  I  had  the"  satisfaction  of  hear- 
in<T^  such  an  account  of  you  as  was  most  agree- 
able to  my  wishes.  As  you  wanted  not  any. 
exhortations  to  engage  you  in  the  noblest  eji- 

terprise 

9  Soon  afier  Cicero's  late  return  to  Rome,  (see  rem.  3. 
p.  13i.  of  this  vol.)  he  came  to  an  open  rupture  with  An- 
tony. He  found  it  necessary,  therefore,  for  hi«  security,  to 
remove  from  the  city  to  some  of  his  villas  near  Naples.  Life 

ofCic.  iii.  87. 

»  The  same,  probably,  which  stands  the  21st  in  the  present 

bock,  p.  138. 

*  December.  Autony  had  just  before  left  Roiae)  in  or- 
der to  march  his  army  into  Cisalpine  Gaul.  Upon  the  news 
of  this  retreat,  Cicero  immediately  returned  to  the  city. — 

l,ffe  ofCic.  iii.  98. 

^  Consul  elect  for  the  ensuing  year. 


Book  XIL 


OF  CICERO, 


159 


enterprise*  that  stands  recorded  in  history ;  so 
I  am  persuaded  they  are  altogether  unnecessary 
in  the  present  conjuncture.  It  may  not  be 
improper,  nevertheless,  just  to  intimate  that  the 
whole  expectations  of  the  Roman  people,  and 
all  their  hopes  of  liberty,  are  entirely  fixed  up- 
on you.  If  you  constantly  bear  in  mind  (what 
I  well  know  is  ever  in  your  thoughts)  the  glo-' 
rious  part  you  have  already  achieved,  most  un- 
doubtedly you  can  never  forget  how  much 
there  still  remains  for  you  to  perform.  In  fact, 
should  thi.t  man  to  whom  I  always  declared 
myself  a  friend,  till  he  openly  and  forwardly 
took  up  arms  against  the  republic ;  should  An- 
tony possess  himself  of  your  province^  I  see 
not  the  least  possibility  of  our  preservation.  I 
join  my  earnest  intercessions,  therefore,  with 
those  of  the  whole  republic,  that  you  would 
finish  what  you  have  so  happily  begun,  and  de- 
liver us  for  ever  from  the  tyranny  of  a  despo- 
tic government.  This  patriot-task  belongs 
particularly  to  yourself;  and  Rome,  or,  to 
speak  more  properly,  every  nation  throughout 
the  world,  not  only  expects,  but  requires,  their 
deliverance  at  your  hands.  But  I  am  sensible 
(as  I  have  already  said)  that  you  need  no  ex- 
hortations 


♦  The  killing  of  Csesar. 

*  Cisalpine  Gaul. 


160 


The  letters        Book  XII. 


Book  XII. 


OF  CICERO, 


161 


h 


hortations  to  animate  you  for  this  purpose.  I 
will  spare  my  admonitions,  therefore,  and  rather 
assure  you  (what,  indeed,  is  more  properly  my 
part)  that  my  most  zealous  and  active  services 
shall  always  be  exerted  for  your  interest.  Be 
well  persuaded,  then,  that,  aot  only  for  the  sake 
of  the  republic,  which  is  dearer  to  me  than  my 
life,  but  from  my  particular  regard  likewise  to 
vourself,  I  shall  omit  no  opportunity  of  for- 
warding  your  glorious  designs,  and  of  pro- 
moting those  honours  you  so  justly  deserve, 
Farewel. 

LETTER  XXXIL 

[A.  u.  ro9.] 

To   CORNIFICIUS. 

There  is  no  man  that  cultivates  my  friend- 
ship with  greater  marks  of  esteem  than  Sextus 
Aufidius  ;  nor  is  there  any  of  equestrian  rank 
who  bears  a  more  distinguished  character. 
The  strictness  of  his  morals  is  so  happily  tem-- 
pered  with  the  sweetness  of  his  disposition, 
that  he  unites  the  severest  virtue  with  the  ea- 
siest and  most  engaging  address.  I  recom- 
mend his  affairs  in  Africa  to  you,  with  the  ut- 
most  warmth  and  sincerity  of  my  heart.  You 
will  extremely  oblige  me,  therefore,  by  shewing 

him. 


him  that  you  pay  the  highest  regaixl  to  my  re- 
commendation;  and  I  very  earnestly  entreat 
you,  my  dear  Cornificius,  to  comply  wA  this 
request.     Farewel. 


j^-i. 


LETTER  XXIIL 

[A.U.T09.] 

ToDecimus  Brutus,  Consul-elect 

Marcus  Seius  has,  I  suppose,  informed  you 
what  my  sentiments  were  at  the  conference 
which  Lupus  held  at  my  house  with  Libo,  your 
relation  Servilius,  and  myself;  as  he  was  pre- 
sent during  the  consultation.  And,  though 
Greccius  immediately  followed  him,  he  can 
give  you  an  account  of  all  that  passed  after 
Seius  set  out^ 

The  grand  and  capital  point,  which  I  could 
yn^\i  you  to  be  well  convinced  of,  and  ever  to 
bear  in  your  mind,  is,  that  in  acting  for  the  se- 
curity, of  our  common  liberties,  you  ought, 
by  no  means,  to  wait  the  sanction  of  the  se- 
nate ;  as  that  assembly  is  not  yet  sufficiently 
free  and  uncontrolled  in  its  dcUberations.  To 
conduct  yourself  by  a  contrary  principle,  would 


^!,«;   *Ht    r|f 


•i: 


be 


.  The  principal  inte&t  of  this  consultation  seems  to  have 
been  to  determine,  whether  Decimus  Brutus  should  venture, 
wiuiout  ihe  express  aaiictiod  of  the  senate,  to  act  offensively 
•gainst  Antony ;  who  was,  at  this  time,  on  his  march  to  dis- 
possess Brutus  of  Cisalpine  Gaul. 

Vol.  III.  M 


162  The  LETTERS         Book  XII. 

be  to  condemn  the  first  glorious  steps  you  took 
for  the  deliverance  of  the  commonwealth,  and 
which  were  so  much  the  more  illustrious,  as 
they  were  unsupported  by  the  formal  suffrage 
of  public  authority.     It  would  be  to  declare, 
that  the  measures  of  young  Caesar  are  rash  and 
ill-considered  ;  who,  in  the  same  unauthorised 
manner,  has  undertaken  the  important  cause  of 
the  commonwealths     In  a  word,  it  would  be 
to  shew  the  world  that  you  thought  those  brave 
and  worthy  veterans  your  fellow-soldiers,  to^ 
gether  with  the  fourth  and  martial  legions', 
had  judged  and  acted  irrationally,    in  deeming 
their  consul  an  enemy  to  his  country,  and  con- 
secrating their  arms  to  the  service  of  the  re- 
public. 

1  When  Antony  set  out  for  Brundisium,  in  order  to  meet 
the  legions  which  were  returning  from  Macedonia,  as  has 
been  related  in  the  27th  letter  of  this  book,  Octav.us  we  t 
amongst  .ho^e  .e.eran  soldiers  to  whom  Caisar  had  granad 
settlements  m  CampHnia.  From  these  he  drew  together  at 
bis  own  expence,  and  by  his  private  authority,  V^.'^.  ^°"  uf 
derable  body  of  troops  to  oppose  Antony,  it  he  had  thousht 
proper  to  have  made  any  attempts  upon  Rome  with  the  Ma- 
cedonian legions.     PAJftp.  li.  2.  12.     Ai  Jtt.y^yi.  8. 

«  The  Roman  legions  were  originally  named  according  to 
the  order  in  which  they  were  raised,  as  the frst,  the  second, 
&c.  But  as  those  legions  which  were  occasionally  raised  m  the 
provinces,  were  distinguished,  likewise,  in  the  same  manner, 
it  was  usual  to  add  to  this  numeral  .lesignation  some  other, 
for  the  sake  of  avoiding  confusion.  This  'a.ter  denomination 
was  generally  taken  either  from  the  country  m  «h'ch  they 
served,  as  the  Ugh  Parthca,  or  from  the  name  of  the  gene- 
ral wh^  leTied  th^em,  as  the  hgio  Augusta;  °';f-">."'«  "X'' 
of  some  divinity,  as  in  the  present  instance,  the  legto  Marda. 
Rosin,  de  Antiq.  Rom.  p.  966.  \ 


Book  XII.  Of  CICERO.  163 

public'.     To  pursue  measures  which  are  agree- 
able to  the  general  sense  of  the  senate,  may  be 
well  considered  as  acting  under  their  express 
authority  ;  when  it  is  fear  alone  that  restrains 
them   from  signifying  their  approbation  in  a 
formal  manner.    In  fine,  you  can  no  longer  he- 
sitate,   whether  you  should  be  guided  by  the 
principle  I  am  recommending,  as  you  have  in 
two  strong  instances  been  governed  by  it  aU 
ready ;  first,  on  the  ides  of  March,  and  lately 
wlien  you  raised  your  troops.    Upon  the  whole, 
then,  you  ought  to  be  both  disposed  and  pre- 
pared to  act,  not  merely  as  you  shall  be  com- 
manded,  but  in  such  a  manner  as  to  render 
your  achievements  the  subject  of  universal  ad, 
miration  and  applause.     Farewel. 

LETTER  XXXIV. 

[A.  U.  709.J 

To  the  same. 
Our  friend  Lupus  very  punctually  delivered 
your  commands  and  your  letter  to  me,  the  next 
morning  after  his  arrival  in  Rome ;  which  was 
in  six  days  after  his  leaving  Mutina'.    I  cannot 

^,f^  "'l^  '"  ^'"^'P'ne  Gaui,  where  Decimtu  Brutus  was 
shor^ny^afterward,   besieged  by  Antony.     It  is  now  called 

M  2 


f 


% 


164 


Trtfe  LETTERS        8o^k  XII 


but  consider  you  as  recommending  my  own 
honours  to  my  protection,  when  you  requee^t 
fne  to  be  the  guardian  of  yours ;  for,  be  assured, 
they  are  equally  my  concern.     It  will  give  me 
great  pleasure,  tiierefore,  to  find,  that  you  doubt 
not  of  my  promoting  them,  upon  every  occa- 
sion, to  the  best  of  my  zeal  and  judgment.  Ac- 
cordingly, although  I  had  purposed  not  to  ap- 
pear in  the  senate  before  the  first  of  January 
Bext,  yet  the  tribunes  of  the  people,  having  on 
that  very  day  on  which  your  manifesto*  was 
pubhshed,    issued    out  a  proclamation   for  a 
meeting  of  the  senate  on  the    30th   of  this 
South',  in  order  to  move  that  a  guard  might 
be  appointed  for  the  security  of  the  consuls 
"^lect* ;  my  affection  towards  you,  induced  me 
to  change  my  resolution,  and  I  determined  to 
attend.     I  thought,  indeed,  it  would  be  a  most 
unpardonable  omission,  if  the  senate  should  be 
holden  without  taking  notice  of  your  inesti- 
tnable  services  to  the  republic,  as  it  unques- 
tionably would  have  been  if  I  had  not  attended ; 
br  that  I  should  not  be  present  tp  support  any 
flecree  that  might  happen  to  be  proposed  for 
the  advancement  of  your  honours.     For  this 

reason, 

*Thc  purport  of  ikis  Bimnifesto  of  Dicimus  Brutus,  was 
to  declare  his  resolution  of  endeavouring  to  preserve  tbe 
pro\ince  of  Cisalpi»e  Gaul,  over  ipvbich  b«  presided,  in  its 
allegiance  to  the  republic.     Fiiilaf,  iii.  4. 

3  December. 

^  Hirtius  and  Pansa. 


Book  XII.        «f  CICERO. 


m 


reason,  I  came  early  into  the  senate,  and  my 
presence  brought  together  a  great  number  of 
the  members.     I  will  leave  it  to  your  other 
friends,  to  inform  you  what  I  there  said  to  your 
advantage ;  as  well  as  of  the  speech  which  I 
afterwards  made  to  the  same  purpose,  in  a  very 
numerous  assembly  of  the  peopled     In  the  mean 
time,  let  me  entreat  you  to  believe,  that  I  shall 
most  zealously  embrace  every  opportunity  of 
contributing  to  the  increase  of  those  dignities 
you  already  possess ;  and  although  I  am  sen- 
sible  I  shall  meet  with  many  rivals  in  my  good 
offices  for  this  purpose,  yet  I  will  venture  to 
claim  the  first  rank  in  that  honourable  list 
Farewel.  ' 

LETTER 

\  These  two  speeches  are  the  third  and  fourth  of  the  Phi- 
iippics.  The  senate,  amongst  other  decrees  which  they 
passed  upon  this  occasion,  approved  and  ratified  the  mea- 
sures whjch  Decimus  Brutus  had  taken  in  Cibalpme  Gaul  fof 
the  defence  of  that  province.     Fkilip,  iv.  4. 

Ms 


166 


The  letters         Book  XII. 


£ooK  XII. 


OF  CICERO. 


1^67 


"  I    tr 


LETTER  XXXV. 

[A.  U.  709.] 
To  CORNIFICIUS. 

1  AM  waging  war  here  against  that  most  ini- 
quitous of  all  sanguinary  ruffians,  my  col- 
league^ Antony ;  but  by  no  means,  however, 
upon  equal  terms ;  as  I  have  nothing  but  my 
tongue  to  oppose  to  his  arms.  He  ventured, 
in  a  speech  which  he  lately  made  to  the  people, 
to  throw  out  some  bitter  invectives  against 
you.  But  his  insolence  did  not  pass  unchas- 
tised ;  and  he  shall  have  still  farther  reason  to 
remember,  against  whom  it  is  that  he  has  thus 
pointed  his  injurious  attacks.  But,  as  your 
other  friends,  I  imagine,  supply  you  with  ac- 
counts of  our  transactions,  I  should  rather 
inform  you  what  turn  affairs  are  likely  to  take; 
and,  indeed,  it  is  a  point  of  no  very  difficult 
conjecture.  The  republic  labours  under  a  total 
oppression ;  her  friends  are  without  a  leader, 
and  our  glorious  tyrannicides  are  dispersed  into 
different  and  distant  quarters.  Pansa  means 
well  to  the  commonwealth,  and  delivers  his  sen- 
timents with  great  spirit  and  freedom.  Hirtius 
recovers  but  slowly^ ;  and,  in  truth,    I  know 

not 

•  Antony  and^CScero  were  colleagues  as  members  of  th« 
college  of  Augurs. 

'  Poasa  and  Hirlius,  as  has  already  been  noted,  wer« 

consult 


not  what  to  think  of  him.     Our  only  hope  is, 
that  the  people  at  last  will  be  awakened  from 
their  lethargy,  and  act  with  a  spirit  becoming 
the  descendants  of  their  heroic  ancestors.    For 
myself,  at  least,  I  will  never  be  wanting  to  my 
country ;  and  whatever  misfortune  may  attend 
the  commonwealth  after  I  have  exerted  my  best 
efforts  to  prevent  it,  I  shall  bear  it  with  perfect 
equanimity.     You  may  depend,  likewise,  upon 
my  supporting  you  in  your  rank  and  dignities, 
to  the  utmost  of  my  power.     Accordingly,  in 
an  assembly  of  the  senate,  which  was  holden 
on  the  20th  of  this  month',  I  proposed  (among 
other  necessary  and  important  articles,  which  I 
carried  by  a  great  majority)  that  the  present 
proconsuls  should  be  continued  in  their  respec- 
tive governments ;  and  that  they  should  be  or- 
dered not  to  resign  them  into  other  hands,  than 
those  which  the  senate  should  appoint.    I  made 
this  motion,   not  only  as   thinking  it  highly 
expedient  for   the   interest  of    the   republic, 
but  with  a  particular  view  also  of  preserving 
you  in  your  provincial  commands     Let  me 

exhort 

consuls  elect  for  the  approaching  year.  The  latter,  about 
this  time,  was  attacked  by  a  most  dangerous  si(  kness ;  and 
his  health  was  esteemed  ot  so  much  importance,  at  this  junc- 
ture, to  the  commonwealth,  that  public  vows  were  put  up  for 
his  recovery.     Philip,  vii.  4. 

*  December.   -        » 

^  Antonv,  a  short  time  before  he  left  Rome  in  order  to 

M  4)  march 


•'I 


1^8 


The  letters         Book  XIL 


Book  XII. 


exhort  you,  then,  for  the  sake  of  our  country, 
and  kt  me  conjure  you  by  your  regard  to  my- 
self, not  to  suffer  any  man  to  usurp  the  least 
part  of  your  authority ;  but,  ia  every  instance,  to 
maintain  the  dignity  of  your  rank  and  character, 
as  a  possession  which  nothing  can  countervail. 
To  deal  with  you  agreeably  to  that  sincerity 
which  our  friendship  requires,  I  must  tell  you, 
that  all  the  world  would  have  highly  applaud^ 
ed  your  conduct,  if  you  had  complied  with  my 
advice  in  regard  to  Sempronius.    But^ the  affair 
is  now  over;  and,   in  itself,  indeed,  it  was. a 
Blatter  ^f-  no  great  importance.     It.  is  of  the 
utmost,  however,  that  you  should  employ,  as  I 
hope  you  will,   every  possible  mean  to  retain 
your  province  in  its  allegiance.     I  would  add 
more,  but  your  courier  presses  me  to  dispatch ; 
I  must  entreat  you,  therefore,  to  make  my  ex- 
cuses to  Cherippus,  for  not  writing  to  him  by 

this  opportunity.     FareweL, 

^  ^^  LETTER 

march  against  Decimus  Brutus,  had  procured  an  illegal  dis- 
tribution of  the  provinces  among  his  friends;  by  which  Caiu* 
Calvisius  was  appointed  to  succeed  Cornificius  in  Africa. 
PMUp/m.     Pigh  Annal,  ii,  I),  ^^5. 


}'r,c  -, 


J 


OF  CICERO. 


LETTER  XXXVL 


^^9 


'-ju 


a  * 


[A.  U.  709.] 

QuiNTUs  Cicero  to  Tibo. 

X  OUR  letter  brought  with  it  a  very  strong, 
though  silent  reproof,  for  my  having  thus  loitg 
omitted  writing  to  you.  I  could  not,  indeed, 
but  be  sensible  how  much  I  had  lost  by  my 
negligence,  when  I  observed  that  those  points 
which  my  brother  (from  tenderness,  perhaps, 
or  haste)  had  but  slightly  touched  in  his  let- 
ter, were  faithfully  represented  in  yours,  in  all 
theiT  genuine  colours.  This  was  particularly 
the  case,  in  respect  to  what  you  mentioned 
concerning  the  consuls  elect*.  I  know,  indeed, 
that  they  are  totally  sunk  in  sloth  and  de- 
bauchery :  and  if  they  should  not  recede  from 
the  helm,  we  are  in  the  utmost  danger  of  being 
irrecoverably  lost.  I  was  myself  a  witness, 
during  a  summer's  campaign  with  them  in  Gaiil, 
that  they  were  guilty  of  such  actions,  and 
within  sight  too  of  the  enemy's  camp,  as  are 
almost  beyond  all  belief:  and  I  am  well  per- 
suaded, unless  we  should  be  better  supported 
than  we  are  at  present,  that  the  scoundrel  An- 
tony will  gain  them  over  to  his  party,  by  ad- 
mitting them  as   associates  in  his  licentious 

pleasures, 

*  Pansa  and  Hirtius. 


170 


The  letters         Book  XIL 


Book  XIL 


OF  CICERO- 


171 


pleasures.  The  truth  of  it  is,  the  republic  must 
necessarily  either  throw  herself  under  the  pro- 
tection of  the  tribunes,  or  employ  some  private 
hand  to  defend  her  cause  :  for  as  to  these  noble 
consuls  of  ours,  one  of  them  is  scarce  worthy 
to  preside  over  Caesena' ;  and  I  would  not  trust 
the  other  with  superintending  the  paltry  ho- 
vels of  Cossutius*. 

r 

I  hope  to  be  wnth  you  towards  the  latter  end 
of  this  month.  In  the  mean  while,  let  me  re- 
peat what  I  have  often  said,  that  I  tenderly 
love  you.  My  impatience  to  see  you  is,  indeed, 
so  immoderate,  that  if  our  first  meeting  were 
to  happen  in  the  midst  of  the  forum,  I  should 
not  forbear  to  transgress  the  rules  of  good 
breeding,  and  most  warmly  embrace  you  in 
the  presence  of  the  whole  assembly.     Farewel. 

LETTER 


I  <( 


(( 


An  obscure  town  in  Italy,  situated  upon  the  Papis, 
a  river  which  empties  itself  into  the  Adriatic,  between 
"  Ufens  and  the  Rubicon."     Mr.  Ross, 

*  Who  this  person  was  is  unknown.  Pique  and  preju- 
dice seem  to  have  had  a  considerable  hand  in  the  draught 
which  Quintus  has  here  delineated  of  the  two  consuls.  That 
Pansa  and  Hirtius  were  infected  with  the  fashionable  vices  of 
the  age,  is  altogether  probable  ;  but  that  they  wanted  either 
spirit  or  capacity  for  action,  is  by  no  means  true,  as  will  evi- 
dently appear  in  the  farther  progress  of  these  letters. 


LETTER  XXXVII. 

[A.  U.  T09.] 

I 

Cicero,  the  Son',  to  his  dearest  Tiro. 

After  having  been  in  daily  and  earnest  ex- 
pectation of  your  couriers,  they  are  at  length, 
to  my  great  satisfaction,  arrived,  having  per- 
formed their  voyage  in  forty-six  days  from  the 
time  they  left  you.  The  joy  I  received  from 
ray  dear  father's  most  affectionate  letter,  was 
crowned  by  the  very  agreeable  one  which  at- 
tended it  from  yourself.  I  can  no  longer  repent, 
therefore,  of  having  neglected  writing  to  you ; 
as  it  has  proved  a  mean  of  furnishing  me  w^ith 
an  ample  proof  of  your  good-nature ;  and  it  is 
\y:ith  much  pleasure  I  find  that  you  admit  the 
apology  I  made  for  my  silence. 

That  the  advantageous   reports   you  have 
heard  of  my  conduct,  were  perfectly  agreeable, 
my  dearest  Tiro,   to  your  wishes,  I  can  by  no 
means  doubt :  and  it  shall  be  my  constant  en- 
deavour 

'  He  was  at  this  time  pursuing  his  studies  at  Athens,  unr 
der  the  direction  of  Cratippus,  one  of  the  most  celebrated 
philosophers  of  the  peripatetic  sect-  If  young  Cicero  had 
not  the  talents  of  his  father,  his  genius,  however,  seems  by 
no  mean»  to  have  been  contemptible ;  and  the  present  Utter, 
written  when  he  was  but  nineteen  years  of  age,  is  a  full  con- 
futation of  those  who  have  chari»ed  him  with  a  want  of  sense, 
ven  to  a  degree  of  stupidity.     Sec  p.  320.  of  this  vol. 


i 


172 


The  letters         Book  XII. 


Book  XII.         of  CICERO. 


ITS 


dearour  to  confirm  and  increase  the  general 
good  opinion  which  is  thus  arising  in  my  fa- 
vour. You  may  venture,  therefore,  with  great 
confidence,  to  be,  what  you  obHgingly  pro- 
mise, the  herald  of  my  fame.  Indeed,  I  reflect 
with  so  much  pain  and  contrition  of  mind  on 
the  errors  into  which  my  youth  and  inexperi- 
ence have  betrayed  me,  that  I  not  only  look 
upon  them  with  abhorrence,  but  cannot  bear 
even  to  hear  them  mentioned :  and  I  am  well 
convinced  that  you  take  a  part  in  the  uneasi- 
ness which  I  suffer  from  this  circumstance.  It 
is  no  wonder  you  should  be  solicitous  for  the 
welfare  of  a  person  whom  both  interest  and  in- 
clination recommend  to  your  good  wishes,  as  I 
have  ever  been  desirous  you  should  partake  of 
all  the  advantages  that  attend  me.  But  if  my 
conduct  has  formerly  given  you  pain,  it  shall 
henceforward,  be  assured,  afford  you  reason  to 
think  of  me  with  double  satisfaction. 

I  live  with  Cratippus,  rather  as  his  son  than 
his  pupil ;  and  not  only  attend  his  lectures  with 
pleasure,  but  am  extremely  dehghted  with  the 
peculiar  sweetness  of  his  conversation.  Accord- 
ingly I  spend  whole  days  in  his  company,  and 
frequently,  indeed,  the  most  part  of  the  night, 
as  I  entreat  him  to  sup  with  me  as  often  as  his 
engagements  will  permit.  Since  the  introduction 

of 


of  this  custom,  he  every  now  and  then  unex- 
pectedly steals  in  upon  us  while  we  are  at  table ; 
and,  laying  aside  the  severity  of  the  philosopher, 
enters  with  great  good  humour  into  all  the  mirth 
and  pleasantry  of  our  conversation.  Let  me  re- 
quest you,  then,  to  hasten  hither  as  soon  as  pos- 
sible, in  order  to  enjoy  with  us  the  society  erf 
this  most  agreeable  and  excellent  man.  As  to 
Bruttius,  I  never  suffer  him  to  be  absent  from 
me  a  single  moment.  His  company  is  as  enter- 
taining as  his  conduct  is  exemplary  ;  and  he 
perfectly  well  knows  how  to  reconcile  mirth 
and  good  humour  with  the  serious  disquisitions 
of  philosophy.  I  have  taken  a  house  for  him 
near  mine,  and  assist  his  narrow  fortunes  as  far 
as  my  slender  finances  will  admits        ^  .^y^^ 

I  have  begun  to  declaim  in  Greek,  under 
Cassius,  as  I  choose  to  employ  myself  in  Latin 
exercises  of  that  kind  with  Bruttius.  I  live  in 
great  familiarity  also  with  those  learned  and 
approved  friends  of  Cratippus,  whom  he  brought 
with  him  from  Mitylene,  and  pass  much  of  my 
time  likewise  with  Epicrates,  one  of  the  most 
considerable  persons  in  Athens,  together  with 
Leonides,  and  several  others  of  the  same  rank 

and 

*  Tbe  allowance  which  CicercK  made  to  liis8on»  dianng 
his  residence  at  Athens,  was  about  7001.  a  year.  Vid,  Ad 
Att,  xvi.  1, 


174 


The   letters 


Book  XIL 


and  merit.     Thus  I  have  given  you  a  general 
sketch  of  my  life. 

As  to  what  you  mention  concerning  Gorgias, 
notwithstanding  that  he  was  of  service  to  me  in 
my  oratorical  exercises,  yet  my  father's  com- 
mands were  superior  to  all  other  considerations: 
and  as  he  peremptorily  wrote  to  me  that  I  should 
immediately  disrmiss  him*,  I  have  obeyed  his 
injunctions.  I  would  not  suffer  myself,  indeed, 
to  hesitate  a  moment,  lest  my  reluctance  should 
raise  any  suspicions  in  my  father  to  my  disad- 
vantage. Besides,  I  thought  it  would  ill  be- 
come me  to  take  upon  myself  to  be  a  judge  of 
the  propriety  of  his  orders.  I  am  extremely 
obliged  to  you,  however,  for  the  friendly  ad- 
vice you  give  me  in  this  affair. 

I  very  readily  admit  the  excuse  you  make  on 
account  of  your  want  of  leisure,  perfectly  well 
knowing  how  much  your  time  is  generally  en- 
gaged. I  am  extremely  glad  to  hear  that  you 
have  bought  a  farm,  and  wish  you  much  joy 
of  the  purchase.  But  you  must  not  wonder 
that  I  deferred  my  congratulations  to  this  part  of 
my  letter;  for  you  will  remember  it  was  about 

tlie 

•  This  unworthy  tutor  had  encouraged  his  pupil  in  a  pas- 
sion for  drinking,  a  vice  in  which  the  young  Cicero,  how  sin- 
cere soever  he  might  have  been  in  his  present  resolves,  most 
shamefully  signalised  himself  in  his  more  mature  years, — 
rtui.  in  rit,  Cic.     LHin,  Hist.  Nat,  xiv.  22. 


Book  XII. 


OF  CICERO. 


17S 


the  same  place  in  yours  that  you  communicated 
to  me  the  occasion  of  them.  You  have  now  a 
retreat  from  all  the  fatiguing  ceremonies  of  the 
city,  and  are  become  a  Roman  of  the  true  old 
rural  kind^.  1  take  pleasure  in  figuring  you  to 
myself,  in  the  midst  of  your  country  employ- 
ments, buying  your  tools  of  husbandry,  dealing 
out  your  orders  to  your  bailiff,  and  carefully 
treasuring  up  the  fruit-seeds  from  your  desert. 
To  be  serious,  I  sincerely  join  Avith  you  in  re» 
gretting  that  I  could  not  be  of  service  to  you 
upon  this  occasion.  But  be  assured,  my  dear 
Tiro,  I  shall  not  fail  to  assist  you,  if  ever  for- 
tune should  put  it  in  my  power ;  especially  as  I 
am  sensible  you  made  this  purchase  with  a  view 
to  my  use  as  \rell  as  your  own.  ' ' 

I  am  obliged  to  your  c^re  in  executing  my 
commission.  I  desire  you  would  see  that  I  have 
a  writer  sent  to  me  who  understands  Greek,  as  I 
losemuch  time  in  transcribing  my  lectures.  But, 
above  all,  I  entreat  you  to  take  care  of  your 
health,  that  we  may  have  the  pleasure  of  enjoy- 
mg  together  many  philosophical  conversations. 
I  recommend  Antherus  to  your  good  offices, 
and  bid  you  farewel. 

LETTER 

;  ''Alluding,  perhaps,  to  those  celebrated  Romans  in  the 
earlier  ages  of  the  republic,  who,  after  having  been  called 
forth  from  their  farms  to  the  service  of  their  country,  dis- 
charged with  glory  the  functions  of  the  stale,  and  then  re- 
turned to  their  ploughs. 


i 

r 

'II 


176 


The  letters        Book  XII. 


LETTER  XXXVIIL 

[A.U.  T09.] 

From  the  same,  to  Tiro. 

Xhx  reasons  you  assign  for  the  intermission 
of  your  letters  are  perfectly  just ;  but  I  hope 
that  these  excuses  will  not  very  frequently  re* 
cur.  'Tis  true  I  receive  intelligence  of  public 
affairs  from  particular  expresses,  as  well  as 
from  general  report ;  and  am  continually  as- 
sured, likewise,  of  my  father's  aifection,  by  his 
owYiliand ;  yet!  always  take  great  pleasure  in 
reading  a  letter  from  yourself,  be  it  upon  ever 
so  trifling  a  subject.  I  hope,  therefore,  since 
I  am  thus  earnestly  desirous  of  hearing  from 
you,  that  you  will  not,  for  the  future,  send  mc 
apologies  instead  of  epistles.     Farewel. 


I 


»-^* 


LETTER  XXXIX. 

[A.  U.  709.] 
BiTHYNICUS*  to  CiCERO. 

If  we  were  not  mutually  attached  to  each 
other,  by  many  singular  good  oflfices,  1  should 
remind  you  of  that  friendship  which  formerly 
subsisted  between  our  parents  :  but  I  leave  ar- 
guments 

'  See  rem.  6.  p.  $9.  ©^  thii  vol. 
1 


Book  XII.  OF  CICERO.  177 

guments  of  this  kind  to  those  who  have  neg- 
lected  to  improve  their  hereditary  connexions. 
For  myself,  I  am  well  satisfied  with  going  uq 
farther  for  my  claim  to  your  services,  than  to 
our  own  personal  amity.  In  confidence  of 
which  let  me  entreat  you,  if  you  believe  that 
none  of  your  favours  will  be  thrown  away  upon 
me,  that  you  would,  upon  all  occasions,  during 
my  absence',  take  my  interests  under  your  pro- 
tection.    Farewel, 

'      , ,  LETTER 

, »  In  Sicily  :  to  which  province  he  succeeded  as  governor 
at  the  expiration  of  his  prsetorship.  Pigh.  AnnaL  lii:  p.  47& 

Vol.  III.  N 


X  u 


/"        "/ 


tij     S  *,J  3 


9<         Mk 


m  mm,,  'iMhi, 

'■'•■is  I  ,»<iif!!'/»  \ 


L*    J  ^mJn  A-  jiiu    ..  t. 


yl 


.» 

H 


(  m  ) 


LETTERS 


OF 


MARCUS  TULLIUS  CICERO 


TO 


SEVERAL  OF  HIS  FRIENDS. 


BOOK  XIII. 


fti'^ 


..J.     ■-:-! 


tU     ..I 


LETTER  I. 

[A.u.rio.] 

To  CORNIFICIUS** 

I  NEGLECT  no  Opportunity  (and,  indeed,  if  I 
did,  i  should  fail  in  what  you  have  a  full  right 
to  expect  from  me)  not  only  of  celebrating 
your  merit,  but  of  promoting  those  honours  it 
so  justly  deserves.  But  I  choose  you  should 
be  informed  of  my  zealous  endeavours  for  this 
purpose,  by  the  letters  of  your  family,  rather 


*  See  rem,  6.  p.  6l.  of  this  ?oI. 


than 


1«^ 


The  letters        Book  XIII. 


than  by  my  hand.    Let  me  employ  it  in  exhort- 
ing you  to  turn  all  your  care  and  your  atten- 
tion upon  the  republic.    This  is  an  object  wor- 
thy of  your  spirit  and  your  talents ;  as  it  is  a- 
greeable,  likewise,   to  those  hopes  which  you 
ought  to  entertain,  of  still  rising  in  the  digni- 
ties of  your  country.     But  this  is  a  topic  I  will 
enlarge  upon  another  time.    In  the  mean  while, 
I  will  inform  you,  that  the  public  affairs  are  to- 
tally in  suspense ;  as  the  commissioners  are  not 
yet  returned,  whom  the  senate  deputed  to  An- 
tony ;  not  to  sue  for  peace,  indeed,  but  to  de- 
nounce war,  unless  he  shall  immediately  pay 
obedience  to  the  orders  with  which  they'arfe  , 

charged*. 

I  seized  the  first  occasion  that  offered  of  re- 
suming my  former  spirit,  in  standing  forth  as 
the  protector  both  of  the  senate  and  the  people : 
and  from  the  momefett  tHils  declared  myself 

uj»)iJ  «j'»  >^tht 

*  These  injunctions  were,  that  Antony  should  instanUy 
quit  the  siege  of  Modena,  and  desist  from  all  hostihties  in 
Gdul.     Cicero  strongly  opposed  the  sending  this  deputation, 
as  it  was  below  the  dignity  •f  the  senate  to  enter  into  any 
sort  of  treaty  with  a  man  whom  they  had  already,  in  effect, 
declared  a  public  enemy  ;  as  it  would  have  the  appearance 
of  fear ;  and,  as  the  only  method  of  bringing  Antony  to  bis 
duty,  would  be  by  an  immediate  an3  vigorous  vrosecution  of 
the  war.     But  these  reasons,  and  others  of  the  same  tenden- 
cy, which  Cicero  urged  with  great  warmtli  and  eloquence, 
were  over-ruled  by  the  friends  of  Antony  :  and  it  was  order- 
ed that  Servius  Sulpicius,  Lucius  Piso,  and  Lucius  Philippus, 
all  of  them  persons  of  consular  rank,  should  carry  this  mes- 
•age  from  the  senate  to  Antony.     Vid,  Philip,  y. 


Book  XIII.         of  CICERO. 


Ml 


the  advocate  of  libertj%  I  have  not  lost  the 
least  favourable  opportunity  for  the  defence  of 
our  common  rights.  But  this,  likewise,  is  an 
article  for  which  I  choose  to  refer  you  to  the 
information  of  others. 

It  is  with  all  possible  warmth  and  earnestness 
that  I  recommend  Titus   Pinarius  to  your  fa- 
vour, as  one  who,  not  only  from  a  similitude  of 
taste  and  studies,  but  as  he  is  possessed  also  of 
every  amiable  virtue,  engages  my  strongest  af« 
fection.     He  comes  into  your  province  in  order 
to  superintend  the  affairs  of  Dionysius,  who,  as 
he  is  much,  1  am  sensible,  in  your  esteem,  so  no 
man  stands  higher  in  mine.  Unnecessary,  there- 
fore, as  I  know  it  to  be  to  recommend  his  in- 
terests  to  your  protection,  yet  I  cannot  forbear 
doing  so :   and  I  doubt  not  of  your  giving  oc- 
casion to  the  very  grateful  Pinarius  of  sending 
.frip^^  letter  of  acknowledgment  for  your  good 
i)ffices  both  to  himself  and  to  Dionysius.  Fare- 


N  3 


-.noiisiuiph  «iifl 

tc  nohu39goi »  moiQ^v^  bm  ^imbommi  m  yd  'id  L 


LETTEa 


-nsbciiil  'jfnisa  -ifft 


n^J 


f> 


•>* 


182 


The  letters        Book  XIII, 


m 


4 


I 


LETTER  II. 

[A.  U.  710.] 

To  Decimus  Brutus,  Consul  elect. 

PoLLA^  sends  me  word  that  an  opportunity- 
offers  of  conveying  a  letter  to  you :  but,  at 
present,  I  have  nothing  material  to  write.     All 
imbiic  business,  indeed,  is  entirely  suspended, 
till  we  shall  hear  what  success  the  deputies*  have 
met  with,  from  whom  we  have  not  yet  received 
any  intelligence.  I  will  take  this  occasion,  how- 
ever, of  telling  you,  that  the  senate  and  the 
people  are  greatly  anxious  concerning  you,  not 
only  as  their  own  preservation  depends  upon 
yours^  but  as  they  are  extremely  solicitous  that 
yon  should  acquit  yourself  with  glory.     The 
truth  is,  you  have,  in  a  very  remarkable  degree, 
the  general  affection  of  the  whole  republic, 
which  confidently  hopes,  that  as  you  lately  de- 
livered us  from  one  tyrants  so  you  will  now 
free  us  from  the  danger  of  another*. 

We  are  raising  troops'  in  Rome  and  through- 
out allltaly,if  that  term  may,  with  any  propriety, 

be 

3  The  wife  of  Decimus  Brutus. 

♦  Those  mentioned  in  the  preceding  letter. 

5  CiBsar. 

^  Antony.  ^    .  .        . 

7  The  senate  did  not  suspend  their  preparations  for  war, 
notwithstanding  the  deputation  they  had  sent  to  Antony.  On 


BoditXIII.        01?  CICERO. 


1S8- 


be  employed,  where  every  man  eagerly  presses 
to  enter  into  the  service ;  so  warmly  are  the 
people  animated  with  a  passion  of  recovering 
their  liberties,  and  such  is  their  abhorrence  of 
the  slavery  they  have  thus  long  sustained  ! 

We  now  expect  soon  to  receive  an  account 
from  you,  not  only  of  your  own  operations, 
but  of  those,  likewise,  of  our  common  friend 
Hirtius,  and  of  Csesar,  whom  I  must  particu- 
larly call  mine.  I  hope,  shortly,  to  see  you  all 
three  united  in  the  general  honour  of  one  com- 
mon victory.  For  the  rest,  I  have  only  to  add 
(what  I  had  rather  you  should  learn^  however, 
from  the  letters  of  your  family,  and  what  I 
hope  they  are  so  just  as  to  assure  you)  that  I 
neither  do,  nor  ever  shall,  tieglect  any  opportu-*' 
'ftity  of  contributing  to  the  advaiicement  of 
your  public  honours.     F^reweK 

-  LETTER 

the  contrary,  Hirtius  and  Octavhis  marched  into  Gaul  at  th^ 
head  of  a  considerable  army,  while  Pansa  remained  in  Italy^ 
in  order  to  complete  the  additional  troops  with  which  he 
|>urpo9ed  to  join  them.     Life  ofCicMu  IS  I. 

"    .  N4 


N    • 


1»4 


This  letters  BooK  XIH- 


'i 


I  ri 


LETTER  III, 

(A.  U.  7K).] 

To  Plancus*. 


i«n<j*j 


The  visit  I  lately  received  from  Furnius'  af- 
forded me  great  satisfaction,  not  only  upon  his 
owa  account,  but  more  particularly  on  yoiirs, 
,.^  he  painted  you  so  strongly  to  my  mind,  that 
I  could  not  but  fancy,  during  the  whole  con- 
versation, that  you  were  actually  present.  He 
represented  to  me  the  heroism  you  display  in  the 
military  affairs  of  your  province,  the  equity  of 
your  civil  administration  ;  the  prudence  which 
distinguishes  every  part  of  your  conduct  in  ge- 
neral; together  with  what  I  was  by  no  means, 
indeed,  a  stranger  to  before,  the  charms  of  your 
social  and  friendly  qualities.  To  this  he  did 
npt  forget  to  add,  likewise,  the  singular  gene- ^ 
rosity  which  you  have  shewn  in  your  behaviour 
towards  himself  Everyone  of  these  articles  I 
heard  with  pleasure ;  and,  for  the  last,  I  am 
much  obliged  to  you'.  /  in^ijuiu 

The  friendship  I  enjoy  with  your  family,  my 
dear  Plancus,    commenced   somewhat  before 

you 

•  See  rem.  2.  p.  134.  of  ihis  vol.  ,^ 
'«  He  was  on«  of  the  lieutenants  of  Plancos. 

*  Furnius  bad  been  particularly  recommended  by  Ci- 
cero to  the  favour  of  Plancus.  See  IcC.  20.  of  the  preced- 
ing book. 


Boo^  xiir. 


ot 


to. 


h%b 


you  were  born :  and,  as  the  affection  which  I 
conceived  for  you  begiin  from  your  childhood, 
so,  in  your  more  mature  years,  it  was  mutually 
improved  into  the  strictest  intimacy.  These  arc 
considerations  which  strongly  engage  me  jtp 
favour  your  interests  :  which  I  look  upofi,'  iii- 
deed,  as  my  own.     Merit,  in  conjunction  with 
fortune,  have  crowned  you,  even  thus  early  in 
your  life,  with  the  highest  distinctions :  as  tile 
diligent  exertion  of  your  superior  talents  has 
frustrated  the  opposition  of  those  many  envi- 
ous antagonists,    who  vainly  endeavoured  to 
obstruct  your  way.     And  noM^  if  '^btf 'ivIK  15e 
'Influenced  by  the  advice  of  a  man  who  greatly 
loves  you,  and  who,  from  a  long  co6riik?Sn^ 
'W^fth  you,  has  an  equal  claim  to  your  regard 
with  the  oldest  of  your  fiiends,  you  will  i^- 
ceive  all  the  future  honours  of  your  life  from 
the^republic  in  its  best  and  most  constitiilibnal 
form.    There  was  a  season,  you  knoM^,  (for'iio. 
thing  stirely  could  have  escaped  your  discern- 
ment)   there  was  a  season*  when   the  wbrld 
thought  you  too  compliant  with  the  prevailing 
faction  of  the   times :    and    I    should   have 
thought  so  too,  if  I  had  imagined  that  your 
approbation  was  to  be  measured  by  your  sub- 
;  mission.    But  as  I  knew  the  sentiments  of  your 

heart, 

During  Caesar's  usurpation. 


I 


.^i. 
V 


186 


The  letters         B6okXIII. 


Book  XIIL        of  CICERO. 


187 


heart,  I  was  persuaded  you  had  prudently  con- 
sidered the  extent  of  your  power.  Public  af- 
fairs, however,  are  at  present  in  a  far  different 
situation  ^*  and  you  may  now  freely  act  in  erery 
point  as  your  judgment  shall  direct.  The  time 
is  shortly  approaching,  when,  in  consequence 
©f  your  present  designation,  you  will  e^ter 
upon  the  consular  office' ;  and  you  will  enter 
vpbn  it,  my  friend,  in  the  prime  of  your  years; 
with  the  advantage  of  possessing  the  noblest 
and  most  commanding  eloquence ;  and,  at  ^ 
period  too,  when  there  is  the  utmost  scarcity 
of  such  illustrious  citizens  as  yourself.  Let  me 
conjure  you,  then,  by  the  immortal  gods,  most 
earnestly  to  pursue  those  measures  that  will  en- 
sure the  highest  glory  to  your  character.  Now, 
there  is  but  one  possible  method  of  acting  to- 
wards the  republic  with  this  advantage  to  your 
reputation  :  at  least,  there  is  but  one  in  the  pre- 
sent conjuncture,  as  the  commonwealth  has  for 
^»o  many  years*  been  disturbed  by  our  intestine 
commotions. 

.When  I  write  to  you  in  this  strain,  it  is  t^-^ 
ther  in  compliance  with  the  dictates  of  my  af-^ 
fection,  than  as  supposing  that  you  stand  ii) 
i^ed  either  of  precepts  or  admonitions.     I  am 

sensible 

,        ^  See  rem.  $.  p.  ItiB,  of  this  vol. 

^  The  civil  wars  bad  now  cootinued  about  sev^n  yeais. 

4 


sensible  that  you  are  sufficiently  supplied  with 
reflections  of  this  nature,  from  the  same  source 
whence  I  derive  them  myself ;  it  is  time,  there- 
fore, to  put  an  end  to  what  I  designed,  not  as 
iLU  ostentation  of  my  wisdom,  but  merely  as  an 
instance  of  my  friendship.-  I  will  only  add, 
that  you  may  depend  upon  the  most  zealous  of 
my  services  upon  every  occasion,  wherein  I 
shall  imagine  your  credit  and  character  is  coa^^ 
cerned.     FareweL 


^-  LETTER  IV. 

[A.  u.  rio.] 

Plancus  to  Cicero. 

I  AM  exceedingly  obliged  to  you  for  your  let* 
fer^ :  a  favour,  for  which  I  am  indebted,  I  per- 
ceive, to  the  account  that  Fumius  gave  of  m« 
m  the  conversation  you  mention.  If  I  have 
not  written  to  you  sooner,  you  must  impute  it 
to  my  being  informed  that  you  were  set  out 
upon  your  expedition  into  Greece  :  and  I  was 
not  apprised  of  your  return  tiU  a  very  short 
time  before  I  learned  it  from  your  letter.  I 
mention  this  because  I  should  think  myself  de- 
'  serving  of  the  highest  reproach,  if  I  were  in- 
tentionally guilty  9f  an  omission,  even  in  the 

slightest 

^  The  preceding  epistle. 


W 


i» 


188 


The  letters        Book  XIII. 


BookXIIL         of  CICERO. 


IS9 


slightest  office  of  friendship  towards  you.  The 
intimacy,  indeed,  which  was  contracted  be- 
tween you  and  my  father ;  the  early  esteem  J[ 
conceived  of  your  merit,  together  with  those 
instances  of  affection  I  have  received  from  you, 
supply  me  with  many  powerful  reasons  for  not 
failing  in  the  regards  I  owe  you.  Be  assured, 
therefore,  my  dear  Cicero,  there  is  no. man 
>vhoni  I  am  so  much  disposed  to  revere  as  your- 
self: as,  indeed,  the  greatdisparity  of  ourages, 
may  well  justify  me  in  looking  up  to  you  with 
all  the  sacred  respect  of  filial  veneration.  I  re- 
ceived your  admonitions,  therefore,  as  so  many 
^lictates  of  the  most  consummate  wisdom  ;  at 
the  same  time  that  I  considered  them  as  in- 
stances, likewise,  of  your  unfeigned  sincerity ; 
for,  in  this  respect,  I  judge  of  your  heart  by 
what  I  feel  in  my  onui.  If  I  had  any  doubt 
then,  what  measures  to  pursue,  or  w  ere  inclined 
to  adopt  others  than  those  you  recommend,  .J 
should  most  certainly  be  determined  by  your 
judgment,  or  restrained  by  your  advice  :  but  in 
my  present  situation,  can  there  possibly  be  an 
inducement  to  draw  me  from  those  paths  you 
point  out  ?  The  truth  is,  that  whatever  honour- 
able distinctions  I  have  acquired,  either  by  my 
own  ihdustry,^  or  by  the  favours  of  fbrtunej, 

thouo-h  far  inferior  to  what  jyour  affection  re- 

presents 


presents  them ;  yet  they  want  no  other  lustre; 
perhaps,  but  that  of  having  been  attained  with 
the  general  approbation  of  the  commonwealth ; 
and  this  ev^n  the  most  inveterate  of  my  ene- 
mies acknowledge.  Be  assured  then,  that  the 
whole  of  my  power,  my  prudence,  and  my  au- 
thority, shall  ever  be  exerted  in  the  service  of 
the  republic.  As  I  am  no  stranger  to  your 
sentiments,  I  am  well  persuaded  that  mine 
wohld  never  disagree  with  yours,  if  I  had  the 
happiness  of  having  you  so  near  me  as  to  be 
able  to  consult  them.  But  though  I  cannot 
enjoy  this  very  desirable  advantage,  yet  I  trust 
you  will  never  have  occasion  to  condemn  my 
conduct.  ^/^f^n 

I  am  extremely  impatient  to  learn  what  is 
transacting  in  the  nearer  Gaul^,  as  well' aS  what 
effect  the  present  month^  may  produce  iii'  re^ 
gard  to  affairs  iEtt  Rome.  In  the  mean  time;^*I 
am  earnestly  labouring  to  prevent  the  people  df 
this  province  from  pursuing  the  example  bf 
their  neighbours,  by  taking  advantage  of  the 
jpftiblic  disturbances  to  throw  off  their  alle- 
giance.    And   should  my  endeavours  be^^kt^^ 

tetide^d 

/('.f  Where  Deciraus  Brutus  commanded,  who,, at  this  tili^fe, 
was  actually  besieged  in  Modena  by  Mark  Antuny :  aqir- 
curastance,  to  which  Pfancus,  'tis  probable,  wa:s  no  stranger^ 
though  he  thought  proper  to  aifept  ignorapce.  t  j  iv^ , ;.  ,  ; 
J  January :  when  the  new  consuls  always  entered  upon 
their  office.  The  consuls  for  the  present  year  were  llirtius 
and  Pansa. 


u 


i)| 


J 


ISO 


The  letters  Book  XIIL 


Book  XIIL 


OE  CICERO. 


191 


tended  with  the  success  they  deserve,  I  doubt 
not  of  being  approved,  not  only  by  every  frieiftl 
of  Hberty  in  general,  but,  what  I  am  most  am- 
bitious of>  by  yourself  in  particular*  FareweJ^ 
my  dear  Cicero,  and  love  me  with  an  equal  re- 
turn of  that  affection  I  bear  you* 

LETTER  V. 

[A.U.710.] 

To  Plancus. 

The  duplicate  you  sent  me  of  your  letter^  M'as 
an  instance  of  your  obliging  care  lest  I  should 
be  disappointed  of  what  I  so  impatiently  wished 
to  receive.  The  contents  afforded  me  a  double 
satisfaction ;  and  I  am  at  a  loss  to  determine 
whether  the  friendship  you  profess  for  myself, 
or  the  zeal  you  discover  for  the  republic,  ren- 
dered it  most  truly  acceptable.  To  speak  my 
own  opinion,  indeed,  the  public  affections  are 
altogether  noble  and  sublime;  but  surely  there 
is  something  more  amiably  sweet  in  those  of  the 
private  kind.  Accordingly,  that  part  of  your 
letter  where  you  remind  me  of  the  intimady  ill 
which  I  lived  with  your  father,  of  the  early  dis^' 
position  you  found  in  yourself  to  love  me,  to- 
gether with  other  passages  to  the  same  friendly 
purpose,  filled  my  heart  with  the  most  exqui-* 
site  pleasure,  as  the  sentiments  you  profess  with 

regard 

•  The  foregoing. 


regard  to  the  commonwealth,  raised  in  me  the 
highest  satisfaction :  and,  to  say  truth,  I  was 
so  much  the  more  pleased  with  the  latter,  at 
they  were  accompanied,  at  the  same  time,  witk 
the  former. 

To  repeat  what  I  said  in  the  letter  to  whiclfc 
you  have  returned  so  obliging  an  answer,  kt 
me  not  only  exhort,  but  entreat  you,  my  dear 
Plancus,  to  exert  your  utmost  powers  in  the 
service  of  the  commonwealth.  There  is  nothing 
that  can  mor^  contribute  to  the  advancement 
of  your  glory:  for  amongst  all  human  honours^ 
none  most  certainly  is  superior  to  thai:  of  de- 
serving  well  of  one's  country.  Your  great  good 
sense  and  good  nature  will  suffer  me,  I  know, 
to  speak  my  sentiments  to  you  with  the  same 
freedom  that  1  have  hitherto  used.     Let  me 
again  observe  then,  that  the  honours  you  have 
^?^,^^dy  acquired,  though  you  could  not,  in- 
deed, have  attained  to  them  without  merit,  yet 
they  have  principally  been  owing  to  fortune,  in 
conjuuction  w^ith  the  particular  circumstances 
qS  tb^.  ime».     But  whatever  services  you  shaU 
perform  for  the  republic  in  tliis  very  critical 
conjuncture,   will  reflect  a  lustre  upon  your 
chaxacter,  that  will  derive  all  its  splendour  from 
yottrself  alone.     It  is  incredible  how  odious 
A^t9^y  is  become  to  all  sorts  of  people,  except 
those  only  of  the  same  dishonest  views  with 

himself; 


!^ 


li'' 


111 


m 


The  letters       Bo<Jk  XTH* 


himself:  but  the  great  hopes  and  expectations 
of  the  republic  are  fixed  Hpon  you  and  the  army 
you  command.     Let  me  conjure  you  then,  in ' 
the  most  solemn  manner,  not  to  lose  so  impor- 
tant an  opportunity  of  establishing  yourself  in 
the  esteem  and  favour  of  ycur  fellow-citizens,  ' 
or  in  other  words,  of  gathering  immortal  praise. 
Believe  me,  it  is  with  all  the  tenderness  of  a 
father  that  I  thus  admonish  yon ;  that  I  enter  [ 
into  your  interests  with  as  much  warmth  as  if 
they  were  my  o^vn ;  and  that  my  exhortations 
proceed  from  the  zeal  I  bear  for  the  glory  of 
my  friend,  -  and  the  welfare  of  my  country. 

r- 

LETTER  VI. 


3 


i*  .f  •  • 


[A.  U.  710.] 

To  Caius  Cassius. 


.fll  ^i-» 


'■V 

Oh,  that  you  had  invited  me  to  that  glorious 
feast  you  exhibited  on  the  ides  of  March  i 
Be  assured,  I  would  have  suffered  none  of  it 
to  have  gone  off  untouched^     Whereas  the  ^ 
part  you  unhappily  spared,  occasions  me,  above   *• 
all  x>thers,   more  trouble  than   you  can   well    '*, 
imagine.     I  must  acknowledge,  at  the  same    ' 

=»  ••*«  *^        -^-  time, 

•Alluding  to  the  contpiratars  baving^red  Antooy  when 
they  destroyed  CaSsar.  Sec  re6i.  S.  p.  148.  of  this  fol. 


li 


BooirXmr       ot  GICERO,    ^  i^ 

time,  that  we  have  two  most  excellent  consul** : , 
but  as  to  those  of  consular  rank,  there  is  not 
one  of  them  who  does  not  merit  the  highest  re-  • 
proach.     The  senate  in  general,  however,  exert 
themselves  with  spirit,  as  the  lowerorder  of  ma- 
gistrates distinguish  themselves  by  their  singular 
resplution  and  zeal.    In  a  word,  it  is  iinpossible 
to  shew  a  better  or  more  vigorous  dispositioa  . 
than  appears  in  the  populace,  not  only  of  Roift'^,* 
but  throughout  all  Italy.     But  Philippus  aftd 
Piso,  on  the  contrary,  whom  the  senate  deputed 
with  peremptory  orders  to  Antony',  have  exe- 
cuted their  comipission  in  a  manner  that  raises 
our  highest  indignation.   For  notwithstanding 
that  Antony  refused  to  comply  with  every  sin- 
gle article  of  the  senate  s  iaji^nptions,  yet  these 
unworthy  deputieshad  the  meanness  to  charge 
themselves  with  bringing  baclc  the  most  inso- 
lent  demands'.     This  behaviour  of  theirs  has 
occasioned  all  the  world  to  have  recourse  to  my 
•  u-  .•  •     , «  assistance, 

s^n  lands  and  rewardi  to  all  bis  troops,  and  confirm  all 

«  oI*"?t-  «""".*  "'"«=''  '•*  '^  D"'"''^"*  h»d  made  inTbe',        ' 
«co«,ul.l„p;    ,b,t    att   his  decree,  froo,    C»sar',    bo^k, 

»  bTdfZl'i  !^''?'l^  """^"^^  ••  «<•«  no  accouot  ,houU 

"  fjrfil   '  "•"  '"'.""«'"  '"'"'  ""  «'«'-r  Gaul  io%xcb.5 
"  oJt  «f  .^'  •"^'il  •''»y  °f  ^'^  '^gioDS,  to  be  compter"  > 
oat  of  the  troops  of  Deamns  Bratos."  UfeofCie  iii 

o 


M 


I' 


troop! 

Vot.  III. 


194 


The  letters        Book  XIIL 


assistance,  and  I  am  become  extremely  popular 
(n^  way  whereiu  popularity  i$  seldom  acquired, 
I  i:pean,  by  supporting  a  good  cause. 

J  ^m  j^ltogether  ignorant  in  what  part  of  tU^ 
wo^]d  you  are  at  present,  as  \s:ell  as  of  what 
schemes  you  are  either  executing  or  meditating. 
4  report  prevails  that  you  are  gone  iato  Syria, 
Vut  for  this  we  have  no  certain  authority.  W? 
cj^n  a  little  mgi;^  depend  upon  the  accounts  we 
receive  of  Brutus,  as  his  distance  from  us  U 
Ir^^s  remote'. 

It  has  been  remarked  here  by  men  of  some 
pleasantry,  and  muchindigna-tion  against  Dota- 
bella,  that  he  has  shewn  himself  in  too  grea.^ 
haste  to  be  your  successor,  a$  he  is  most  uuci- 
villy  set  out  to  take  possession  of  your  govern- 
ment when  you  have  enjoyed  it  scarcp,  ^  ^iflgl^ 
months     The  case  is  cle^r,  therefore,  say  they, 
that  Cassiu3  should  by  no  nieans  give  him  ad- 
mittance.    But  to  be  serious;  both  you  and 
Brutus  are  mentioned  with  the  highest  applause, 
as  it  is  generally  supposed  that  each  of  you  has  ^ 

drarwn 

?  Marcus  Brutus,  when  he  found  it  necessary  Xq  leave 
Italy,  withdrew  imo  Macedonia,  where  he  was,  at  this  time, 
employed  in  raising  forces  in  support  of  the  republicau  cause. 

♦  The  province  of  Syria  had  been  intended  by  C«sar  tor 
Cassius ;  but  Mark  Antony,  after  the  death  of  Caesar,  had 
Urtfully  procured  it  tc  be  aUotted  to  DolabeUa.  Accord^ 
ingk,  the  latter  left  Rome  a  sliort  time  before  the  expiration 
•f  his  consulship  the  last  year,  in  order  to  be  beforehand 
vith  Cassius,  io  getting  possession  of  this  government ;  and 
it  is  in  allusion  to  this  circuyistance,  that  the  humour  of  the 
present  passage,  such  as  it  is,  consists. 


m 


Book  XIIL  of  CICERO. 


m 


drawn  together  an  army  far  beyond  our  expec* 
tations.  I  would  add  more,  if  I  knew  with 
certainty  the  situation  of  yourself  and  your 
affairs ;  but  I  hazard  this  letter  merely  upon 
the  doubtful  credit  of  common  fame.  It  is 
with  great  impatience,  therefore,  that  I  wait 
fof  better  intelligence  from  you  own  liSnd: 
FareweL 

LETTER  VII. 

[A.  U.  710.] 

To  Teebonius^  .  > 

Would  to  heaven  you  had  invited  me  to  that 
noble  feast  which  you  made  on  the  ides  of 
March ;  no  remnants,  most  assuredly,  should 
have  been  left  behind^  Whereas  the  part  you 
unluckily  spared  gives  us  so  much  perplexity^ 
that  we  find  something  to  regret,  even  in  the 
godlike  service  which  you  and  your  illustrious 
associates  have  lately  rendered  to, the  republic. 
To  say  the  truth,  when  I  reflect  that  it  is  owing 
to  the  fiivouTof  so  worthy  a  man  as  yourself,  that 
AAtQQy  no^  lives  to  be  our  general  bane,  I  ^.i» 
sometimes  inclined  to  be  a  little  angry  with  you 

for 

*  He  was,  at  this  time,  in  Asia  Minor,  of  which  province 
he  Was  governor.     See  rem.  8.  p.  99,  of  this  vol. 

*  See  rem.  9.  on  the  preceding  letter. 

02 


■51 

(4 


iij 


196 


The  letters       Book  XIIL 


for  taking  him  aside  M'hen  Caesar  feir ;  as  by 
this  mean  you  have  occasioned  more  trouble  to 
myself  in  particular,  than  to  all  the  rest  of  the 
whole  community.  From  the  very  first  mo- 
ment, indeed,  that  Antony's  ignominious  de- 
parture from  Rome',  had  left  the  senate  uncon- 
trolled in  its  deliberations,  I  resumed  the  spirit 
which  you  and  that  inflexible  patriot,  your  fa- 
ther, were  wont  to  esteem  and  applaud.  Ac- 
cordingly, the  tribunes  of  the  people  having 
summoned  the  senate  to  meet  on  the  20th  of 
December,  upon  other  matters,  I  seized  that 
opportunity  of  taking  the  whole  state  of  the 
republic  into  consideration^ :  and  more  by  the 
zeal  than  the  eloquence  of  my  speech,  I  re- 
vived 


.'  fi 


^  As  it  had  been  resolved,  in  a  council  of  the  conspirators, 
that  Antony's  life  should  be  spared,  they  did  not  choose  he 
should  be  present  when  they  executed  their  design  upon  Cae- 
sar ;  probably  lest  he  should  attempt  to  ai^sist  his  friend,  and 
by  that  means  occasion  them  to  spill  more  blood  than  they 
intended.  For  this  reason,  Trebonius  held  Antony  m  dis* 
course,  at  the  entrance  into  the  senate,  till  the  rest  of  the  con- 
spirators had  finished  their  work.  Dio,p,  24-9.  f^^'  ^  ^^• 
Brut. 

•  Upon  the  news  that  two  of  the  four  legions  from  Brun- 
disium  [see  rem.  4.  p.  152.  of  this  yoIJ  had  actually  declared 
for  Octavius,  and  posted  themselves  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Rome,  Aniony  left  the  city  with  great  precipitation ;  and, 
putting  himself  at  the  head  of  his  army,  marched  directly,  in 
order  to  wrest  Cisalpine  Gaul  out  of  the  hands  of  Decimus 
Brutus.  Cicero,  who  was  at  this  time  in  the  country,  took 
the  opportunity  of  Antony's  absence  to  return  to  Rome; 
where  he  arrived  on  the  pth  of  December,  in  the  preceding 
year,  about  a  month  or  two,  'tis  probable,  beforis  he  wrote 
the  present  letter.     SeeUfeofCk,i\\,S7-  ' ^"^ 

9  It  was  upon  this  occasion  that  Cicero  spoke  his  third 
Fhilipp  ic. 


Book  XIIL         of  CICERO. 


197 


Vived  the  drooping  spirits  of  that  oppressed 
assembly,  and  awakened  in  them  all  their  for- 
mer vigour.     It  was  owing  to  the  ardour  with 
which  I  thus  contended  in  the  debates  of  this 
day,  that  the  people  of  Rome  first  conceived  a 
hope  of  recovering  their  liberties :  and  to  this 
great  point  all  my  thoughts  and  all  my  actions 
have  ever  since  been  perpetually  directed.  Thus 
important,  however,  as  my  occupations  are,  I 
would    enter   into   a  full  detail  of  our  pro- 
ceedings, if  I  did  not  imagine  that  public  trans- 
actions of  every  kind  are  transmitted  to  you  by 
other  hands.     From  them,  therefore,  you  will 
receive  a  more  particular  information  ;  whilst  I 
content  myself  with  giving  you  a  short  and 
general  sketch  of  our  present  circumstances 
and  situation.     I  must  inform  you,  then,  we 
have  a  senate  that  acts  with  spirit;  but  that  as 
tp  those  of  consular  dignity,  part  of  them  want 
tfife  <Jourage  to  exert  themselves  in  the  manner 
tliey  ought,, and  the  rest  are  ill-affected  to  the 
republic.     The  death  of  Servius'  is  a  great  loss 
to  us..  ^Lucius  Csesar*,  though  he  is  altogether 

-  *Servius  Sulpicius,  to  whom  several  letters,  in  the  fore^ 
going  part  of  this  collection,  are  addresbed.  He  was  one,  and 
the  most  considerable,  of  the  three  consulars  whom  the  se- 
nate had  lately  deputed  to  Antony  ;  but,  very  untorlunately 
for  that  embassy,  he  died  just  as  he  arrived  in  Antony'^ 
camp.    PhiL  ix.  1. 

*  See  rem.  5.  p.  9^*  of  this  vol. 

0  3 


198 


Trtk  LETTERS        Book  XIII. 


Book  XIII.         of  CICERO. 


m 


in  the  interest  of  liberty,  yet  in  tenderness  to 
his  nephew',  does  not  concur  in  any  very  vi- 
gorous measure.     The  consuls^  in  the  mean 
time,  deserve  the  highest  commendations:  I 
must  mention  Decimus  Brutus,  hkewise,  with 
much  applause.     The  conduct  of  young  Caesar 
also  is  equally  laudable :  and  I  persuade  myself 
that  we  have  reason  to  hope  he  will  complete 
the  work  he  has  begun.     This,  at  least,  is  cer- 
tain, that  if  he  had  not  been  so  extremely  ex- 
peditious in  raising  the  veteran  forces*,  and  if 
two  legions  had  not  deserted  to  him  from  An- 
tony's army,  there  is  nothing  so  cruel  or  so  fla- 
gitious which  the  latter  would  not  have  com- 
mitted.    But  as  these  are  articles  which  I  sup- 
pose you  are  already  apprised  of,  I  only  just 
mention  them  in  order  to  confirm  them. 

You  shall  liear  farther  from  me,  whenever  f 
can  find  a  n)ore  leisure  moment.     Farewel.   . 

LETTER 

'  Antony. 

*  Ilirtius  and  Pansa. 
.•!T  *  See  rem,  7.  p.  162.  of  this  vol. 


'f 


LETTER  VIII. 

[A.  U.  710.] 

To  Caius  Cassius. 


.,.». 


It  is  owing,  I  imagine,  to' the  difficulty  of  for- 
v/arding  any  dispatches  during  the  winter  sea- 
son, that  we  have  yet  received  no  certain  in- 
telligence of  what  you  are  doing,  nor  even  know 
in  what  part  of  the  world  you  are  placed.     It 
is  universally  reported,  however,  (though  more, 
I  believe,  from  what  people  wish,  than  from 
what  they  have  sufficient  grounds  to  assert) 
that  you  have  raised  an  army,  and  are  actually 
in  Syria;  a  report  which  the  more  easily  gains 
credit,  as  it  appears  to  be  extremely  probable. 
Our  friend  Brutus  has  acquired  great  honour 
'  by  his  late  glorious  and  unexpected  achieve- 
ments^ ;  not  only  as  being  in  themselves  ex- 
tremely desirable  to  the  friends  of  liberty,  but 
from  the  wonderful  expedition,  likewise,  with 
which  he  performed  them.   If  it  be  true,  there- 
fore, that  you  are  in  possession  of  those  pro- 
vinces we  imagine,  the  republic  is  very  power* 

fully 

*  He  had  lately  sent  an  account  to  the  senate  of  his  Suc- 
cfeVs  against  Cams,  the  brother  of  Mark  Antony ;  having 
forced  him  to  retire,  with  a  few  cohorts,  to  ApoUonia,  and 
secured  Macedonia,  Illyricum,  and  Greece,  together  with 
the  several  armies  in  those  countries,,  to  the  interest  of  th© 
republic.     Vid,  Philip,  x. 

04 


8QQ 


The  BETTERS       Book  XIII. 


Book  XII£ 


"of  GICER07 


e 


fully  supported ;  as  that  whole  tract  of  coun- 
try, which  extends  from  the  nearest  coast  of 
Greece  ajs  far  as  Egypt,  is,  upon  this  supposi- 
tion,  in  the  hands  of  two  the  most  faithful 
friends  of  the  commonweal tL     Nevertheless,  if 
my  judgment  does  not  deceive  me,  the  event  of 
this  war  depends  entirely  upon  Decimus  Bru- 
tus :  for  if  he  should  be  able  to  force  his  way 
out  of  Mutina,  (as  >ve  have  reason  to  hope)  it 
will,  in  all  probabiHty,  be  totally  at  an  end. — 
There  are  now,  indeed,  but  few  troops  employ- 
ed in  carrying  on  that  siege;  as  Antony  has 
sfxxt  a  l^ge  detachment  to  keep  possession  of 
Bpnonia^     In  the  mean  while,  our  friend  Hir- 
tius  ia  posted  at  Claterna^  and  Cassar  at  Forum 
Cqmeiii\  each  of  them  at  the  head  of  a  very 
considerable  army ;  at  the  same  time  that  Pansa 
is  r^ism^  a|^  Ronie  a   large  body  of  Italian 
troops.     But  the  season  of  the  year  has  hitherto 
prevented  their  entering  upon  action  ;  and,  in- 
deed, Hirtius  appears,  by  the  several  letters  I 
have  received  from  him,  to  be  determined  to 
take  all  his  measures  with  the  utmost  precaution. 
Both  the  Gauls,  excepting  only  the  cities  of 
Bonohia,  Regium,  and  Parma,  are  zealously  af-"^ 
fectcd  to  the  republic;  as  are  also  your  clients 


>'  ^  Quaderna. 

*  Imola. 


»JL»«. 


'o 


on 


(a 


on  the  other  side  the  Po.  The  senate  likewise  is 
firm  in  the  cause  of  liberty ;  but  when  I  say  the 
senate,  I  must  exclude  all  of  consular  rank;1eib 
cept  Lucius  Csesar,  who,  indeed,  is  faithfully 
attached  to  the  interest  of  the  commonwealth; 
The  death  of  Servius  Sulpicius  has  deprived  us 
of  i  very  powerful  associate.  As  for  the  rest 
of  the  consulars,  part  of  them  are  ill.  affected 
to  the  republic,  others  want  spirit  to  suppo¥£ 
its  cause,  and  some  there  are  who  look  with 
envy  on  those  patriot  citizens  wh^fe  conduct 
they  see  distinguished  by  the  public  applause. 
The  populace,  however,  both  in  Rome,  arid 
throughout  all  Italy,  are  wonderfully  unani* 
mous  in  the  common  cause.— I  have  nothing 
farther,  I  think,  to  add,  but  my  wishes  that 
your  heroic  virtues  may  shine  out  upon  us 
froiti  yon  eastern  regions,  in  all  their  enlivening^ 
warmth  and  lustre.     Fare weL      "'  "^^'  *     ""A"''' '"'' 

i  LETTER  IX.  r>y30 

.A*  ^  [A.U.710.]  Wf 

n  )  ifTo  Lucius  Papirius  PJETus^ 

I  HAVE  rieceiyed  a^^econd  letter  from  you^.t 
co^ngerning  your  friend  Rufus:  and  since  you 
interest  yourself  thus  warmly  in  his  behalf,  you 
might  depend  upon  my  utmost  assistance,  even 

if 

^  See  rem.  1.  p.  15.  vol.  ii. 


io^ 


The  letters        Book  XIII. 


Book  Xlll.        of  CtCERO. 


iioS 


If  file  had  Hoiie  the  an  injury.  But  I  am  per- 
fectly sensible,  from  those  letters  of  his,  \vhich 
y6u  communicated  to  me,  as  Well  as  from  your 
own,  how  much  rriy  welfare  has  been  his  con- 
cei^ii.  I  cannot,  therefore,  refuse  him  mv 
friendly  offices,  not  only  in  regard  to  your  re- 
Commendation,  which  has  all  the  weight  with 
ihe  it  ought,  but  in  compliance  also  with  mjr 
own  inclinations.  I  must  acknowledge  that  it 
was  his  and  your  letters,  my  dear  Psetus,  which 
first  put  me  upon  my  guard  against  the  de- 
sighs  that  were  formed  to  destroy  me*.     I  af- 

^terwards,  indeed^  received  inteUigence  from  se- 
veral other  likrids  to  the  sanie  eiFect,  and  par- 
ticularly of  the  consultations  that  Were  held 
concerhiiig  me  both  at  Aquinium  and  Fabrate- 

;  fia^ ;  of  which  meetings,  1  find,  you  Were  like- 
wise apprised.  One  would  imagine  that  this 
party  had  foreseen  how  much  I  should  ehibdr- 
rass  their  schemes,  by  the  industry  they  em- 
ployed in  order  to  compass  my  destruction  : 
and,  as  I  had  not  the  least  suspicion  of  their 

purposes, 

^  .  f  This  probably  alludfs  to  some  design  of  the  veteran 
soldiers  against  Cicero's  life ;  as  it  appears,  from  a  letter  to 
Atti^us,  wriifen  soon  after  CsHar'rf  d^kth,  ihat  our  author 
had  be^n  cautioneil  aot  to  trust  himself  in  Rume,  on  account 
of  ihfe  danger  to  which  he  would  be  exposed,  from  the  inso- 
knc6  of  thos^  troops.     Vid  Ad  Att.  k\;  5. 

^  These  towns  were  situated  in  Latium,  or  what  is  now 
called  the  Campagna  di  Kuma.  They  still  subsist  under  the 
names  of  Aquino  and  Fabratera, 

I 


purposes,  I  might  incautiously  have  fdllen  into 
their  snares,  if  it  had  not  been  for  the  admoni- 
tions you  sent  me,  in  consequence  of  the  infor- 
mation you  had  received  from  Rufus.  Yotlr 
friend,  therefore,  wants  no  advocate  with  the 
for  my  good  offices  ;  and  1  wish  the  republic 
liiay  be  in  so  happy  a  situation,  as  to  afford  nle 
aft  opportunity  of  giving  him  the  most  sub- 
stantial proofs  of  my  gratitude. 

But,  to  dismiss  this  subject,  t  am  sorry  ybii 
no  longer  frequent  the  festive  tables  of  your 
friends ;  as  you  cannot  renounce  these  parties 
of  good  cheer,  without  depriving  yotirself  of  a 
very  exquisite  gratification.  And,  to  tell  you 
the  truth,  I  am  sorry,  likewise,  tijSori'aliother 
account ;  as  I  am  afraid  you  will  lose  the  little 
ktiowledge  you  had  acquired  in  th(i  art  of 
^^  cookery,  and  be  absolutely  at  a  loss  how  to  set 
forth  a  tolerable  supper.  For  as  you  made  no 
very  considerable  improvements  in  this  fashion^ 
able  science,  even  when  you  had  many  cufioua 
models  for  your  imitation,  what  strange  awk- 
ward things  must  your  entertainments  prove 
now  that  you  enjoy  no  longer  the  same  advan- 
tages ?  When  I  informed  Spurinna'  of  this 
wonderful  pevolution  in  the  system  of  jf&Wf  af- 
feirs,  he  shook  his  prophetic  head,  and  declared 

that; 

*  A  celebrated  diviner,  who  is  said  to  have  forewarned 
Caesar  of  the  ides  of  March.     Suet,  in  Jul.  8i. 


-  \  • 


204 


(l! 


If- 


The  letters        Book  XIIL 


Book  XIIL         of  CICERO. 


205 


that  it  portended  some  terrible  disaster  to  the 
commonwealth ;  unless,  said  he,  this  extraor- 
dinary  phaenomenon  be  occasioned  by  the  pre- 
sent cold  weather,  and  your  friend  should  re- 
turn with  the  zephyrs  to  his  accustomed  train 
of  life.     But,  without  a  joke,  my  dear  Paetus^ 
I  would  advise  you  to  spend  your  time  in  the 
cheerful  society  of  a  set  of  worthy  and  agree- 
able friends ;  as  there  is  nothing,  in  my  estima- 
tion, that  more  effectually  contributes  to  the 
happiness  of  human  life.     .When  I  say  this,  I 
do  not  mean  with  respect  to  the  sensual  grati- 
fications of  the  palate,  but  with  regard  to  that 
pleasing  relaxation  of  the  mind  which  is  best 
produced  by  the  freedom  of  social  converse, 
and  which  is  alwavs  most  asrreeable  at  the  hour 
of  oi^als.     For  this  reason,  the  Latin  lanscuage 
is  much  happier,  I  think,  than  the  Greek,  in 
the  term  it  employs  to  express  assemblies  of 
this  sort.     In  the  latter  they  are  called  by  a 
word  which  signifies  compotations ;  whereas,  in 
ours,  they  aremore emphatically  styled co«vit?ia/ 
meetings ;  intimating  that  it  is  in  a  commUtil^ 
cation  of  this  nature  that  life  is  most  truly  en- 
joyed.    You  see  I  am  endeavouring  td  brlttg 
philosophy  to  my  assistance,  in  recalling  you  to 
the  tables  of  your  friends ;  and,  indeed,  I  pre- 
scribe them  as  the  best  recipe  for  the  re-esta- 
blishment of  your  health.  '^        Do 


Do  not  imagine,  my  friend,  from  my  writ- 
ing in  this  strain  of  pleasantry,  that  I  have  re- 
nounced my  cares  for  the  republic.  Be  as- 
sured, on  the  contrary,  that  it  is  the  sole  and 
unintermitted  business  of  my  life  to  secure  t9 
my  fellow-citizens  the  full  possession  of  xhtit 
liberties,  to  which  end  my  admonitions,  my 
labours,  and  the  utmost  powers  of  my  mind, 
are,  upon  all  occasions,  unweariedly  employed. 
In  a  word,  it  is  my  firm  persuasion,  that,  if  I 
should  die  a  martyr  to  these  patriot  endeavours. 
I  shall  finish  my  days  in  the  most  glorioqs 
manner.     Again  and  again  I  bid  yqu  fareweL^ 


,.  m  w  f  !)•    "•"  *   r% 


yt'^^f. 


-"^^ 


LETTER  X. 

W 

[A.  u.  no.] 

Caius  Cassius,  Proconsul,  to  Cicero. '" 

m  at 

I  AM  to  inform  you  of  my  arrival  in  Syria, 
where  I  have  joined  the  generals  Lucius  Muiv» 
O*^  and  Quintus  Crispus^.  These  brave  and 
worthy  citizens,  having  been  made  acquainted 
with  what  has  lately  passed  in  Rome,  immedit^ 
ately  resigned  their  armies  to  my  command, 
and  with  great  zeal  and  spirit  co-operate  with 
me  in  the  service  of  the  republic.     Aulus  Allie- 

^Jfq  1  Imbni  ,btm  inri  ^^^ 


5  "  They  had  been  praetors,  A.  U.  708.  Caesar  scot  the 
"  former  into  Syria,  and  the  latter  into  Bithynia,  with  pro- 
**  consular  authority."    Dio,  xlvii,  Jppian,  iii.  Mr.  Ross. 


£06 


The  letters        Jook  XIIL 


pus  has  delivered  to  me  the  four  legions  which 
be  brought  from  Egypt' :  the  legion  which  was 
commanded  by  Caecilius  Bassus*  has  hkewise 
joined  me*  And  now  it  is  unnecessary,  I  am 
persuaded,  that  I  should  exhort  you  to  defend 
the  interest  both  of  myself  and  of  the  common- 
wealth, to  the  utmost  of  your  abilities  :  but  it 
may  animate  your  zeal  and  your  hopes,  to  be 
assured  that  a  powerful  army  is  not  wanting 
to  support  the  senate  and  its  friends  in  the 
gause  of  liberty.  For  the  rest,  I  refer  you  to 
Lucius  Carteius,  whom  I  have  directed  to  cour 
fer  with  you  upon  my  affairs.  FareweL 
From  my  camp  at  Tarichea^,  March  the  7th. 

LETTER 

'  "  Allienus  was  lieutenant  to  Dolabella,  by  whom  he 
**  was  sent  into  Egypt,  in  order  to  conduct  those  legions  into 
**  Syria.  He  accordingly  executed  bis  commission  ;  but, 
**  instead  of  delivering  these  troops  to  Dolabella,  he  went 
"  over  with  them  to  Cassius."     Quartier. 

♦  See  rem.  7.  p.  65.  of  this  vol. 

«  Situated  upon  the  lake  of  Genesaret,  in  Galilee. 


■H 


Book  XIIL         o?  qiCERQ. 


LETTER  XL 


ms 


[4,  u.  na] 

AsiNius  PoLLio^  to  Cicero. 

X  ou  must  not  wonder  that  you  have  heard 
nothing  from  me,  in  relation  to  public  affairs, 
since  the  breaking  out  of  the  war.  Our  cou- 
riprs  have  always  found  it  difficult  to  pass  uii- 
molested  through  the  forest  of  Castulo^ ;  but  it 
is  now  more  than  ever  infested  with  robbers. 
These  banditti,  however,  are  by  no  means  the 
principal  obstruction  to  our  intercourse  with 
Rome,  as  the  mails  are  perpetually  searche<3  and 

detained 

^  Asinius  Pollio  was,  in  every  ref^pect,  onp  of  the  most  ac- 
complished persons  among  his  contemporaries.  His  exten- 
sive genius  was  equal  to  all  the  nol^^er  branches  of  politic  li- 
terature, and  he  gave  the  niost  applauded  proofs  of  his  ta;- 
lents  a^  ^  poet,  an  Orator,  and  an  historian.  He  united  the 
most  lively  ^pd  pleasing  yein  of  wit  an(i  pleasantry  ^i?h  a\l 
that  strength  and  solidity  of  understanding  which  is  neces- 
sary to  render  a  man  of  weight  in  the  more  seriqan  and  im- 
portant qcca§ions  9f  life ;  in  allusion  to  which  uncoinmqii 
assemblage  of  qualities,  it  was  said  of  him,  thai  he  was  a  man 
omnium  horarum.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  a  character  so 
truly  brilliant  on  the  intellectual  side,  should  shine  with  less 
lustre  in  a  moral  view.  'Tis  evident,  hoi^ever,  from  the  pre- 
sent epistle,  that,  in  taking  part  with  Coesar,  against  Fompcy, 
private  considerations  were  of  more  force  with  him  (han 
public  utility,  and  determined  him  to  support  a  cause  which 
his  heart  condemned.  This  letter  was  written  frc  m  the  fer- 
ther  Spain,  of  which  province  Caesar,  a  short  time  before  his 
death,  had  appointed  Pollio  governor. 

^  A  city  anciently  of  great  note  :  at  present  it  is  only  a 
small  village,  called  Cazorla,  in  the  province  of  New  CaStile, 
in  Spain. 


i'i 


I' 

'I' 


fOS 


Thi:  letters        Book  XIII, 


detained  by  the  soldiers  that  are  posted  for  that 
purpose,  by  both  parties,  in  every  quarter  of 
the  country.  Accordingly,  if  I  had  not  re- 
ceived letters  by  a  ship  which  lately  arrived  in 
this  river*,  I  should  have  been  utterly  ignorant 
of  what  has  been  transacted  in  your  part  of 
the  world.  But  now  that  a  communication  by 
sea  is  thus  opened  between  us,  I  shall  fre- 
quently, and  with  great  pleasure,  embrace  the 
opportunity  of  corresponding  with  you. 

'Believe  me,  there  is  no  danger  of  my  being 
influenced  by  the  persuasions  of  the  person  you  , 
mention^  As  much  as  the  world  abhors  him, 
he  is  far  from  being  detested  to  that  degree  which  ; 
I  know  he  deserves :  and  I  have  so  strong  an 
aversrbn  to  the  man,  that  I  would  upon  no  consi- 
deration bear  a  part  in  any  measures  wherein  he 
is  concerned*.  Inclined  both  by  my  temper  and 
mf  studies  to  be  the  friend  of  tranquillity  and 
freedom,  I  frequently  and  bitterly  lamented 
our  late  unhappy  civil  wars.  But  as  the  for- 
midable 

•  The  Qaadalquiver,  upon  which  the  city  of  Corduba, 
from  whence  this  letter  is  daled,  was  situated. 

'  Antony,  as  Manutius  conjectures,  though  son  eof  the 
commentators,  with  greater  probability,  suppose  that  be  means 
Ltpidtts,     Vid.  EpUt.  Famil.  x.  11.  &  15. 

'  Nothing  could  be  more  insincere,  it  should  seem,  than 
tbeM  ^fessions,  as  it  is  probable  that  Pollio  was  at  this  time 
4ct»rma]»ed  to  join  Antony.  It  is  certain,  at  least,  that  he  did 
M  loon  afterwards,  and  carried  with  him  the  troops  under 
Mi  CKBiuund.    Fata-cul.  ii.  63. 


I. 

Id 


Book  ^f 


OF  CICERO. 


\n 


midable  enemies  which  I  had  among  both  par- 
ties,  rendered  it,  altogether,  unsafe  for  me  to  re- 
main neuter;  so  I  would  not  take  up  arms  on 
that  side  where  I  knew  I  should  be  perpetually- 
exposed  to  the  insidious'  arts  of  my  capital  ad-,, 
versary*.     But.  though  my  incliaatioHs  were 
adt  with  the  party  I  joined,  my  spirit,  however, 
woyld  not  suffer  me  to  stand  undistinguished 
among  tTiem :  in  consequence  of  which,  1  was^ 
forward  to  engage  in  all  the  dangers  of  the 
cause  I  had  espoused.     With  respecl;  to  CfBJV 
himself,  I  will  confess  that  I  loved  him  with  the 
highest  and  most  inviolable  affection:  and,  in^.i 
deed,  I  had  reason.     For,  notwithstanding  his  \ 
acquaintance  with  me  commenced  sa  late  a« 
when  he  was  in  the  height  of  his  power ;  yet  he 
admitted  me  into  the  same  share  of  his  friend- 
ship, as  if  I  had  been  in  the  number  of  those  -, 
with  whom  he  had  lived  in  the  longest  intimaji^ 
cy.     Nevertheless,  as  often  as  I  was  at  lib^i^^-t, 
to  follow  my  own  sentiments,  I  endeavoured 
that  my  conduct  should  be  such  as  every,  ho. 
nest  man  must  approve;  and  whenever  I  wa« 
obliged  to  execute  the  orders  I  received,  it  wa« 
m  a  manner  that  evidently  discovered  how 

»=,!    ^.*;.P"'!*''  """t^  «».  »^  perhaps,  Cto :  at  Pollio  ha* 
early  distinguished  bit  enmity  towardt  that  most  illuttriotl*  ♦< 
ot  Koinans   by  a  public  impeachment.     Vid.  Dial,  di  Gmf'*^ 
Corrupt.  Eloquent.  34. 

Vol.  III.  p 


7'- 


510 


Tue.  LETTERS        5ook  Xllt 


BookXIIL         fo  CICERO. 


fin 


ii 


tmch  my  actions  wer^  at  variaiKe  with  mj 
Jj^art.     Tb€  unjust  odiums  however,  that  I  in* 
.fiUTTcd  by  these  unavoidable  compliatices,  might 
WCU  t^ach  me  the  true  value  of  Uberty,  and  how 
wretched  a  condition  it  is  to  live  under  the  go* 
^ier^inent  of  a  despotic  power.  If  any  attempts, 
therefore,  arc  carrying  on  to  reduce  us  a  se* 
fCOiid  time  under  the  dominioE  of  a  single  per-*. 
j5on,  whoever  that  single  person  may  be,  I  de* 
dare  myself  his  irrecpncileable  enemy-     The 
^uth  is>  tliere  is  no  danger  so  great  that  I 
ivauld  not  cheerfully  hazard  for  the  support  of 
oo^r  coipmon  hberties.     But  the  consuls  have 
not  thought  proper  to  signify  to  me,  either  by 
#Dy  decree  of  tl)^  ^nate,  or  by  their  private 
{fitters,  in  what  manner  I  should  act  in  the  pre- 
sent conjuncture.  I  have  received,  indeed,  only 
:pne  letter  from  Pansa  since  the  ides  of  March : 
1^  wlach  he  advised  me  to  assure  the  senate, 
that  I  wa3  ready  to  employ  the  forces  under  my 
xommand  in  any  service  they  should  require. 
3^t  thi^  would  have  been  a  very  imprudent  d«- 
:claration  at  a  time  when  Lepidus  had  professed, 
4Ji|  hi^  public  speeches,  as  well  as  in  the  letters 
he  wrote  to  all  hi^  friends,  that  he  concurred  in 
J^tfjny's  measures.    For  could  I  possibly,  with- 
out the  consent  of  the  former,  find  means  to 

» 

subsist  my  army  in  their  march  through  his  pro- 
vinces ? 


V      »-.- 


yinces  ?  But  granting  that  I  could  have  suf- 
mounted  this  difficulty,  I  must  have  conquered 
another  and  a  still  greater :  as  nothing  less  than 
a  pair  of  wings  could  have  rendered  it  practi- 
cable for  me  to  have  crossed  the  Alps,  whilst 
every  pass  was  guarded  by  the  troops  of  Lepiduit 
Add  to  this,  that  I  could  by  no  means  convey 
any  dispatches  to  Rome:  as  the  couriers- were 
not  only  exposed  in  a  thousand  different  places  to' 
the  danger  of  being  plundered,  bnt  weredetam- 
ed,  likewise,  by  the  express  orders  of  Lepidus\  it 
is  well  known,  however,  that  I  publicly  declared 
at  Corduba,  that  it  was  my  resolution  nol.to 
resign  this  province  into  any  other  hands  than 
those  which  the  senate  should  appoint:  not  to 
mention  how  strenuously  I  withstood  all  the  ap- 
pHcations  that  were  made  to  me  for  parting  with 
the  thirtieth  legion.    I  could  not,  indeed,  hav4 
.given  it  up,  without  depriving  myself  of  a  very 
considerable  strength  for  the  defence  of  the  re- 
public: as  there  are  no  troops  in  the  whote 
world  that  are  animated  with  a  braver  or  moxse 
martial  spirit  than  those  of  which  this  legion  it 
<  composed.     Upon  the  w  hole,  I  hope  you  will 
•  dome  the  justice  to  believe,  in  the  first  place, 
that  I  am  extremely  desirous  of  preserving  tbc 
qiubfe  tranquillity ;  as  there  is  nothing  I  more 

"^"^  >  n'2U0ldi  ll^iTrrri  tr^^rf't  r^\'frTT>  vrflinceEely 

^      '  Lepidus  was  governor  of  that  part  of  Spain  which  lay 
iwareft  i9  Italy.     See  rem.  a.  on  letter 44.  of  this  book.' 

Pa 


212 


The  letters         Book  XIII. 


Book  XIII.  of  CICERO. 


213 


sincerely  wish  than  the  safety  of  all  my  fellow- 
citizens  :  and,  in  the  next  place,  that  I  am  de- 
termined to  vindicate  my  own  and  my  coun- 
try's rights. 

It  gives  me  greater  satisfaction  than  you  can 
well  imagine,  that  you  admit  my  friend  into  a 
share  of  your  intimacy.  Shall  I  own,  neverthe- 
less that  I  cannot  think  of  him  as  the  compa- 
nion of  your  walks,  and  as  hearing  a  part  in  the 
pleasantry  of  your  conversation,  without  feehng 
some  emotions  of  envy  !  This  is  a  privilege,  be- 
lieve me,  which  I  in6nitely  value  :  as  you  shall 
most  assuredly  experience,  by  my  devoting  the 
whole  of  my  time  to  your  company,  if  ever  we 
should  live  to  see  peace  restored  to  the  repubhc. 

I  am  much  surprised  that  youdid  not  mention, 
in  your  letter,  whether  it  would  be  most  satis- 
factory to  the  senate  that  I  should  remain  in  this 
province,  or  march  into  Italy.  If  I  were  to  con- 
sider only  my  own  ease  and  safety,  I  should 
certainly  continue  here:  but  as^  in  the  present 
conjuncture,  the  republic  has  more  occasion  for 
kgions  than  for  provinces,  (especial(ly  as  the  1q$s 
of  the  latter  may,  with  great  ease,  be  recovered) 
I  have  determined  to  move  towards  Italy  wi^|i 
my  troops.  For  the  rest,  I  refer  you  to  the  let- 
ter I  have  written  to  Pansa :  a  copy  of  whicl^^ 
herewitktransmit  to  you.     Farewel,       ^^Jrl'Tr 

Curdaba,  Match  the  l6th.  ^„„^ 

LETTER 


«      '  t    '  'If 

*"■■■■■  ■„■'      .^3#J»  ^  1^ 

LETTER  XII, 

[A.U.710.] 

To  Caius  Cassius.        "  * 

J     ■  ■  ^ 

You  will  receive  a  full  account  of  the  present 

situation  of  affairs  from  Tidius  Strabo,  a  person 
of  great  merit,  and  extremely  well-affected  to 
the  republic.  Need  I  add  how  strong  his  atr 
tachment,  likewise,  is  to  yourself,  when  it  thus 
evidently  appears  by  his  leaving  his  family  and 
his  fortunes  in  order  to  follow  you  ?  For  the 
same  reason,  I  forbear  to  solicit  your  good  of^ 
fices  in  his  behalf,  as  I  am  persuaded  you  will 
think  his  coming  to  you  a  sufficient  recommen^ 
dation  to  your  favour. 

If  any  misfortune  should  attend  our  arms,  be 
assured  that  the  friends  of  the  republic  have  no 
other  resource  left  than  in  you  and  Marcus  Bru- 
tus. We  are,  at  this  juncture,  indeed,  in  the 
most^  imminent  danger  :  as  it  is  with  great  dif- 
ficulty that  Decimus  Brutus  still  holds  out  at 
Miitina.  However,  if  he  should  be  speedily  re- 
lieyed,  we  may  look  upon  victory  as  our  own ; 
if  hot,  let  me  repeat  it  again,  every  friend  of  lii- 
berty  will  fly  for  refuge  to  Brutus  and  to  you. 
May  you  stand  ready,  then,  with  all  that  spirit 
which  is  necessary  for  the  full  and  complete  de- 
liverance of  our  distressed  country !  Farewel. 

f  3  LETTER 


N 


^, 


214 


II 


H 


The  letters         BOok  XIII. 


LETTER  XIIL 


Book  XIII,  of  CICERO. 


2ii 


« 


[A.  u.  no.] 
To  Plancus. 

1  HE  account  that  Furnius  gave  us  of  your 
disposition  towards  the  republic,  afforded  the 
highest  satisfaction  both  to  the  senate  and  the 
people.  But  your  letter,  which  was  afterwards 
read  in  the' seriate,  seemed  by  no  m-^am  to  com* 
port  with  those  sentiments  our  friend  hud  thu$ 
represented  you  is'  eiitertaiiiihg.  At'tTlFt^^fJr 
lame,  indeed,  when  your  illustrious  colleague  is 
sustaining  a  siege  from  the  lawless  crew  of  the 
most  worthless  villains,  you  do  not  scruple  t^ 
advise  us  to  peace.  But  if  peace  is  their  sin-^ 
ccife  desire,  let  them  immediately  lay  dowrf 
their  arms,  and  sue  for  it  in  a  proper  manner,^ 
<ithei^^e  ftiey  ttftist  expect  to  obtain  it,  not  bj 
treat}^  be  assured,  but  by  the  sword  alone.  But 
I  leive  H  t8  H^^urhttTs  atifl  yiAi-' t^orthy  hrotH^i' 
to  acquaint  you  with  the  reception  which  your 
letter  ixpm  tins  Subject; ^^aswetfks^  that  6f  te^. 
pidus,  met  with  from  the  senate  Meanwhile' 
notwitiistanciing  ybu  are  W^H  ^^ililififed  td-lJo 
your  own  adviser,  and  that  it  will  soon  be  ia 
your  power,  likewise,  to  have  reobiirsc 'tb*  the 
faithful  and  friendly  counsels  of  Furnios  and 
yoUr  brother ;  yet,  in  compliance  with  that  af- 
.  /  fectiou 


fection  to  which  you  have  so  many  powerful 
claims,  I  cannot  forbear  sending  you  a  few  ad- 
monitions. Believe  me,  then,  my  dear  Plan- 
cus,  whatever  honours  you  have  hitherto  ac- 
quired, (and  you  have  acquired,  in  truth,  the 
Wgbest)  they  will  be  considered  as  so  many 
vain  and  empty  titles,  unless  you  dignify  them 
by  joining  in  the  defence  both  of  the  liberties 
of  the  people  and  the  authority  of  the  senate. 
Let  me  conjure  you,  therefore,  to  separate  your-" 
self  from  those  associates  with  whom  you  have 
hitherto  been  united,  not  by  choice,  indeed, 
but  by  the  general  attraction  of  a  prevaiHng^ 
party.  It  ha«  been  the  fortune  of  many,  as  il^ 
will  probably  be  yours,  to  exercise  the  supreme 
n^istracy  during  times  c^ public  commotions; 
\fat  not  one  of  this  number  ever  derived  to  him- 
self  that  esteem  and  veneration  which  naturally 
flo\ys  from  the  consular  dignity,  who  lud.^ot; 
distinguished  his  administration  by  an  active 
and  ^e^lous  regard  for  the  interests  of  the  com- 
monwealth. To  this  end,  it  is  necessary,  that 
you  renounce  the  society  of  those  impious  ci- 
tizens, whose  principles  are  far  different  from 
your  owj;ijj  tl)a.t  you  slji^w  yourself  the  friend^ 
the  guide,  and  the  protector  of  all  those  who, 
ar^  fait^iilly^.^^tt^g^ed  to  our  constitution  j 
and,  in  fine,  that  you  be  well  persuaded  that 

'i£  jiifii  lijiw  P  4  the 


n 


rr^? 


il 


216 


The  letters        Book  XIIL 


the  re-establishment  of  the  public  tranquillity- 
consists,  not  merely  in  laying  down  our  arms, 
but  in  being  secure  from  all  reasonable  appre- 
hension of  their  ever  being  resumed  to  enslave 
us  again.  Thus  to  think  and  thus  to  act,  will 
render  your  character,  both  as  a  consul  and  a 
consular,  most  truly  illustrious ;  but  if  you 
should  steer  yourself  by  other  maxims  and  by 
other  measures,  you  will  possess  those  exalted 
distinctions,  not  only  without  honour,  but  with 
the  utmost  disgrace. 

And  now,  if  I  have  expressed  my  sentiments 
with  somewhat  more  than  ordinary  seriousness, 
.  i^eH^^  !-t  to  the  zeal  of  my  affection  towards 
you ;  assuring  yourself,  at  the  same  time,  that 
yW:>vm,  uAdoubtedly,  find  my  advice  is  found- 
ed on  truth,  if  you  make  the  experiment  in  a 
ipnRf  r  worthy  of  your  character.     Farewe!. 

March  the  2pth, 

LETTER 


jii 


,71'i 


la 


.rfuWr 


\.  nnuoy  <ifiv/ 


^  Mii 


rn 


.,JC 


sdi  :A 


Book  XIIL         Vi^^ClOERO. 


817 


'^ 


fffiil 


-.jfrf  rr.T 


,r|  + 


"t  ft'-'vr" 


LETTER  XIV. 

[A.  u.  rio.j 


)V> 


To.  Lepidus*' 

The  singular  regard  I  bear  you,  renders  it 
greatly  my  concern  that  yBu  should  be  distin- 
guished with  the  highest  dignities  of  the  re- 
public.    I  cannot,  therefore,  but  regret,  that, 

you 

«  Marcus  iErailius  Lepidos  was  descended  from  one  of 
the  noblest  and  most  ancient  families  in  Rome :  and  he  was 
himself  distinguished  with  some  of  the  most  honqurabLe  postf 
in  the  republic.  He  stood  high  in  the  confidence  and  friend- 
ship of  Julius  Caesar:  who,  when  he  was  dictator,  ijamed  him 
for  the  master  of  the  horse;  when  he  was  consul,  in  the  year 
707,  declared  him  bis  colleague;  and  who,  a  short  tirie  be- 
fore his  death,  appointed  him  governor  of  the  nearer  Spain. 
One  of  the  most  elegant  of  the  Roman  historians  has  repre- 
sented Lepidus  as  void  of  all  military  virtues,  and  in  every 
view  of  his  character  as  altogether  unworthy  of  that  high  sta- 
tion to  which  fortune  had  exalted  him.  Accordingly  he  is  de- 
*?5M  ^^  Shakespear*  in  the  tragedy  of  Julius  Casar,  as. 


-a  slight  unmeritabie  man^ 
Meet  to  be  sent  on  errands. 


But  though  the  poet  has  been  strictly  true  to  history,  it  may 
be  questioned,  perhaps,  whether  the  historian  has  been  equally 
faithful  to  truth.  For  when  one  considers  the  great  trust 
which  Caesar  reposed  in  Lepidus ;  his  address  in  prevailing 
with  young  Pompey,  who  had  made  himself  master  almost  of 
all  Spam,  to  renounce  his  conquests;  together  with  the  share 
he  had  m  forming  that  celebrated  league  between  Antony, 
Octavius,  afid  himself,  which  gave  him  a  third  part  in  the  di- 
vision of  the  whole  Roman  dominions;  is  it  credible  that  his 
talents  were  destitute  of  lustre?  History,  perhaps,  may  be 
more  reasonably  relied  upon  in  what  it  has  delivered  con- 
cerning his  moral  character  :  and  it  is  probable  that  Lepidus 
was  stroYigly  infected  with  avarice,  ambition,  and  vanity.  This 
at  least  is  certain,  that  he  acted  towards  the  senate  in  the 
present  conjuncture,  with  great  dissimulation  and  treachery. 
At  the  Ume  when  this  letter  was  written,  he  was  at  the  head' 

of 


t)S 


The  letters        Book  XIII, 


you  omitted  to  pay  your  acknowledgments  to 
the  senate  for  those  ej^traordinary  honours  they 
lately  conferred  upon  you\ 

I  am  glad  you  are  desirous  of  composing 
those  unhappy  dissentions  that  destroy  the 
tranquillity  of  our  country :  and  if  you  can  cf-* 
feet  this  good  work,  consistently  with  the  en- 
joyment of  our  liberties,  it  will  be  greatly  tq 
your  own  credit,  as  well  as  to  the  advantage  of 
the  commonwealth.  But  if  the  peace  you  pro- 
pane,,  is  to  re-establish  a  most  oppressive  ty^ 
ranny,  be  well  assured  there  is  not  a  man  in  his 
se^s^  who  will  not  rather  renounce  hia^  life  than 
thus  suffer  himself  to  be  made  a  slave.  I  should 
think,  therefore,  that  your  wisest  way  would 
be  to  avoid  engaging  as  the  mediator  of  a  peace 
which  is  neitlier  approved  by  the  senate,. or  the 
people,  nor  indeed  by  a,ny  lover  of  his  country 
in  the  whole  republic.  But  ^s  this  is  a  truth 
which  you  will  undoubtedly  learn  from  others, 
I  will  only  add,  that  I  hope  you  will  consider, 
w^h  your  usual  prudence,  in  what  manner  it 
will  be  best  and  most  adviseable  for  you  to  act. 

Farewel. 

LETTER 

of  a  very  considerable  array  in  the  Narbonensian  Gaul,  which 
CsBsar  had  annexed  to  the  province  of  Spain,  in  favour  of 
Lepidus.  Pigh.  Annal,  ii.  451.  VeL  PatercuL  ii.  63.  80. 
Dio.  xlv.  275. 

*The  senate  had  lately  decreed,  that  the  statue  of  Lepidu* 
should  be  erected  in  the  forum  with  an  inscription,  in  honour 
of  the  services  he  had  performed  to  his  country,  by  prevailing 
with  young  Pompey  to  lay  down  his  arms.     Philip,  xvi.  4. 


fl 


BadkXIII.         OF  CICERO, 


$W 


LETTER  XV, 

[A.  U.  7^0.] 

To  Caius  Cassius. 

I  WILL  not  tell  you  with  how  much  ^eal  I 
lately  stood  forth,  both  in  the  senate  and  be- 
fore the  people,  an  advocate  for  the  advance- 
ment of  your  honours*;  as  it  is  a  circumstance 
which  I  had  rather  you  should  learn  from  the 
letters  of  your  family,  than  from  my  own  hand. 
I  should  easily  have  carried  my  point  in  the! 
former,  if  I  had  not  met  with  a  strenuous  op* 
position  from  Pansa.     Nevertheless,  after  hav- 
ing enforced  my  sentiments  in  the  senate,  I* 
made  a  speech,  to  the  same  pui-pose,  ?n  aii  S^ 
sembly  of  the  people:  to  which  I  was  intro- 
duced  by  Marcus  ServiHus,    the  tribfihe.'''!' 
urge^i  upon  this  occasion,  (and  with  a  warmth 
and  vehemence  suitable  to  a  popular  audience) 
all  that  I  most  justly  might  in  your  favour  if^ 
and  my  speech  was  received  with  a  louder  arid 
rnore  universal  applause  than  ever  was  known 

before 


l4^      W*"** 


♦^Dokbella  having  entered  into  Asia  Minor,  and  co«»^ 
miitid  great  outrages  and  hostilities  in  thlit  province,  wasde* 
dared,  by  a  general  vote  of  the  senate,  a  public  enemy  :  in^ 
conseqjuence  of  which  a  debate  arose  concerning  the  person 
to  whoiii  the  war  to  be  carried-  on  against  Dolabella  should 
be  entrusted.  Cicero  moved  that  a  commission  shouldf  be 
granted  tv  Cfks^iua  for  that  purpose,  with  the  ncio^t  honour^ 
able  and  extenilre  powers.  But  Ijis  motion  wa^  over^ruled 
by  the  superior  intere^  of  Pansa,  who  seems  to  have  beeii 
secretly  desirous  of  obtaining  this^^ommand  (fit  himself. 
Vid,Pkilip»  xi. 


sse 


The  letters 


Book  XIIL 


Book  XIIL        of  CICERO. 


£!211 


before.  I  hope  you  will  pardon  me  that  I  took 
these  steps  contrary  to  the  persuasions  of  your 
mother-in-law :  who  was  apprehensive  they 
might  give  offence  to  Pansa.  He  did  not,  in- 
deed, forget  to  avail  himself  of  these  fears:  and 
he  assured  the  people,  that  even  your  own  fa- 
mily were  averse  to  my  making  this  motion.  I 
was  by  no  means,  I  confess,  governed  by  their 
sentiments  in  the  case :  as  I  acted  entirely  with 
a  view  to  an  interest  which  I  have  always  en- 
deavoured to  promote;  the  interest  I  mean  of 
the  republic  in  general,  as  well  as  with  a  regard 
to  the  advancement  of  your  glory  in  particular. 
There  is  one  article  upon  which  I  very  largely 
expatiated  in  the  senate,  as  I  afterwards  repeated 
it  likewise  in  my  speech  to  the  people  :  and  I 
hope  your  conduct  will  fully  justify  what  I  then 
said.  I  undertook  to  assure  the  public,  that 
you  would  not  wait  for  the  sanction  of  our  de- 
crees;  but,  agreeably  to  your  usual  spirit,  would, 
upon  your  own  single  authority,  take  such  mea- 
sures as  should  appear  expedient  to  you  for  the 
defence  of  the  commonwealth,  i  went  even 
farther,  and  almost  ventured  to  affirm,  that  you 
Ha(! 'already  acted  in  this  manner.  The  truth 
of  it  is,  although  I  was  not  at  that  time  cer-„ 
tainfy  informed  either  in  what  part  of  the  world 
you  were,  or  what  number  of  troops  you  were 
furnished  with ;  yet  I  was  confident,  I  said, 
-  4  that 


every  legion  in  Asia^  had  submitted  to  your 
command,  and  that  you  had  recovered  that 
province  to  the  republic.  I  have  only  to  add 
my  wishes,  that  in  every  enterprise  you  shall 
undertake,  you  may  still  rise  above  yourself 
w^^h  superipr  glory.     Farewel.  ...,,,.  ^rf 


«*/ 


LETTER  XVI. 

■I 

Plancus  to  Cicero.    Itiho 

I  'i'iijq^^ 

SHOULD  employ  this  letter  in  giving  you  a 

full  explanation  of  my  measures,  if  I  had.no 
other  method  of  convincing  you,  that  I  havQ 
i^  every  respect  conducted  myself  to wa^^dst^f 
republic  agreeably  to  my  own  promises,  and  to 
your  persuasions.  I  have  ever  been  ambitious, 
indeed,  of  obtaining  your  esteem,  as  well  2^ 
your  friendship :  and  if  I  have  wished  .to  se- 
cure you  for  my  advocate  where  I  have  acted 
wrong,  I  have  been  no  less  desirous  of  giving 
you  occasion  to  applaud  me  for  acting  Tiajbtr. 
But  I  was  going  to  say,  that  I  shorten  this  le^ 
ter  for  two  reasons ;  the  first  is,  because  I  hav^ 
cntiered  into  an  ample  detail  of  every  thing  in 
my  public  manifesto^ :  and  the  next,  because 

r      . .  ^^,     you 

^      '        '  Asia  Minor. 
f )         I     If  *  bee  the  next  letter. 


t 


£23 


The  letters         Book  XIII. 


you  will  receive  a  circumstantial  account  of  all 
that  relates  to  me  from  Marcus  Varisidius,  a 
Roman  knight,  and  my  particular  friend,  whom 
I  have  directed  to  wait  upon  you.  In  the  mean 
time,  let  me  protest,  that  it  was  not  without 
much  concern  that  I  saw  others  anticipate  me 
in  the  good  opinion  of  the  republic  :  but  I  for- 
bore to  declare  myself,  till  I  should  be  in  a 
condition  to  effect  something  worthy  of  those 
expectations  the  senate  has  conceived  of  me, 
and  of  that  high  office^  1  shall  shortly  bear. 
And  should  fortune  second  my  endeavours,  I 
hope  to  render  such  considerable  services  to  the 
republic,  that  not  only  the  present  age  shall  feel 
the  advantage  of  my  assistance,  but  that  it  shall 
l>e'  remembered,  hkewise,  in  times  to  come. 
Meanwhile,  that  I  may  pursue  these  endeavours 
with  the  greater  alacrity,  let  me  entreat  your 
suffrage  in  procuring  mc  those  honours  which 
your  letter  sets  before  my  viet^  as  ihciteiSi^irfi 
of  my  patriotism ;  and  your  interest  for  this 
purpose  is  equal,  I  well  kn6lrj  to  yBtir  iticfiifia^ 
tion.  Take  care  of  your  health,  and  give  me 
your  friendship  in  the  same  degree  that  I  sili- 

cerclv  give  you  mine. 

LETTER 

^  The  consulate,  upon  which  Plancus  was  ta  enter  tlie  fol- 
lowing year,  aiu  ^1,  iio-fc5J 

3 


Boolc  XIII.        •t  CICEEO. 


223 


rriA 


LETTER  XVII. 

[A.  V.  no.] 

PiANCUs,  Consul  elect,  to  the  Consuls,  the 

Praetors,  the  Tribunes,  the  Senate,  and 

the  Commons  of  Rome. 

Sefosi:  I  make  any  professions  with  respect 
to  my  future  conduct,  I  deem  it  necessary  to 
justify  myself  to  those  who  may  think  that  I 
have  held  the  republic  too  long  in  suspense 
concerning  my  designs'.  For  I  would  by  no 
means  have  it  imagined  that  I  am  atoning  for 
my  pa3t  behaviour,  when,  in  fact,  I  am  only 
seizing  the  first  favourable  opportunity  of  pub* 
licly  declaring  a  resolution,  which  I  have  long 
formed.  I  was  in  no  sort  ignorant,  however^ 
thatj  at  a  time  of  such  general  and  alarming 
f:^9,nfusions,  a  less  deliberate  discovery  9f  pj  in^^ 
tentions  would  have  proved  most  to  my  own 
j^JY^e  advantage:  as  I  was  sen  si  t[le^,  that  se- 
veral of  my  fellow-citizens  had  been  distin- 
guished with  great  honours,  by  a  more  hasty 
explication  of  their  purposes.  But  as  fortune 
had  placed  me  in  such  a  situation,  that  I  could 
not  be  earlier  in  testifying  mine  without  preju- 
diQing  that  cause  which  I  could  better  serve  by 
cpocealing  them ;  I  was  willing  to  suffer  for  a 
season  in  the  good  opinion  of  the  world  ;  as  I 

preferred 

•  See  rem,  2.  p.  134.  of  this  vol. 


224 


The  letters        Book  XIII. 


prefered  the  interest  of  the  public  to  that  of 
my  own  reputation.  That  this  was  the  genuine 
motive  of  my  proceedings,  cannot  reasonably, 
I  trust,  be  questioned.  For  can  it  be  supposed 
that  a  man,  in  my  prosperous  circumstances,  and 
of  my  well-known  course  of  Hfe,  whose  utmost 
hopes  too  were  upon  the  very  point  of  being 
crowned',  could  be  capable  either  of  meanly 
submitting  to  the  destructive  ambition  of  an- 
other, or  impiously  cherishing  any  dangerous 
schemes  of  his  own  ?  But  it  required  some 
time,  as  well  as  much  pains  and  expence,  to 
render  myself  able  to  perform  those  assurances 
I  purposed  to  give  to  the  republic,  and  to 
every  friend  of  her  cause ;  that  I  might  not 
approach  with  mere  empty  professions  to  the 
assistance  of  my  country,  but  with  the  power 
of  performing  an  effectual  service.  To  this 
end,  as  the  army  under  my  command  had  • 
been  strongly  and  frequently  solicited  to  re- 
volt, it  was  necessary  to  persuade  them  that 
a  'moderate  reward,  conferred  by  the  gene- 
rat  voice  of  the  commonwealth,  was  far  pre- 
ferable to  an  infinitely  greater  from  any  single 
hand.      My  next    labour  was    to   convince 

those  many  cities  which  had  been  gained  the 
< 

/  last 

'  AHudiog  to  his  being  to  enter  the  nest  year  on  the  con- 
sular office. 


Book  XIII.        of  CICERO.  225 

last  year  by  largesses  and  other  donations,  that 
these  were  obligations  of  no  validity,  and  that 
they  should  endeavour  to  obtain  the  same  bene- 
fectibns  from  a  better  and  more  honourable 
quarter.    I  had  still  the  farther  task  to  prevail 
with  those  who  commanded  in  the  neighbour- 
ing provinces,  to  join  with  the  more  numerous 
party  in  a  general  association  for  the  defence  of 
our  common  liberties,  rather  than  unite  wiA 
the  smaller  number,  in  hopes  of  dividing  the 
•polls  of  a  victory  that  must  prove  fatal  to  the 
whole  world.    Add  to  this,  that  I  was  obliged 
to  augment  my  own  troops  and  those  of  my 
auxiliaries,  that  I  might  have  nothing  to  fear 
whenever  I  sliould  think  proper,  contrary  to  the 
inclination  of  some  about  me,  openly  to  avow 
the  cause  which  it  was  my  resolution  to  defend. 
Now,  I  shall  never  be  ashamed  to  acknowledge^ 
that,  in  order  to  bring  these  several  schemes  to 
bear,  I  submitted,  though  very  unwillingly,  in- 
deed, to  the  mortification  of  dissembling  the 
intentions  I  really  had,  and  of  counterfeiting 
those  which  I  certainly  had  not :  as  the  fate  of 
my  colleague'  had  taught  me  how  dangerous  it 

is 

-fhU^'"'!""'  If"*"'-    '^°  *•"*  particular  circamstancft 
•fhiscnduci   Plancus  alludes,   the  history  of  lhe«  time. 

S  M  1        ».  "J**  "■P"'^en.ly  dra^n  upon  b.nwelf  (he  s>e« 
ii^stlrauact"  '"  '"  "''"'  '"^  P^-P"  •'"P"'"''^ 

Vol,  III.  Q 


/»* 


«S6  The  LETTERS         BookXIIL 

is  for  a  nian  who  means  well  to  his  country,  to 
divulge  his  resolutions  ere  he  is  sufficiently  pre-, 
pared  to  carry  them  into  execution.  For  this 
leason  it  was  that  I  directed  my  brave  and 
worthy  lieutenant,  Caius  Furnius,  to  represent 
to  you,  more  fully  than  1  thought  prudent  to 
explain  in  my  dispatches,  those  measures  which 
seemed  necessary  for  the  preservation  both  of  this 
province  and  of  the  republic  in  general,  as  be- 
ing the  more  concealed  method  of  conveying 
my  sentiments  to  you  upon  that  subject,  as  well 
as  the  safer  with  respect  to  myself. 

It  appears,  then,  that  1  have  long  been  secret- 
ly attentive  to  the  defenceof  thecommonwealth. 
But  now  that,  by  the  bounty  of  the  gods,  1  am 
in  every  respect  better  prepared  for  that  pur- 
pose, I  desire  to  give  the  world,  not  only  rea- 
Spn  to  hope  well  of  my  intentions,  but  clear  and 
undoubted  proofs  of  their  sincerity. 

I  have  five  legions  in  readiness  to  march ;  all 
of  them  zealously  attached  to  the  republic,  and 
disposed,  by  my  liberalities,  to  pay  an  entire 
obedience  to  my  orders.  The  same  disposition 
appears  in  every  city  throughout  this  province : 
and  they  earnestly  vie  with  each  other,  in  giv- 
ing me  the  strongest  marks  of  their  duty.  Ac- 
cordingly, they  have  fiirnished  me  with  as  con^ 
siderable  a  body  of  auxiliary  forces,  botli  horse 

and 


Book  XIII.        op  CICEllO. 


itf^ 


and  foot,  as  they  could  possibly  have  raised  for 
the  support  of  their  own  national  libertres.'  As 
for  myself;  I  am  ready  either  to  remain  here,  in 
order  to  protect  this  province,  or  to  march- 
wheresoever  else  the  republic  shall  demand  my? 
services.  I  will  offer,  yet,  another  alternative; 
and  either  resign  my  troops  and  government 
into  any  hands  that  shall  be  appointed,  or  draw 
upon  myself  the  whole  weight  of  the  war-  if,r 
by  these  means,  I  may  be  able  to  establish' the 
tranquillity  of  my  country,  or  even  retardthose 
calamities  with  which  it  is  threatened. 

If,  at  the  time  that  I  am  making  these  decla- 
rations, our  public  disturbances  should  happily 
be  composed,  I  shall  rejoice  in  an  event  so  ad- 
vantageous to  the  commonwealth,  notwith- 
standing the  honour  I  shall  lose  by  being  too 
late  in  the  tender  of  my  services'.  But,  on  the 
contrary,  if  I  am  early  enough  in  mV  offers  to 
bear  a  full  part  in  all  the  dangers  of  the  Avar, 
let  me  recommend  it  to  every  man  of  justic^ 
and  candour  to  vindicate  me  against  the  male- 
volence of  those,  whom  envy  may  prompt  to 
asperse  my  character. 

'        f 
•*  J  • 

Pl.n  J"*  ''*'"'°*.  sufficicmlydiscovers  the  true  motive  of 
nancus  ,  present  declarations :  as  they  appear  evidently  to 

«t  between  Antony  and  the  senate  was  likely  to  be  adjusted 
in  an  amicable  manner.  /  '     »  aujusiea 

Q2 


ini 


The  letters         Uook  XIIL 


Book  XIII.        of  CICERO. 


«29 


In  my  own  particular,  I  desire  no  greater  re* 
ward  for  my  services,  than  the  satisfaction  of 
having  contributed  to  the  security  of  the  re- 
public But  I  think  myself  bound  to  recom- 
mend those  brave  and  worthy  men  to  your  es- 
pecial favour,  who,  partly  in  compliance  with 
my  persuasions,  put  much  more  in  confidence 
of  your  good  faith,  would  not  suffer  themselves 
to  be  prevailed  upon  by  all  the  applications 
Ihat  have  been  made  both  to  their  hopes  and 
thdt  fears,  to  depart  from  their  duty  to  die 
commonwealth.  r 


fnicTo 


LETTER  XVIII. 

[A.U.710.1 

^»     To  Plancus.  ^ 

Alteoug^  I  had  received  a  very  full  account 
from  our  friend.  Furnius  of  your  disposition 
with  regard  to  the  republic,  and  of  the  mea- 
sures you  were  meditating  in  its  defence,  yet, 
the  perusal  of  your  letter^  afforded  me  a  still 
clearer  view  into  the  whole  plan  of  your  patriot 
purposes.  Notwithstanding,  then,  that  you 
should  not  have  an  opportunity  of  executing 
your  projected  services,  as  the  fate  of  the  com* 
nonwealth,  which  depends  upon  a  single  bat- 
tle^ 

'  The  foregoing  ktt«r  to  the  senate. 


tic,  Mall,  probably,  be  decided  ere  this  reaches 
your  hands ;  yet  you  have  acquired,  neverthe- 
less, great  and  universal  applause  from  what  thfe 
world  has  been  informed  of  your  general  good 
intentions.  Accordingly,  had  either  of  the; 
consuls  been  in  Rome**  when  your  dispatches 
arrived,  the  senate  would  have  declared,  and  in 

^terms,  I  am  persuaded,  extremely  to  your  ad- 
vantage, the  sense  it  entertains  of  your  z^lous 
and  acceptable  preparations  in  their  cause. 
The  proper  season,  however,  for  your  being  re- 
warded with  honours  of  this  kind,  is,  in  my 
opinion,  at  least,  so  far  from  being  elapsed,  that, 
on  the  contrary,  it  seems  to  be  scarce  fully  ar- 
lived  :  as  those  distinctions,  alone,  appear  to  me 
to  deserve  the  name  of  honours  that  are  con- 
ferred by  our  country,  not  in  expectation  of 
services  to  come,  but  in  just  retribution  to 
those  that  have  eflfectually  been  performed. 
Believe  me,  if  any  form  of  government  shall 
subsist  amongst  us  where  merit  can  Roj^  ib  be 
distinguished,  you  will  shine  out  with  all  the 
most  illustrious  dignities  it  can  bestbwl    But 

'  nothing  of  this  kind  (let  me  repeat  it  again) 
can  justly  be  called  an  honour,  but  Avhat  is 

given. 


«::.,  i  I  i  J 


irj 


♦  "  The  two  consuls,  Hirtius  and  Pansa,  were  both  in 
Gaul,  and  waitii^  to  attempt  a  decisive  battle  with  Anto- 
'^*  ny,  in  order  to  deliver  Decimus  Brutus  from  the  danger  he 
"  was  in  at  Modena."    Mr.  Ross. . 

-'*  Q3 


230 


The  letters        Book  XIII. 


given,  not  as  the  incentive  of  an  occasional 
service,  but  as  the  recompence  of  a  constant 
and  uniform  course  of  patriotism.     Be  it  then 
your  earnest  endeavour,  my  dear  Plancus,  to 
acquire  these   well-merited    nvvaids,    by  ad- 
vancing to   the  relief  of  your  rol league* ;  by 
improving  that  wonderful  unanimity  which  ap- 
pears in  every  province  for  the  sui>port  of  the 
common  cause;  and  by  giving  all  possible  suc- 
cour to  your  country  in  general.    Be  persuaded 
that  I  shall  always  be  ready  to  assist  your  schemes 
with  my  best  advice,  and  to  promote  your  ho^^ 
nours  with  my  utmost  interest :  in  a  word,  that 
I  shall  act,  upon  every  occasion,  wherein  you  arc 
concerned,  as  one  who  is  most  sincerely  and 
most  warmly  your  friend.     I  am  so,   indeed, 
not  only  from  that  intercourse  of  affectionate 
good  offices  by  which  we  have  been  long  mu- 
tually united,  but  from  the  love  I  bear  likewise 
to  my  country ;  in  tenderness  to  which  I  am 
more  anxious  for  your  life  than  for  my  own. 
Farewel 

March  the  30tb. 

LETTER 

'  Deciraus  Brutus. 


:•     J"* 


Book  XIII. 


OF  CICERO- 


tSP 


LETTER  XIX. 

[A.  U.  710.] 
To   CORXIFICIUS. 

I  AGREE  with  you  In  thinking  that  those  who 
were  concerned  in  the  design  upon  Lilybaeum*^, 
deserved  to  have  been  executed  upon  the  spot 
But  you  spared  them,  it  seems,  in  the  apprehen- 
sion that  the  world  would  condemn  you  as  too 
freely  indulging  a  vindictive  spirit :  yet,  as  well 
might  you  have  been  apprehensive,  my  friend, 
that  the  world  would  condemn  you  for  acting 
too  agreeably  to  your  patriot  character. 

I  very  gladly  embrace  your  overtures  of  re- 
newing that  association  with  you,  for  the  de- 
fence of  the  republic,  in  which  I  was  formerly 
engaged  with  your  father :  and  I  am  persuad- 
ed, it  is  an  association,  my  dear  Cornificius,  in 
which  we  shall  ever  be  united.  It  is  with 
much  pleasure,  likewise,  that  I  find  you  esteem 
it  unnecessary  to  send  me  any  ceremonious  ac- 
knowledgments of  my  services:  formalities, 
itiiVeed,  would  ill  agree  with  that  intimacy 
which  subsists  between  us. 

If 

«  A  city  in  Sicily,  opposite  to  the  coa^st  of  Lybia  in  Afri- 
ca. The  particulars  of  the  affair  alluded  to,  as  well  as  the 
persons  concerned  in  it,  are  unknown. 

Q4 


sas 


T^iir  LETTERS        Book  XIII; 


If  the  senate  were  ever  holden  in  the  absence 
of  the  consuls,  tfntess  up6Tr  iome  very  sudden 
and  extraordinary  occasion,  it  would  have  been 
more  frequently  summoned  in  order  to  concert 
proper  measures  for  the  support  of  your  autho- 
rity*  But  as  neither  Hirtius  nor  Pansa  are  in 
Rome,  no  decree  can  at  present  be  procured,  in 
relation  to  the  several  sums  of  two  millions^, 
ii^wi  of  seventy  millions'  of  sesterces  which  you 
i»c?ntion.  1  think,  however,  that  you  are  su^ 
ficently  authorized  to  raise  this  money  byAray 
of  loan,  in  virtue  of  that  general  decree  of  the 
senate  by  which  you  were  confirmed  in  yoBr 


government 


I    -Y'lV.-A?^ 


. ;  ^  imagine  you  are  informed  of  the  state  of  our 
affairs,  by  those  to  whom  it  properly  belongs  to 
Sf  a4  you  the  intelligence.  As  for  myself,  I  con- 
ceive great  hopes  that  things  will  take  a  fiivour- 
a})Ie  turn.  I  am  not  wanting,  at  least,  in  my  u^- 
IBost  vigilance  and  efforts  for  that  purpose :  axfd 
I  am  resolutely  waging  war  against  every  foe  to 
the  republic.  The  recovery  of  our  liberties 
4?!^  i^Qt  &eem,  indeed,  evennow^  to  be  a  mat- 
ter of  great  difficulty :  I  am  sure  it  would  have 
been  perfectly  easy,  if  son^e  persons  had  acted 
.|n  the  manner  they  ought.     Farewel. 


r 


\.jik  li»./V    i) 


t   tV     4/   '.'  i\  i  i'ty  »i    ' 


LETTER 


^  About  if  ,0001.  of  our  money. 
■  About  560,0001. 


—  •  »    *  V 


Book  XIII. 


OF  CieERO.' 


239 


LETTER  XX.     . 

[A.u.rio.]  -  £ 

To  Plancus. 

It  is  principally  for  the  sake  of  my  coutitiy 
that  I  ouglit  to  rejoice  in  the  very  powerful 
succours  with  which  you  have  strengthened 
the  republic,  at  a  juncture  when  it  is  well-nigh 
reduced  to  the  last  extremity.    I  protest,  how- 
ever,  by  all  my  hopes  of  congratulating  yoU 
on  the  victorious  deliverance  of  the  commoii- 
wealth,   that  a  considerable   part  of  the  joy 
which  I  feel  upon  this  occasion,  arises  from  the 
share  I  take  in  your  glory.     Great,  indeed,  is 
the  reputation  you  have  already  acquired,  and 
-great,  I  am  persuaded,  will  be  the  honoutfe  that 
will  hereafter  be  conferred  upon  you ;  fOr  as- 
sure yourself,  nothing  could  ma|:c  fetroiig^r  ifn-^ 
-pression  upon  the  senate^than  your  late  letter* 
xMo  that  assembly.    It  did  so^  both  with  fespeit 
to   those    very  important  services  which  -it 
;  brought  us  an  account  that  you  had  p^rfbrmefl, 
ajid  with  regard  to  that  strength  of  Sentiment 
and  expression  with  which  it  was  drawn  up. 
lit  contained  nothing,  however,  that  was  in  the 
least  unexpected  to  myself:  as  I  was  hot  only 
•p^iJecfly  well  acquainted  with  your  heart,  and 

'  had 


■J '.  v  »^  i ' 


'  The  letter  here  mentioned  seems  to  have  been  a  subse- 
quent one  to  that  which  stands  the  17th  in  the  present  book, 

3 


4 


{34 


Thj:  letters        Book  XIII. 


had  not  forgotten  the  promises  you  had  given 
me  in  your  letters,  but  as  I  had  received  froiji 
Furnius  a  full  information  of  all  your  designs. 
These,  indeed,  appeared  to  the  senate  much  be^ 
yond  what  they  had  allowed  themselves  to  hope: 
not  that  they  ever  entertained  the  least  doubt 
of  your  disposition,  but  because  they  were  by 
no  means  sufficiently  apprised  either  of  what 
you  were  in  a  condition  to  effect,  or  whither 
you  purposed  to  march.  It  was  with  infinite 
pleasure,  therefore,  that  I  read  the  letter  which 
Marcus  Varisidius  dehvered  to  me  on  your  part. 
I  received  it  on  the  7th  of  this  month,  in  the 
morning,  amidst  a  large  circle  of  very  worthy 
citizens;  m  ho  were  attending  in  order  to  con- 
duct me  from  my  house :  and  I  immediately 
gave  them  a  share  in  my  joy.  Whilst  we  were 
mutually  congratulating  each  other  upon  this 
happy  occurrence,  Munatius  came  to  pay  me 
liis  usual  morning  visit :  to  whom  I  likewise 
communicated  your  letter.  It  was  the  first  no- 
tice  he  had  received  of  an  express  being  ar-, 
rived  from  you:  as  Varisidius,  in  pursuance  of 
your  directions,  did  not  deliver  any  of  his  dis- 
patches till  he  had  first  waited  upon  me.  A 
short  time,  however,  after  Munatius  had  left 
me,  he  returned  with  your  letter  to  him&el^n 
together  also  with  that  which  you  wrote  to  the 

senate. 


ii 


Book  XIII. 


^^  CICERO, 


a^ii 


senate.  We  thought  proper  to  carry  the  latter 
immediately  to  Cornutus :  who,  as  praetor  of 
the  city,  supplies  the  office  of  the  consuls  in 
their  absence,  agreeably,  you  know,  to  an  an- 
cient and  established  custom.  The  senate  was 
instantly  summoned:  and  the  expectation  that 
was  raised  by  the  general  report  of  an  express 
feeing  arrived  from  you,  brought  together  a 
very  full  assembly.  As  soon  as  your  letter  was 
read,  it  was  objected  that  Cornutus  had  not 
taken  the  auspices  in  a  proper  manner :  and 
this  scruple  was  confirmed  by  the  general  sen- 
timents of  our  college^  In  consequence  of  this, 
the  senate  was  adjourned  to  the  following  day: 
when  I  had  a  very  warm  contest  with  Servilius/ 
who  strenuously  opposed  the  passing  of  any 
decree  to  your  honour.  For  this  purpose  he 
had  the  interest  to  procure  his  own  motion  to 
b*^  first  proposed  to  the  senate' :  which  being 
rejected,  however,  by  a  great  majority,  mine 
was  next  taken  into  consideration.  But  when 
the  senate  had  unanimously  agreed  to  it,  Pub- 
lius  Titius*,  at  the  instigation  of  Servilius,  in- 
terposed 

^  5»  See  rem.  3.  p.  279.  vol.  I. 

_'.  The  senate  could  not  enter  into  any  de))ate,  unless  th« 
subject  of  it  was  proposed  to  them  in  form   by  some  of  the  ■ 
magistrates ;  who  bad   the  sole  privilege  of  referring  any 
question  to  a  vote,  or  of  dividing  the  house  upon  it.  Midlct, 
on  the  Rom.  S,  p.  155.  ' 

*  One  of  the  tribunes.  It  has  already  been  observed,  that 
those  magistrates  had  a  power  of  putting  a  stop  to  tbe  pro- 
ceedings of  the  senate;  by  tbeir  single  negaUve. 


S36 


The  letters 


Book  XIII. 


terposed  his  negative.  The  farther  deliberation 
upon  this  affair  was  postponed,  therefore,  to 
the  next  day :  when  Servilius  came  prepared 
to  support  an  opposition,  which,  in  some  sfcitt, 
might  be  considered  as  injurious  to  the  honour 
even  of  Jupiter  himself;  aa  it  was  in  the  Capi- 
top  that  the  j^enate,  upon  this  occasion,  was  as- 
sembled. I  leave  it  to  your  other  friends  to 
inform  you  in  what  manner  I  mortified  Servi- 
lius, and  with  how  much  warmth  I  exposed 
the  contemptible  interposition  of  Titius.  But 
this  I  will  myself  assure  you,  that  the  senate 

couid 

'  The  Capitol  was  a  temple  dedicated  to  Jupiter,  and  the 
most  considerable  structure  of  the  sacred  kind  in  all  Rome. 
The  ruins  of  this  celebrated  edifice  are  still  to  be  seen.  None 
of  the  commentators  have  taken  notice  of  the  indirect  com- 
pliment which  Cicero  here  pays  to  Piancas  :  which  seems, 
however,  to  deserve  a  particular  explanation.  The  Capitol 
was  held  in  singular  veneration,  as  being  built  upon  the  spot 
which  Jupiter  was  supposed  to  have  chosen  for  the.  visible 
manifestation  of  his  person.  In  consequence  of  this  popular 
superitition,  both  Horace  and  Virgil  often  speak  of  the  pros- 
perity and  duration  of  the  Capitol,  as  a  circumstancf!  U£on 
Vi'hich  the  fortune  of  the  whole  empire  depended  : 

■  Stet  CupUoUum 

FulgtnSy  iriump/iatisque  potiit  .        v; 

Eimaforox  dare  jura  medis,  HoR.  Od.  iii.  3.  4^. 

J}^  domus  JEnei  Capitoli  immobile  saxiim 

Af^colcti  imperrumque  Pater  Rotnanm  kabehit.  JEfh  ik.  448.  ^ 

Cicero,  therefcre,  by  a  very  artful  piece  of  ^ttery,  insi- 
nuates, that,  the  opposition  Servilius  made  to  the  honours 
which  the  senate  intended  to  have  paid  to  Plancus,  was,  in 
eflhect,  an  affront  to  that  supreme  and  guardian  divinity  in 
whose  temple  the  transaction  passed,  as  being  contrary  to 
the  interest  of  a  republic  which  was  distinguished  by  Jupiter 
himself  with  his  immediate  presence.  Vid,  Mn,  viii.  d4(>. 


Book  XIU.         of  CICEEO. 


2?7 


could  not  possibly  act  with  greater  dignity  «nd 
spirit,  or  shew  a  stronger  disposition  to  ad- 
Vance  your  honours,  than  it  discovered  upon 
this  occasion.   Nor  are  you  less  in  favour  with 
the  whole  city  in  general:  as,  indeed,  all  orders 
and  degrees  of  men  amongst  us  remarkably 
concur  in  the  same  common  zeal  for  the  deli- 
^VCT^nce  of  the  republic.     Persevere  then,  my 
friend,  in  the  glorious  course  upon  which  you 
have  entered  :  and  let  nothing  less  than  im- 
.  mortal  fame  be  the  object  of  your  well-directed 
.an^bition.     Despise  the  false  splendour  of  all 
those  empty  honours  that  are  short-lived,  tran- 
sitory, and  perishable.     True  glory  is  founded 
upon  virtue  alone :  which  is  never  so  illustri- 
''^usly  distinguished  as  when  it  displays  itself  by  ^ 
important  services  to  our  country.     You  have 
•"at'this  time  a  most  favourable  opportunity  for 
^  Aat  purpose :  which,  as  you  have  already  cm- 
'' Braced,  let  it  not  slip  out  of  your  hands  till  you 
''•^ihall  have  employed  it  to  full  advantage ;  lest 
it  Be  said,  that  you  are  more  oblig^^  fo  the  re- 
public than  the  republic  is  obliged  tp^pw.  As, 
for  my  own   part,    you  will  ahvays*  Md  me 
...ready  to  contribute  to  the  advancement  as  well 
'^as  to  the  support  of  your  dignities :  Indeed,  it 
''"w  wfiat  r  owe  not  only  to  our  friendship,  but 
to  the  commonwealth,  which  h  far  dearer  to  me 

isi  than  life  itself. 

'  (H-^  ..u'f  Whilst 


*'i 


a 


I 


S38 


The  letters        Book  XIII. 


BookXIIL        of  CICERO. 


23J' 


r 


i 


Whilst  I  was  employing  my  best  services  for 
the  promotion  of  your  honours,  I  received 
great  pleasure  in  observing  the  prudence  and 
fidelity  which  Titus  Munatius  exerted  for  the 
same  purpose.  I  had  experienced  those  quali- 
ties in  him  upon  other  occasions  :  but  the  in- 
credible diligence  and  affection  with  which  he 
acted  for  your  interest,  in  this  affair,  shewed 
them  to  me  in  a  still  stronger  and  more  con** 
spicuous  point  of  view.     Farewcl. 

April  the  lltb. 

LETTER  XXL 

[A.U.  710.J 
To  CORNIFICIUS. 

Y  friendship  Avith  Lucius  Lamia  is  well 
known,  I  am  persuaded,  not  only  to  yourself, 
who  are  acquainted  with  all  the  circumstances 
of  my  life,  but  to  every  Roman  in  general.  It 
most  conspicuously  appeared,  indeed,  to  the 
whole  world,  when  he  was  banished  by  the  con-»^ 
sul  Gabinius^,  for  having,  with  so  remarkable  a 
spirit  of  freedom  and  fortitude,  risen  up  in  my 
defence^  Our  friendship,  however,  did  not 
commence  from  that  period  :  it  was  from  an  afw 
fection  of  a  much  earher  date,  that  he  was  inr. 
duced  thus  generously  to  expose  himself  to 

every 

♦  See  rem.  21.  p.  174.  vol.  i. 

'  When  Cicero  was  persecuted  by  Clodius. 


every  danger  in  my  cause.     To  these  his  me- 
ritorious services,  I  must  add,  that  there  is  no 
man  whose  company  affords  me  a  more  true 
and   exquisite   entertainment.     After   what   I 
have  thus  said,  you  will  think  it  needless,  sure- 
ly, that  I  should  use  much  rhetoric  in  recom- 
mending him  to  your  favour.    You  see  the  just 
reason  I  have  for  giving  him  so  large  a  share  of 
my  affection :   whatever  terms,  therefore,  the 
strongest  friendship  can  require  upon  an  occa- 
sion of  this  nature,  let  your  imagination  supply 
for  me  in  the  present.     I  will  only  assure  you, 
that  your  good  offices  to  the  agents,  the  ser- 
vants, and  the  family  of  Lamia,  in  every  article 
wherein  his  affairs  in  your  province  shall  re- 
quire them,  will  be  a  more  acceptable  instance 
of  your  generosity  than  any.you  could  confer  in 
my  own  personal  concerns.  I  am  persuaded,  in- 
deed, from  your  great  penetration  into  the  cha- 
racters of  men,  that  Avithout  my  recommenda- 
tion you  would  be  perfectly  well-disposed  to 
give  him  your  best  assistance.    I  must  confess, 
at  the  same  time,  I  have  heard  that  you  suspect 
him  of  having  signed  some  decree  of  the  senate 
injurious  to  your  honour.     But  I  must  assure 
you,  in  the  first  place,  that  he  never  signed  any 
during  the  administration  of  those  consuls^ ; 

and, 

*  It  is  altogether  uncertain  to  what  consuls  Cicero  alludes  : 
Manutius  supposes,  to  Antony  and  Dolabella. 


S40 


The  letters   Book  XIIL 


and,  in  the  next,  that  almost  all  the  decrees 
which  were  pretended  to  be  passed  at  that  time, 
were  absolutely  forged.  The  truth  is,  you 
might  just  as  reasonably  suppose  I  was  con- 
cerned in  that  decree  to  which  my  name  was 
subscribed,  relating  to  Sempronius;  though,  in 
feet,  I  was  then  absent  from  Rome,  and  com- 
plained, I  remember,  of  the  injury  that  had  been 
done  me,  in  a  letter  which  I  wrote  to  you  upon 
the  occasion.  But  not  to  enter  farther  into 
this  subject ;  I  most  earnestly  entreat  you,  my 
dear  Comificius,  to  consider  the  interest  of 
Lamia,  in  all  respects,  as  mine,  and  to  let  him 
see  that  my  recommendation  has  proved  of 
singular  advantage  to  his  affairs;  assuring  your- 
self that  you  cannot,  in  any  instance,  more  ef- 
fectually oblige  me.     FarewcL 

LETTER 


I 


OF  CICfellO. 


241 


LETTER  XXIL 

[A.  u.  no.] 

To  the  same. 
Corn  I  Fi  CI  u^,  delivered  your  letter  to  me  on 
^??F>}4^^^  ^C.^Jf^^'cli,  about  three  weeks,  as  he 
told  me,  after  he  had  received  it  from  your 
Ij^nds.  The  ftmte  did  not  assemble  either  on 
th4  day  or  the  next;  however,  on  the  9th 
they  met,  when  I  defended  your  cause  in  a 
T^^T Jl^n  house,  and  with  no  unpropitious  re- 
gards from  Minerva'.     I  may  with  peculiar 

Pl^Pll^^y.  ^^y  ^^^  ^s  tlie  statue'of  that  guardian 
goddess  of  Rome,  which  I  formerly  erected  in 
^lf>  9^^^'^o^'>.,^MFhichha(J  lately  been  thrown 
down  by  an  high  wind,  was  at  the;  same  time 
d^cf^ed  to  be  replaced.     Your  letter,  which 
Pansa  read  to  the  senate,  was  much  approved, 
and  afforded  great  satisfaction  to  the  whole  as- 
sembly.     It  fired  them,  at  the  same  time,  with 
general  indignation  against  the  impudent  at- 
tempts 

■  It  was  a  sort  of  proverbial  expression  among  the  Ro- 
mans»  when  they  spoke  of  any  successful  undertaking,  to  say 
that  It  was  carried  on  **  not  without  the  approbation  of  Mi- 
•*  nerva/' 

^^  *  **  Cicero,  a  little  before  his  retreat  into  banishment, 
^^  took  a  small  statue  of  Minerva,  which  had  long  be^n  re^ 
I*  verenced  in  his  family  as  a  kind  of  tutelar  deity,  and  car- 
^^  rying  it  to  the  Capitol,  placed  it  in  the  temple  of  Jupiter, 

.   ^(^er  thetii\eo{  Minerva,  the  suardian  of  the  city."  Lif« 
of  Cic.  i.  350.  *^ 


Vol.  IIL 


R 


'■■i 


ui 


The  letters         Book  XIII. 


f 


tempts  of  the  horrid  Minotaur,  for  so  I  may 
well  call  those  combined  adversaries  of  yours, 
Calvisius  and  Taurus'.  It  was  proposed,  there- 
fore,  that  the  censure  of  the  senate  should  pass 
upon  them  ;  but  that  motion  was  over- ruled  by 
the  more  merciful  Pansa.  However,  a  decree 
was  voted  upon  this  occasion  extremely  to 
your  honour. 

As  for  my  own  good  offices  in  your  favour, 
be  assured,  my  dear  Cornificius,  they  have  not 
been  wanting  from  the  first  moment  I  con- 
ceived a  hope  of  recovering  our  liberties.    Ac- 
cordingly, when  I  laid  a  foundation,  for  that 
purpose,  on  the  20th  of  December  last^  while 
the   rest  of  those  who  ought  to  have   been 
equally  forward  in  that  work,  stood  timidly 
hesitating  in  what  manner  to  act,  I  had  a  par- 
ticular view  to  the  preserving  you  in  your  pre- 
sent post ;  and  to  this  end  I  prevailed  with  the 
senate  to  agree  to  my  motion  concerning  the 
continuance  of  the  proconsuls  in  their  respec- 
tive provinces.     But  my  zeal  in  your  cause  did 

not 

'  The  Minotaur  was  a  fabulous  monster  which  the  poets 
describe  as  half  man  half  bull.  Cicero,  therefore,  in  allusion 
to  the  name  of  Taurus,  who  had  joined  with  Calvisius  in 
some  combination  against  Cornificius,  jocosely  gives  them 
the  appellation  of  the  Minotaur.  .^jib 

♦When  he  spoke  his  third  and  fourth  Philippic  orations, 
wherein  Cicero  endeavoured,  amongst  other  articles,  to  ani- 
mate the  senate  and  the  people  to  vigorous  measures  against 
Antony. 


Book  XIII.        op  CICKRO. 


!24S 


not  terminate  here,  and  I  still  continued  my 
attacks  upon  that  person,  wha,  m  <*ontempt  of 
the  senate,  as  well  as  most  injuriously  to  you, 
had,  even  whilst  he  himself  was  absent  from 
Rome,  procured  your  government  to  be  allotted 
to  him.     My  frequent,  or,  to  speak  more  pro- 
perly, my  incessant,  remonstrances  against  his 
proceedings,  forced  him,  much  against  his  in- 
clinations, to  enter  Rome,  where  he  found  him- 
self obliged  to  rehnquish  the  hopes  of  an  ho- 
nour which  he  thought  himself  no  less  sure  of, 
than  if  it  had  been  in  his  actual  possession.    It 
gives  me  great  pleasure  that  these  my  just  and 
honest  invectives  against  your  adversary,  in 
conjunction  with  your  own  exalted  merit,  have 
secured  you  in  your  government,   as  I  rejoice 
extremely,  likewise,  in  the  distinguished  ho- 
nours you  have  there  received. 

I  very  readily  admit  of  your  excuse  in  regard 
to  Sempronius,  well  knowing  that  your  con^ 
duct  upon  that  occasion  may  justly  be  imputed 
to  those  errors  to  which  we  were  all  equally 
liable,  whilst  we  trod  the  dark  and  dubious 
paths  of  bondage.  I  myself,  indeed,  the  grave 
inspirer  of  your  counsels,  and  the  firm  defender 
of  your  dignities,  even  I,  my  friend,  was  inju 
diciously  hurried  away  by  my  indignation  at 
the  times,  when,  too  hastily  despairing  of  li* 

R  2  berty, 


I 


ti 


^1 


Aj 


*t  I 


244 


The   tETTERS        Book  XIII. 


berty,  I  attempted  to  retire  into  Greece^     But 
the  Etesian  winds,  like  so  many  patriot-citi- 
zens,  refused  to  waft  me  from  the  common- 
wealth, whilst  Auster,  conspiring  in  their  de- 
signs, collected  his  whole  force,  and  drove  me 
back  again  to   Regium.     From  thence  1  re- 
turned to  Rome,  with  all  the  expedition  that 
sails  and  oars  could  speed  me,  and,  the  very 
next  day  after  my  arrival,  I  shewed  the  world 
that  I  was  the  only  man,  amidst  a  race  of  the 
most   abject   slaves,   that  dared  to  assert  his 
freedom  and  independency^     I  inveighed,  in- 
deed^ ^g^i^st  the  measures  of  Antony  with  so 
much  spirit  and  indignation,  that  he  lost  all 
manner  of  patience;  and  pointing  the  whole 
rage  of  his  Bacchanalian  fury  at  my  devoted 
head,  he  at  first  endeavoured  to  gain  a  pretence 
of  assassinating  me  in  the  senate ;  but  that  pro- 
ject not  succeeding,  his  next  resource  was  to 
lay  wait  for  my  life  in  private.     But  1  extricated 
myself  from  his  insidious  snares,   and   drove 
him,  all  reeking  with  the  fumes  of  his  nauseous 
intemperance,  into  the  toils  of  Octavius*.    That 

excellent 

•  An  account  of  this  intended  voyage  has  already  been 
given  in  a  former  note.     See  rem.  3.  p.  134.  of  this  vol. 

7  This  seems  to  aliude  to  his  having  refused  to  pay  obedi- 
ence to  a  summons  from  Antony,  to  attend  a  meeting  of  the 
senate  which  was  held  on  that  day.  See  rem.  1.  p.  142.  of 
this  vol. 

•  »  Octavius,  as  soon  as  he  returned  into  Italy,  after  the 
death  of  Cajsar,  endeavoured  to  secure  Cicero  in  bis  interest, 

as 


'  I 


Book  XIII.        of  CICERO. 


£45 


excellent  youth  drew  together  a  body  of  troops, 
in  the  first  place,  for  his  own  and  my  particu- 
lar defence ;  and  in  the  next,  for  that  of  the  re- 
public 

as  Cicero  appeared   no  less  forward  to  embrace  the  friend- 
ship of  Octavius.    They  both  of  them,  indeed,  had  one  of  the 
strongest  of  all  motives,  perhaps,  for  a  mutual  coalition  ;  as 
there  is  nothing  in  which  men  seem  to  unite  more  amicably, 
than  in  hunting  down  the  same  common  foe.     The  league, 
however,  into  which  Cicero  entered  with  Octavius,  extended 
no  farther,  at  first,  than  to  a  matter  of  mere  civil  contro- 
versy :  and  he  only  engaged  to  support  Octavius  in  his  claim 
of  part  of  Caesar's  estate,  which  Antony,  it  was  alledged,  in- 
juriously withheld  from  him.     But  even  this  was  going  a 
greater  length  than  a  true  patriot  could  prudently  have  ven- 
tured.    For  though  the  contest  between  Antony  and  Octa- 
vius, with  respect  to  the  money  in  question,  was  altogether 
personal,  yet  **  by  natural  consequence  (as  the  accurate  ob- 
**  server  upon  the  epistles  between  Cicero  and  Brutus  justly 
"  remarks)   it  became  a  matter  of  more  extensive  concern. 
**  In  the  first  place,  it  was  joined  with  the  succession  to  the 
**  name  of  Caisar;  which  was  looked  upon  by  the  chiefs  of 
**  the  Caesarian  party  as  an  earnest  of  the  continuance  of 
"  the  public  settlement  made  by  Caesar  ia  the  person  of  Oc- 
**  tavius;  and,  on  the  same  account,  it  was  always  suspected 
by  the  more  discerning  republicans.     In  the  next  place,  it 
gave  Octavius  the  plausible  occasion  of  being  the  distin- 
guished assertor  of  Caesar's  acts,  and  of  the  full  execution 
of  all  his  bequests :   by  which  means  he  drew  upon  him- 
"  self  the  eye's  of  all  the  veterans,  the  military  force  of  the 
"  empire,  and  interested  the  whole  populace  of  Rome  in  his 
**  cause ;  since  it  was  the  comnion  cause  of  all  who  were  ex- 
"  pecting  with  impatience  the  effect  of  Ca?sar's  liberality." 
However,  had  Cicero's  engagements  with  Octavius  ended  here, 
his  conduct  might  have  been  excused,  at  least,  though  it  cer- 
tainly could  not  have  been  justified.     But  when  he  afterwards 
armed  Ociavius  with  the  power  and  the  dignities  of  the  state  ; 
when  he  trusted  (as  the  excellent  author  of  the  observations 
on  his  life  ingeniously  expresses  it)  the  last  stake  of  liberty  in 
the  hands  of  a  mail  who  had  so  great  temptations  to  betray  it^ 
he  seems  clearly  to  have  acted  in  contradiction  to  the  senti- 
ments of  his  heart,  and  to  have  sacrificed  ihQ  cause  of  the 

R3  tr,^rfP^^^'^ 


(i 


<( 


«( 


(( 


% 


1 1 

I 


246 


The  letters        Book  XIII. 


public  in  general ;  which,  if  he  had  not  happily 
raised,  Antony,  in  his  return  from  Brundisium, 
would  have  spread  desolation,  like  a  wasting 
pestilence,  around  the  land.  What  followed  I 
need  not  add,  as  I  imagine  you  are  well  ap- 
prised of  all  that  has  happened  subsequent  to 
that  period.  To  return,  then,  to  what  gave 
occasion  to  this  digression^  let  me  again  assure 
you,  that  I  am.perfectly  well  satisfied  with  your 
excuse  concerning  Sempronius.  The  truth  is, 
it  was.  impossible  to  act.with  any  determined 
steadiness  and  uniformity  in  times  of  such  to- 
tal anarchy  and  confusion.  "  But  other  days 
(to  use  an  expression  of  Terence)  are  now 
arrived,  and  other  measures  are  now  re- 
quired." Come,  then,  my  friend,  let  us  sail 
forth  together,  and  even  take  our  place  at  the 
helm.  All  the  advocates  of  liberty  are  embarked 
in  one  common  bottom  ;  and  it  is  my  utmost 

endeavour 

republic  to  the  hatred  he  bore  to  Antony.  Plutarch  ex- 
pressly assigns  this  as  Cicero's  motive  for  declaring  in  favour 
of  Octavius;  which,  indeed,  is  abundantly  confirmed  by  his 
letters  to  Atticus.  It  appears  from  these  that  there  was  so 
little  diflference,  with  respect  to  the  republican  interest,  whe* 
ther  Antony  or  Octavius  was  at  the  head  of  affairs,  that  nei- 
ther Atticus  nor  Cicero  could  determine,  in  that  view,  which 
to  prefer :  valde  tihi  esserttior,  "^avs  our  author  to  his  friend, 
it  multum  possit  Octavianus,  mult 6  firmius  acta  tyranni  com- 
probatum  iri,  quant  in  telluris :  atque  id  contra  Brutum  Jieri, 
Sin  autem  vincitur,  tides  intolerahdem  Avtonium  ,  ut  quern  ue- 
hs  nescias.  Ad  Att.  xvi.  14.  Plut.  in  Brut.  Tunstal's  ob- 
$erv.  on  the  epist.  between  Brut,  and  Cic.  p.  132.  Observ, 
on  the  Life  of  Cic.  p.  50* 


ic 


t€ 


tl 


'I 
I 


Book  XTII. 


OF  CICERO. 


247 


endeavour  to  steer  them  right.  May  prosper- 
ous gales  then  attend  our  voyage !  But,  what- 
ever winds  may  arise,  my  best  skill,  most  as- 
suredly, shall  not  be  wanting:  and  is  it  in 
the  power  of  patriotism  to  be  answerable  for 
more  ?  In  the  mean  time,  let  it  be  your  care  to 
cherish  in  your  breast  every  generous  and  ex- 
alted sentiment,  remembering  always  that  your 
true  glory  must  ever  be  inseparably  connected 
with  the  republic.     Farewel. 

R4  LETTER 


I 


f 


i 


4 


(     249     ) 


LETTERS 


OF 


MARCUS  TULLIUS  CICERO 


TO 


SEVERAL  OF  HIS  FRIENDS. 


BOOK  XIV. 


'; 


LETTER  L 

[A.U.710.] 

Galea'  to  Cicero. 

On  the  15th  of  this  month,  the  day  on  which 
Pansa  intended  to  join  the  army  of  Hirtius, 
Antony  drew  out  of  his  lines  the  second  and 
thirty-fifth  legions,  together  with  his  own  prar- 
torian  cohort,  and  that  of  Silanus* ;  both  which 

were 

*  He  had  been  one  of  Caesar's  lieutenants  in  Gaul  •  but 
not  being  favoured  by  him  in  his  pursuit  of  the  consulship 
he  joined    in  the  conspiracy  with  Brutus  and  Cassius.     He 
was^great  grand-father  to  the  emperor  Galba.     Quartier 

^  He  was  military  tribune  in  thearray  of  Lepidus,  and  by 
the  secret  coiimvance,  if  not  by  the  express  orders,  of  that 
general,  had  conducted  a  body  of  troops  to  the  assistance  of 
Antony,  m  the  siegei)f  Modena.     Dio.  xlvi.  p,  33^ 


•11 


250 


The  letters        Book  XIV. 


i 


were  composed  of  the  Evocati^  I  happened, 
at  this  time,  to  be  in  Pansa's  army,  having  been 
sent  an  hundred  miles  express,  in  order  to 
hasten  his  march.  Antony  advanced  towards 
us  with  these  troops,  in  the  supposition  that 
our  forces  consisted  only  of  four  new-raised 
legions  ;  whereas  Hirtius,  the  better  to  secure 
our  junction,  had  taken  advantage  of  the  pre- 
ceding night  to  reinforce  us  with  the  martial 
leo-ion,  which  I  generally  commanded,  as  also 
with  two  praetorian  cohorts.  These  regiments, 
upon  the  very  first  appearance  of  Antony's  ca- 
valry, could  by  no  means  be  restrained  from 
encraoino- ;  so  that  we  were  under  an  absolute 
necessity  of  following  them  to  the  charge. 
Antony,  in  order  to  deceive  us  into  a  be- 
lief that  none  of  his  legions  were  with  him, 
had  posted  them  at  Forum  Gallorum*,  and 
only  appeared  with  his  horse  and  light-armed 
troops  in  view.  Pansa,  when  he  saw  that, 
contrary  to  his  inclination,  the  martial  legion 
had  rushed  on  to  the  attack,  gave  directions 
that  two  of  his  new-raised  legions,  which  were 
behind,  should  immediately  come  up.  As  soon 
as  we  had  passed  the  woods  and  a  morass,  we 
formed  in  order  of  battle  with  twelve  cohorts^; 
the  other  two  legions  I  just  now  mentioned  not 

being 

3  See  rem.  1.  p.  340.  vol.  1,  -  ,      zr    • 

♦  Now  called  Casiel-Franco,  a  small  viUagc  on  the  i±jm- 
lian  way,  between  Modena  and  Bologna. 

5  A  cohort  consisted  of  about  four  or  five  hundred  men. 


^ 


Book  XIV.         of  CICERO. 


251 


being  yet  arrived.      Antony  observing  this, 
drew  all  his  forces  out  of  the  village,    and  in- 
stantly  began  the  engagement.      Both  sides 
maintained  the  first  onset  with  the  most  obsti- 
nate bravery;  though,  indeed,  our  right  wing, 
in  which  I  commanded  eight  cohorts  of  the 
martial  legion,  at  the  very  beginning  of  the 
action,   repulsed  Antony's  thirty-fifth  legion, 
and  pursued  them  above  ****'^  paces  out  of 
the  field.     But  I  no  sooner  observed  the  ene- 
my s  cavalry  attempting  to  surround  the  winor 
from  which   I   had  advanced,  than  I  endea- 
voured to  rejoin  it;  ordering,  at  the  same  time, 
my  light-armed    troops   to   engage  Antony's 
Moorish  horse,  lest  they  should  fall  upon  us 
in  our  rear.     But  whilst  I  was  attempting  to 
regain  ray  post,  I  found  myself  in  the  midst 
of  the  enemy's  troops,  and  perceived  Antony 
himself  at  a  small  distance  behind  me.     Upon 
this,  throwing  my  shield  cross  my  shoulders, 
I  gallopped  full  speed  towards  one  of  our  new- 
raised  legions,  which  I  saw  advancing  from  the 
camp ;  the  enemy,   at  the  same  time  pursuing 
me  on  the  one  side,  and  our  own  men  aiming 
their  pikes  at  me  on  the  other ;  but,  as  the  lat- 
ter soon  discovered  who  I  was,  I  had  the  very 

extraordinary 

^^       "  The  common  editions  add  here  quhgentos,  but  it  is 
not   found  either  in  Dr.  Mead's  MS.  or  any  oiher  autho- 
**  nty."     Mr.  Rms, 


^1 


252 


The  letters         Book  XIV. 


■a 


extraordinary  good  fortune  to  escape.  Caesar's 
praetorian  cohort^,  which  was  posted  on  the 
^milian  road,  made  a  very  long  and  vigorous 
resistance.  But  our  left  wing,  in  which  were 
two  cohorts  of  the  martial  legion,  together 
with  the  praetorian  cohort,  and  which  formed, 
indeed,  the  weakest  division  of  our  army,  began 
to  o-ive  ground,  being  hemmed  in  by  Antony's 
cavalry,  in  which  he  is  extremely  strong.  As 
soon  as  all  our  troops  had  made  good  their  re- 
treat, I  began  to  think  of  mine,  and  was  the 
last  that  entered  our  camp.  Antony,  consider- 
ing himself  as  master  of  the  field,  imagined  he 
could,  likewise,  take  possession  of  our  camp  ; 
but,  after  an  unsuccessful  attempt,  he  retired 
with  great  loss. 

As  soon  as  Hirtius  was  informed  of  what  had 
passed,  lie  put  himself  at  the  head  of  twenty  ve- 
teran cohorts,  and  meeting  Antony  in  his  return 
from  the  attack  of  our  camp,  engaged  him  upon 
the  very  spot  where  our  action  had  just  before 
happened,  and  entirely  defeated  his  army. — 
About  ten  o'clock  that  night,  Antony,  with  his 
cavalry,  regained  his  camp  near  Mutina ;  as 
Hirtius  retired  to  that  which  Pansa  had  quitted 
in  the  morning,  and  in  which  he  had  left  the 
two  legions  that  repulsed  Antony. 

The  enemy  have  lost  the  greatest  part  of 

their 

*  Octayius, 


Book  XIV.        of  CICERO. 


^53 


their  veteran  troops.  But  this  advantage  was 
not  to  be  obtained  without  a  loss,  likewise,  on 
our  side ;  the  prsetorian  cohorts,  together  with 
the  martial  legion,  having  somewhat  suffered 
in  this  action.  We  have  taken  two  legionary 
standards^,  together  with  sixty  others;  and, 
upon  the  whole,  have  gained  a  very  conside* 
rable  victory.     Farewel. 

From  the  camp,  April  the  20th, 


LETTER  II. 

[A.  U.  710.] 
Pl-ANCUS  to  CICEEO^ 

It  affords  me  great  pleasure  to  reflect,  that  I 
have  amply  justified  your  favourable  represen- 
tations of  me,  by  having  strictly  fulfilled  the 
promises  I  made  you.  I  give  you  a  proof, 
likewise,  of  my  particular  affection,  by  ac- 
quainting  you,  before  any  other  of  my  friends, 
with  the  measures  I  have  taken.  I  hope  you 
are  well  persuaded,  that  the  republic  will  daily 
receive  still  stronger  instances  of  my  attach- 
ment;  let  me  assure  you,  at  least,  that  you 

shall 

/Each  legion  had  a  chief  standard  carried  before  it,  upon 
which  was  fixed  the  figure  of  an  eagle  ;  there  was  a  particu- 
Jar  one,  likewise,  to  every  company. 

»  When  Plancus  wrote  this  letter,  he  had  not  received 
advice  of  the  action  between  the  troops  of  Antony  and  those 
of  the  republic  ;  of  which  an  account  has  been  given  in  the 
preceding  epistle. 


m 


254 


The  letters 


Book  XIV. 


k 
I? 

Pi 


J 


shall  be  more  and  more  couvinced  of  it  by  the 
clearest  and  most  unquestionable  evidence.  As 
to  what  concerns  my  own  personal  interest,  I 
protest  to  you,  my  dear  Cicero,  by  all  my  hopes 
of  rescuing  the  republic  from  those  imminent 
dangers  to  which  it  is  exposed,  that  notwith- 
standing I  esteem  those  illustrious  recompences 
which  are  conferred  by  the  senate  as  no  less 
desirable  than  immortal  fame ;  yet,  believe  me, 
I  shall  not,  in  the  least,  remit  of  my  earnest 
endeavours  to  assist  the  commonwealth,  al- 
though I  should  never  participate  of  its  glori- 
ous rewards.  If  the  ardour  and  efficacy  of  my 
zeal  should  not  distinguish  me,  amidst  those 
many  excellent  citizens  who  stand  forth  in  the 
defence  of  our  country,  let  not  your  suffrage 
contribute  to  the  increase  of  my  honours.  I 
have  no  ambition  inconsistent  with  that  gene- 
ral equality  for  which  I  have  taken  up  arms, 
and  am  perfectly  well  contented  to  leave  it  to 
your  own  determination,  both  w^hen,  and  in 
what  manner,  my  services  shall  be  recompensed. 
Nothing,  indeed,  can  be  deemed  too  late  or  too 
inconsiderable,  which  is  given  to  a  man  as  a 
pubhc  testimony  of  his  country's  approbation. 
Having  reached  the  Rhone,  by  long  marches, 
I  passed  that  river,  with  my  whole  army,  on  the 
fiyth  of  April,  and  immediately  ordered  a  de- 
I  tachment 


Book  XIV. 


OF  CICERO. 


255 


tachment  of  a  thousand  horse  to  advance  be- 
fore me  from  Vienna',  by  a  shorter  road.  If  I 
meet  with  no  obstructions  on  the  part  of  Le- 
pidus,  I  doubt  not  of  giving  the  republic  rea- 
son to  be  satisfied  with  my  diligence  and  ex- 
pedition ;  but,  if  he  should  attempt  to  inter- 
cept my  passage,  I  must  take  my  measures  as 
circumstances  shall  require.  Of  this,  however, 
I  will  now  assure  you,  that  the  army  I  am 
conducting  is  highly  respectable,  whether 
considered  with  regard  to  the  nature,  the 
number,  or  the  fidelity  of  my  troops.  I  will 
only  add,  that  I  desire  your  friendship  upon 
no  other  terms,  than  as  you  are  sure  I  shall  al- 
ways give  you  the.  warmest  returns  of  mine. 
Farewel. 

LETTER 

^  'Tis  now  called  Vienne,  a  city  in  the  province  of  Pau- 
phiny,  situated  upon  the  Rhone. 


i 


,U 


I  .'■!  ti    ' 


S56 


The  letters        Book  XIV. 


1 


LETTER  III. 

[A.u.  no] 

Decimus  Brutus  to  Cicero. 

1  ou  are  sensible  how  great  a  loss  the  republfc 
has  sustained  by  the  death  of  Pansa\  It  be- 
hoves you,  therefore,  to  exert  all  your  credit 
and  address  to  prevent  our  enemies  from  enter- 
taining any  reasonable  hope  of  recovering  their 
strength,  now  that  they  have  thus  deprived  us 
of  both  our  consuls*.  .  I  am  preparing  trf  pursue 
Antony  immediately  ;  and,  I  trust,  shall  be  able 
to  render  it  impossible  either  for  Antony  to 
continue  in  Italy,  or  for  Ventidius^  to  escape 
out  of  it.  As 

'  Pansa  died  at  Bologna  a  few  days  after  ihe  battle  of 
Mutina,  of  the  wounds  he  received  in  that  action.     Appian, 

iii.  p.  572. 

*  liirtius  and  Octavius,  after  the  battle  mentioned  in  the 
preceding  note,  *'  were  determined,  at  all  hazards,  to  relieve 
**  Modena  ;  and  after  two  or  three  days  spent  in  finding  the 
"  most  likely  place  of  breaking  through  the  intrenchments,  they 
**  made  their  attack  with  such  vigour,  that  Antony,  rather  than 
"  suffer  the  town  to  be  snatched,  at  last,  out  of  his  hands,  chose 
"  to  draw  out  his  legions  and  come  to  a  general  battle.  The 
**  fight  was  bloody  and  obstinate,  and  Antony's  men,  though 
**  obliged  10  give  ground,  bravely  disputed  every  inch  of  it ; 
•*  till  Decimus  Brutus,  taking  the  opportunity  at  the  same 
"  time  to  sally  out  of  the  town,  at  the  head  of  his  garrison, 
**  helped  greatly  to  determine  and  complete  the  victory. 
**  Hirtius  pushed  his  advantage  with  great  spirit,  and  forced 
'*  his  way  into  Antony's  camp  ;  but  when  he  had  gained  the 
"  middle  of  it,  was  unfortunately  killed  near  the  general's 
"  tent."     Ufe  efCic,  iii.  204. 

3  Ventidius  was  a  soldier  of  fortune,  who  from  the  meanest 

original 


Book  XIV.        of  CICERO.  2S7 

As  I  suppose  you  see  very  clearly;  the  mea- 
sures  which  Pollio  will  pursue,  I  heed  say  no- 
thing to  you  upon  that  article.     But  I  make 
it  my  first  and   principal  request,    that  you 
would  send  to  Lepidus,  in  order,  if  possible,  to 
prevent  that  light  and  inconstant  man  from  re- 
newing the  war,  by  joining  with  Antony  :  as 
both  Lepidus  and  Pollio  are  at  the  head  of  very 
numerous  and  powerful  armies.  I  do  not  men- 
tion  this  as  imagining  that  you  are  not  equally 
attentive  to  these  important  points ;  but,  from 
the  firm  persuasion  that  Lepidus,  however  du- 

bious 

original,  became  one  of  the  most  distinguished  captains  of  the 
age.     The  father  of  Pompey  having  taken  the  city  of  Asca- 
lum,  in  the  Italic  or  social  war,  reserved  part  of  the  inhabit- 
ants to  grace  his  triumphal  entry  into  Rome;  among  which 
was  the  mother  of  Ven  idius,  who  walked  before  the  victor's 
car,  with  her  infant  son  at  her  breast.     When  he  grew  up, 
the  gamed  his   livelihood    by  serving  as  a  groom  ;  in  which 
employment  having  gotten  together  a  little   money,   he  fur- 
»J6hed  himselt  with  some  mules  and  carriages,  whicli  he  let  out 
to  the  government  for  the  use  of  the  proconsuls  in  their  way 
to  the  provinces.    In  this  capacity  he  became  known  to  Cae!- 
sar,  who  observing  in  him  a  genius  much  superior  to  his  sta- 
tion, took  him  into  Gaul,  where  he  advanced  him  in  I  is  army  • 
and  after  the  civil  wars  were  ended,  gHve  him  a  place  in  tte 
senate,  an<l  created  him  prator.     After  the  death  of  Casar 
he  attached  himself  to  the  interest  of  Antony:  to  who<e  as- 
sistance he  wa«  at  this  time  marching  at  the  head  of  a  consi- 
derable body  of  troops,  which  he   had  raised  out  ot  Casar's 
veteran  i^i»ions  that  were  dit^jt-rsed  in  different  parts  of  Italy. 

Towards  the  end  of  the  present  year,  the  triumvirate  appointed' 
him  consttl.  Having,  shortlv  afterwards  obtained  a  siaiial 
vrctorypv«rtheFartMans,  his  conduct  and  bravery  were%e- 
wari<ed  with  a  triumph :  and,  to  crown  the  series  of  his  glorv, 
he  was  h  wmured,  at  iii*  dtath,  wirh  a  public  funeral.  Aul 
Oti.  XV.  4n    Dio.  xliii.  p.  239.     F</.  Paterc.  11.^5, 

Vol.  III.  S 


258 


The  Letters     B6ok  xiv. 


II 


bious  it  m^y  perhaps  appear  to  the  senate,  will 
iiever  of  himself  act  in  the  manner  he  ought 
Let  mfe  entreat  you,  likewise,  to  confirm  Plan- 
cus  in  his  present  resolutions :  who,  1  should 
hope,  when  he  sees  Antony  driven  out  of  Italy,  ^ 
will  not  be  wanting  in  his  assistance  to  the  re- 
|)ublic.     If  the  latter  should  have  crossed  the 
Alps,   I  purpose  to  post  a  proper  number  of 
forces  to  guard  the  passes  of  those  mountains*: 
and  you  may  depend  upon  my  giving  you  re- 
gular notice  of  all  my  motions.     Farewel. 

From  my  camp  at  Regium'. 
April  the  29th. 


!!' 


u 


)    i 


LETTER  IV. 

[A.  U.  710.]  " 

ToPlancus.    . 

How  pleasing  was  the  letter  I  received  front 
you  two  days  before  our  victory  at  Mutina ! 
wherein  you  gave  me  an  account  of  the  state 
of  your  troops,  of  your  zeal  to  the  republic, 
and  of  the  expedition  with  which  you  were  ad- 
vancing to  the  relief  of  Brutus.  But,  notwith- 
standing that  the  enemy  was  defeated  before 

you 

♦  The  intent  of  this  guard  seems  to  have  been  ^«hat  Mr, 
Koss  conjectures,  in  order  to  intercept  the  march  of  Venli- 
dius,  and  prevent  him  from  following  Antony  over  the  Alps. 

'  A  town  upon  the  iEmilian  way,  between  Modena  and 
Parma.     It  is  now  called  Reggio.^ 


i 


Book  XIV.         of  CICERO. 


£Sd 


you  could  join  our  army,  the  hopes,  neverthe- 
less, of  the  commonwealth,  are  still  fixed  en- 
tirely upon  you :  as  the  principal  leaders  of 
these  infamous  rebels  have  escaped,  it  is  said, 
from  the  field  of  battle.  You  will  remember, 
therefore,  that  to  exterminate  the  remains  of 
this  party,  will  be  a  service  no  less  acceptable 
to  the  senate,  than  if  you  had  given  them  the 
first  repulse. 

I  am  waiting,  as  well  as  many  otherjs,  with 
great  impatience  for  the  return  of  your  cou- 
riers.    I  hope  that  our  late  success  will  how 
induce  even  Lepidus  himself  to  act  ija  concert 
with  you,  for  the  defence  of  the  common  cause. 
I  entreat  you,  my  dear  Plancus,  to  employ  youx 
utmost  endeavours  for  this  important  purpojse; 
that  every  spark  of  this  horrid  war  may  be  utr 
terly  and  for  ever  extinguished.  If  you  jshoudd 
be  able  to  eifect  this,  you  will  render  a  JXXQSp 
godlike  service  to  your  country,  and  at  the  same 
time  procure  immortal  honour  to  yourse^ 
Farewel. 

May  the  5  th, 

S  2  LETTER 


i 


i 


160 


The  letters        Book  XIV. 


( 


LETTER  V. 

[A.  U.  710.] 

To  the  same. 

I  SEIZED  the  very  first  opportunity  of  contri- 
buting to  the  augmentation  of  your  dignities  I 
and  I  omitted  no  distinction  that  could  be 
considered  either  as  the  applause  or  reward  of 
merit.     This  you  will  perceive  by  the  decree 
which  has  been  voted  to  your  honour  with  the 
utmost  zeal  and  unanimity  in  a  very  full  house: 
and  it  is  expressed  in  the  very  words  I  dictated 
from  a  paper  which  I  had  drawn  up  for  that 
purpose.  I  was  sensible,  at  the  same  time,  froiifi 
your  letter,  that  it  was  more  your  ambition  to 
approve  your  actions  to  every  honest  mind^ 
than  to  be  distinguished  with  these  ensigns  of 
glory  :  but  I  thought  it  incumbent  upon  th^ 
republic  to  consider,  not  what  you  desire,  but 
what  you  deserve.    Let  me  only  entreat  you  to 
finish  the  work  which  others  have  so  happily 
begun  ;   remembering,  that  whoever  shall  de- 
stroy Antony,  will  have  the  whole  honour  of 
concluding  this  war.     It  is  thus  that  Homer 
gives  the  glory,  not  to  Ajax,  nor  Achilles,  but 
to  Ulysses  alone,  of  having  exterminated  Troy^ 
Farewel.  LETTER 

•  In  the  original  it  is,  Homerus  non  Jjacem,  nee  Achillem, 
ifd  Ulysscm  appellavit  «7oXiT7o§d(ov ;  which  is  hot  strictly  true; 

for 


in 


Book  XIV. 


OF  CICERO. 


261 


LETTER  VL 

[A.  U.  710.] 

Decimus  Brutus  to  Cicero. 

1  LOOK  upon  the  obligations  I  have  received 
from  you,  as  nothing  inferior  even  to  thosQ 
which  I  have  conferred  upon  the  republic  :,but 
J  am  not  capable,  you  are  well   assured,    of 
ijj^jking  you  so  ill  a  return  as  I  have  experienced 
from  some  of  my  ungrateful  countrymen.     It 
might,  perhaps,  in  the  present  conjuncture,  be 
thought  to  have  somewhat  the  air  of  flattery, 
Af;ere  I  to  say,   that  your  single  applause  out- 
weighs, in  my  esteem,  their  whole  united  ap- 
probation.     It  is' certain,  however,  that  you 
view  my  actions  by  the  faithful  light  of  dis- 
passionate truth  and  reason :  whereas  they,  on 
the  contrary,    look  upon   them  through  the 
clouds  of  envy  and  malevolence.  But  I  am  little 
Qon^gerned  how  much  soever  they  may  oppose 
my  honours,  provided  they  do  not  obstruct  me 
^in  jnj^  services  to  the  republic  :  the  very  dan- 
gerous situatiop  of  which,   let  me  now  point 

put  to  you,  in  as  few  words  as  possible. 

In 

far  Homer  frequently  gives  that  epithet  to  Achilles.  Plancus, 
however,  could  not  mistake  the  hint,  that  any  stratagem 
would  be  fair  and  honourable  which  should  for  ever  remove 
Antony  out  of  their  way^ 

S3 


£6t 


The  letters        Book  XIV. 


IV 


iH 


In  the  first  place,  then,  you  are  sensible  what 
great  disturbances  the  death  of  the  coni>uls^ 
may  create  in  Rome:  as  it  may  give  occasion 
to  all  the  dangerous  practices  that  anibition  will 
suggest  to  those,  who  are  desirous  of  succeed- 
ing  to  their  offi<::e'.     This  is  all  that  prudence 
will  allow  me  to  say  in  a  letter:  and  all,  indeed, 
that  is  necessary  to  be  said  to  a  man  of  your 
penetration.     As  to  Antony,  notwithstanding 
he  macfe  his  escape  from  the  field  of  bAttle  with 
but  a  very  few  troops,   and  those  too  entirety 
fiisarmed ;  yet,  by  setting  open  tlie  prisons,  and 
by  pressing  all  sorts  of  men  that  fell  in  his  way, 
he  has  collected  no  contemptible  number  of 
forces.    These  have  likewise  been  considerably 
augmented  by  the  accession  of  the  veteran  and 
other  troops  of  Ventidius :  who,  after  a  very 
difficult  march  over  the  Apennine  mountains, 
tas  found  means  to  join  Antony  in  the  fens  of 
Sabata^     The  only  possible  scheme  which  the 
latter  can  pursue,  is,  either  to  have  recourse  to 
Lepidus,  if  that  general  should  be  disposed  to 
receive  him;  or  to  post  liimself  on  thii  Alpfe 
and  Apennines,  in  order  to  make  depredations 

with 


\K  » 


^  Hirtius  and  Pansa. 

*  This  seems  plainly  to  point  at  Octavius ;  who,  in  fact, 
sooii 'after  procured  himself  to  be  elected  coneul,  vn-conianc* 
tion  with  Quintus  Pedius.  ***  "^ 

•  Between  the  Alps  and  the  Apennines,  on  the  coast  of 
Genoa. 


Bopic  ^IV.        OF  GICERO.  263 

Yfith  his  cavalry  (in  which  he  is  exceedingly 
strong)  on  the  neighbouring  cQuntry ;  or  to 
march  into  Etruria',  where  we  have  no  army 
to  oppose  him.  Had  Cassar,  however,  passed 
the  Apennine  mouQtains  agreeably  to  niy  ad: 
vice\  I  should  have  driven  Antony  into  such 
(Jipiculties,  that,  perhaps,  without  staking  a 
jingle  blow,  I  shouljd  have  beeu  able  to  have 
wasted  his  whole  arnjy  by  famine.  But  the  x^\^^ 
fqj-Jjune  is,  that  Caesar  will  neither  be  governed 
J>y  ine,  nor  will  his  army  l^e  governed  by  him^ 
both  which  are  very  unhappy  cirjcumstaijcep 
for  our  cause.  This  t^en  beiiig  the  sad  state 
pf  public  affairs,  can  I  be  s^Jicitpus,  as  I  said 
above,  what  opposition  I  may  nieet  yith  in  i^- 

^pept  to  my  own  personal  honours  ?  The  par- 
,tfculars  I  have  here  mentioned  are  of  so  very 
delicate  a  nature,  that  I  know  not  how  you 
will  be  able  to  touch  upon  them  in  the  senate : 
or  if  you  should,  I  fear  it  yrill  be  to  no  pur- 
pose. 

lit  i.  _, 

^    '  Tuscany. 

*  ♦*  Octavius,  from  the  beginning,  had  no  thoughts  of  pur- 

**  suing  Antony.  He  had  already  gained  what  he  aimed  at; 
^*<<  had  reduced  Antony's  power  so  low,  and  raised  his  own  so 

"  high,  as  to  be  in  a  condition  of  making  his  own  terms  with 

j"  him  in  the  partition  of  the  empire  :  whereas,  if  Antony  had 

**^*  been  wholly  destroyed,  the  republican  party  would  have 

"  probably  been  too  strong  for  him  and  Lepidus.  When  Oc- 
,v^*  tavius  was  pressed,  therefore,  to  pursue  Antony,  he  con- 
-3**  trived  still  to  delay  it  until  it  was  too  late  ;  taking  himself 

"  to  be  more  usefully  employed  in  securing  to  his  interest 
lo"  the  troops  of  the  consuls."    Lift  ofCic,  iii.  214. 

S  4 


i!     il 


L     il 


2S4 


TiJE  LETTERS        Book  XIV, 


Book  XIV. 


pose.  In  the  mean  time,  I  am  in  no  condition 
to  subsist  my  troops  any  longer.  When  I 
first  took  up  arms  for  the  deUverance  of  the 
commonwealth,  I  had  above  four  hundred 
.1;housand  sestertia'  in  ready  money :  but  at 
present  I  have  not  only  mortgaged  every  part 
of  my  estate,  but  have  borrowed  all  I  could 
possibly  raise  on  the  credit  of  my  friends.  I 
leave  you  to  judge,  therefore,  with  what  diffi- 
culty I  now  maintain  seven  legions  at  my  own 
expence.  The  truth  is,  I  should  not  be  equal 
to  so  great  a  charge,  were  I  possessed  of  ail 
•  Yarro's^  immense  treasures. 

As  soon  as  I  shall  receive  any  certain  infor- 
mation pf  Antony's  motions,  I  will  give  you 
notice.  In  the  mean  time,  I  will  only  add,  that 
I  desire  the  continuance  of  your  friendship 
\ipon  no  other  terms  than  as  you  shall  find  an 
^  equal  return  of  mine.     Farewel. 

From  my  camp  at  Tcrtona^ 
May  the  5lh. 

LETTER 

^  About  320,0001.  sterling. 

^  VHio  this  man  of  immense  wealth  was,  is  not  known. 
There  is  no  reason  to  believe  that  be  was  the  celebrated  Te- 
reniius  Varro,  to  whom  several  letters  in  the  preceding  part 
of  this  collection  are  addressed. 

*  ToTtQnOy  about  thirty  miles  i)orlh  from  Genoa. 


loi 


OF  CICERO. 


LETTER  VII. 


£64^ 


[A.U.710.] 

Plancus  to  Cicero. 

1  GIVE  you  a  thousand  and  a  thousand  thanks 
*lFbr  your  late  favours,  which,  as  long  as  I  live, 
I  shall  always  most  gratefully  acknowledge. 
More  than  this  I  dare  not  venture  to  promise : 
for  I  fear  it  will  never  be  in  my  power  to  acquit 
such  uncommon  obligations,  unless  you  should 
think(what  your  letter  endeavours,  indeed,  with 
much  serious  eloquence  to  persuade  me)  that  to 
remember  them  is  to  return  them.  You  could 
not  have  acted  with  a  more  affectionate  zeal,  if 
the  dignities  of  your  own  son  had  been  in  ques- 
tion :  and  I  am  perfectly  sensible  of  the  high 
honours  that  were  decreed  to  me  in  conse- 
quence of  your  first  motion  for  that  purpose.  I 
am  sensible,  too,  that  all  your  subsequent' votes 
in  my  behalf  were  entirely  conformable  to  the 
circumatances  of  the  tim^s  and  the  opinion  of 
my  friends  :  as  \  am  infonned,  likewise,  of  the 
advantageous  colours  in  which  you  are  perpe- 
tually representing  me>  as  well  as  of  the  ,fi;e- 
quent  contests  you  sustain  with  my  injurious 
detractors.  It  is  incumbent  upon  me,  there- 
fore, in  the  first  place,  to  endeavour  to  con- 
vince the  republic  that  I  am  worthy  of  the 
praises  you  bestow  upon  me ;  and,  in  the  next 
\  place, 


\ 


ji. 


\ 


Is 


I 


\ 


%66 


The  letters         Book  J^IV, 


It 


place,  to  render  you  sensible  that  I  gratefully 
bear  your  friendship  in  remembrance.  I  will 
only  add,  under  this  article,  that  I  desire  you 
to  protect  m(B  in  the  honours  I  }iave  thus  pro- 
c^ired  by  your  influence:  but  I  desire  it  np 
otherwise  than  as  my  actions  shall  prove  that  J 
am  the  man  you  wish  to  find  me. 

As  soon  as  I  had  passed  the  Rhone,  I  detachr 
fd  a  body  of  three  thousand^  horse  under  thp 
^pmqiand  of  my  brother,  with  orders  to  ad- 
vance towards  Mutina,  to  which  place  J  in- 
tended to  follow  them  with  the  rest  of  my  ar- 
my. But,  on  my  march  thither,  I  received  ad- 
vice tliatan  action  had  happened,  and  that  the 
siege  was  raised.  Antony,  I  find,  has  no  other 
resource  left  but  to  retire  into  the^e  parts  with 
the  remains  of  his  broken  forces.  His  only 
Jiopes,  indeed,  are,  that  he  may  be  able  to  gain 
either  Lepidus  or  his  army,  in  which  there 
are  some  troops  no  less  disaffected  .  to  the 
xepuWiQ,  thai^  those  which  served  under  An- 
tony himself.  I  thought  proper,  therefore, 
to  recal  my  cayalry,  and  to  halt  in  the  coun- 
try of  the  Allobroges^  that  I  may  be  ready 

to 

«  In  the  second  letter  pf  this  book,  Plancus  saj^s  this  (Je- 
tachment  consisted  only  of  a  thousand  horse ;  in  one  or 
other,  therefore,  ot  these  passages,  the  transcribers  must 
have  committed  some  mistake.  ^.f^:. 

7  It  comprehended  the  territories  of  Gwieva,  with  part  of 
Sayoy  and  Dauphine  :  and  formed  a  district  of  the  province 
under  the  command  of  Lepidus. 


I- 


Book  XIV. 


OF  CICERO. 


267 


to  act  as  circumstances  shall  require.  If  An* 
tony  should  retire  into  this  country  destitute 
of  men,  I  make  no  doubt,  notwithstanding; 
that  he  should  be  received  by  the  army  of  Le- 
pidus, to  be  able  to  give  a  good  account  of 
him  with  my  present  forces.  Should  he  even 
appear  at  the  head  of  some  troops,  and  should 
the  tenth  veteran  legion  revolt,  which,  together 
with  the  rest  of  those  regiments,  was,  by  my 
tneans,  prevailed  upon  to  engag-e  in  the  service 
of  the  republic;  yet  I  sliall  endeavour,  by  act- 
ing on  the  defensive,  to  prevent  him  from 
gaining  any  advantage  over  us ;  which  I  hope 
to  effect,  till  a  reinforcement  from  Italy  shall 
enable  me  to  exterminate  this  desperate  crew. 
I  will  venture,  at  least,  to  assure  you,  my  dear 
Cicero,  that  neither  zeal  nor  vigilance  shall  be 
wanting  on  my  part  for  that  purpose.  It  is  my 
sincere  wish,  indeed,  that  the  senate  may  have 
no  farther  fears;  but  if  any  should  still  remain, 
ho  man  will  enter  into  their  cause  with  greater 
warmth  and  spirit,  nor  be  willing  to  suffer  more 
in  the  support  of  it,  than  myself. 

I  am  endeavouring  to  engage  Lepidus  to 
join  with  me  in  the  same  views  :  and  I  have 
promised  him,  if  he  will  act  with  a  regard  to  the 
interest  of  the  repubhc,  that  I  shall,  upon  all 
occasions,  yield  him  an  entire  deference.  I 
iiave  employed  my  brother,  together  with  Fur* 

nius 


I 


S68 


The  letters 


Book  XIV. 


[:  /. 

n 


nms  and  Laterensis',  to  ne^ociatc  this  associa- 
tion between  us:  and  no  private  injury  done  to 
myself  shall  ever  prevent  me  from  concurring 
with  my  greatest  enemy,  whenever  it  may  be 
necessary  for  the  defence  of  the  commonwealth. 
But  should  these  overtures  prove  unsuccessful,  I 
shall  still  persevere  with  the  same  zeal  (and, 
perhaps,  with  more  glory)  in  my  endeavours  to 
give  satisfaction  to  the  senate.  Take  care  of 
your  health,  and  allow  me  an  equal  return  of 
your  friendship.     Farewel, 


■li 


LETTER  VIII. 

[A.U.  710.] 

Decimus  Brutus,  Consul-elect,  to  Cicero. 

I  HAVE  received  a  dupHcat€  of  the  letter  you 
sent  me  by  my  couriers  :  to  which  I  can  only 
say,  m  return,  that  my  obligations  to  you  nse 
much  higher  than  I  can  easily  discharge. 

I  gave  you  an  account,  in  my  last,  of  the  pos- 
ture of  our  affairs  :  since  which  I  have  received 
intelligence,  that  Antony  is  on  his  march  to- 
wards Lepidus.  Among  some  papers  of  Antony, 
which  are  fallen  into  my  hands,  I  found  a  list  of 

the  several  persons  whom  he  intended  to  em- 
ploy 

'  Furnius,  it  has  already  been  observed,  was  lieutenant 
to  Piancus,  as  Latcrensis  acted  in  the  same  capacity  under 
^•epidus. 


I^ 


Book  XIV. 


OF  CICERO. 


369 


ploy  as  mediators  in  his  behalf  with  PoUio,  Le-, 
pidus  and  Piancus  :  so  that  he  has  nQ|;  yet,  it 
seems,  given  up  all  hopes  of  gaining  the  latter. 
Nevertheless,  I  did  not  hesitate  to  send  an  im- 
mediate express  to  Piancus,  with  advice  of  An- 
tony's march.  I  expect,  within  a  few  days,  to 
receive  ambassadors  from  the  Allobroges,  and 
all  the  other  districts  of  this  province  :  and  I 
doubt  not  of  dismissing  them  strongly  con- 
firmed in  their  allegiance  to  the  republic.  You 
will  be  attentive  on  your  part,'  I  dare  say,  to 
promote  all  such  necessary  measures  at  Rome 
as  shall  be  agreeable  to  your  sentiments,  and  to 
the  interest  of  the  commonwealth.  I  am  equally 
persuaded  that  you  wall  prevent,  if  it  he  pos- 
sible to  prevent,  the  malevolent  schemes  of  my 
enemies.  But  if  you  should  not  succeed  U 
these  generous  endeavours,  you  will,  at  least, 
have  the  satisfaction  to  find,  that  no  indignities 
they  can  throw  upon  me,  are  capable  of  de-_ 
terring  me  from  my  purposes.     Farewel. 

From  my  camp  on  the  frontiers  of  the  Statiellenses". 
May  the  5th. 

LETTER 

*  A  territory  in  Liguria,  the  principal  town  of  which  was 
AqucE  Statkllorum^  now  called  Aqui,  in  the  district  of  Mont? 
serat. 


!' 


!| 


fi70 


The  letters         Book  XI Vi 


Hi 


in 


LETTER  IX. 

[A.  U.TIO.] 

Plancus  to  Cicero. 

Some  occurrences  have  arisen  since  I  closed 
my  former  letter,  of  which  I  think  it  may  im- 
port the  republic  that  you  should  be  apprised  : 
as  both  the  commonwealth  and  myself,  I  hope, 
have  reaped  advantage  fix)m  my  assiduity  in  tlie 
affair  I  am  going  to  mention.  I  solicited  Le* 
pidus  by  repeated  expresses  to  lay  aside  all  ani- 
mosities between  us,  and  amicably  unite  with 
me  in  concerting  measures  for  the  succour  of 
the  republic ;  conjuring  him  to  prefer  the  in- 
terest of  his  family  and  his  country  to  that  of 
a  contemptible  and  desperate  rebel ;  and  assur- 
lag  him,  if  he  did  so,  that  he  might  entirely 
command  me  upon  all  occasions.  According- 
ly, by  the  intervention  of  Laterensis,  I  have 
succeeded  in  my  negotiation:  and  Lepidus 
has  given  me  his  honour,  that  if  he  cannot  pre- 
\^ent  Antony  from  entering  his  province*,  he 
will  most  certainly  lead  his  army  against  him. 
He  requests,  hkewise,  that  I  would  join  him 
with  my  forces ;  and  the  rather,  as  Antony  is 
extremely  strong  in  cavalry,  whereas,  that  of 

Lepidus 

»  Narbonensian   Gaul :    which,   together  with  part   of 
Spain,  composed  the  province  of  Lepidus. 
3 


fifeokXIV.         OP  GIGERO. 


27i 


Lepidus  is  very  incohsiderable ;  and  out  of 
these  few,  ten  of  his  best  men  have  lately  de- 
serted to  my  camp.  As  soon  as  I  received  this 
tekjiress,  I  lost  no  time  to  fotwai-d  and  assist 
the  good  intentions  of  Lepidus.  I  clearly  saw, 
indeed,  the  advantage  that  would  arise  from  my 
joining  liim :  as  my  horse  tv^ould  be  of  service 
in  pursuing  and  destroying  Ailtony's  cavalry, 
and,  as  the  presence  of  my  troops  in  general, 
would  be  a  restraint  upon  the  disaffected  part 
of  those  tihder  his  command.  To  this  etrd, 
having  spent  a  day  in  throwing  a  bridge  across 
the  Isara^,  a  very  considerable  river,  that 
bounds  the  territories  of  the  Allobroges,  I 
passed  it  with  my  whole  army  on  the  12th  of 
May.  But  having  received  advice  that  Lucius 
Antonius*  was  advancing  towards  us  with  some 
regiments  of  horse  and  foot,  and  that  he  was 
actually  arrived  at  Forum  Julii* ;  I  ordered,  on 
the  14th,  a  detachment  of  four  thousand  horse 
to  meet  him,  under  the  command  of  my  bro- 
ther: whom  I  purpose  to  follow  hy  long 
marches  with  four  liglit-armed  legions  and  the 
remainder  of  my  cavalry.  And  should  that 
Fortune  which  presides  over  the  republic,  prove 
in  any  degree  favourable  to  my  arms,  I  sihall 

soon 

^  It  is  now  called  the  IserCf  a  river  in  Dauphin^,  which 
falls  into  the  Rhone. 

*  A  brother  of  Mark  Antony. 

*  Now  called  Frejus,  a  eity  in  Provence. 


1 


« 


873 


The  letters        Book  XIV. 


soon  put  an  end,  at  once,  both  to  our  own 
fears,  and  to  the  hopes  of  these  insolent  rebels. 
But  if  the  infamous  Antony,  apprised  of  our 
approach,  should  retire  towards  Italy,  it  will 
be  the  business  of  Brutus  to  intercept  his 
march ;  and  Brutus,  I  am  persuaded,  will  not 
be  wanting  either  in  courage  or  conduct  for 
that  purpose.  Nevertheless,  I  shaU,  in  that  case, 
send  my  brother  with  a  detachment  of  horse  to 
harass  Antony  in  his  retreat,  and  to  protect 
Italy  from  his  depredations.     Farewel. 

LETTER  X. 

[A.  U.  710.] 

Cassius,  Proconsul,  to  Cicero. 

Your  letter^  affords  me  a  new  proof  of  your 
extraordinary  friendship.  I  find,  by  it,  that 
you  are  not  only  ^  well-wisher  to  my  interest, 
(as  you  have,  at  all  times  been,  indeed,  for 
the  sake  of  the  republic  as  well  as  for  my  own) 
but  enter  into  it  with  the  warmest  and  most 
anxious  solicitude.  I  was  persuaded,  therefore, 
,  that  as  you  could  not  suppose  me  capable  of  be- 
ing inactiveat  aseason  when  my  country  labour- 
ed under  a  general  oppression,  you  would  be 

im- 

»  This  seems  to  be  an  answer  to  the  15th  letter  of  the 
preceding  book.  p.  219* 


Book  XIV.        of  CICERO. 


S^8 
273 

impatient  to  hear  both  of  my  personal  welfare 
and  of  the  success  of  my  military  preparationsj 
J'or  this  reason,  as  soon  as  Aulus  Allienus  had 
resigned  those  legions  into  my  hands  which  he 
brought  from  Egypt«,  I  wrote  to  you  by  dif^ 
ferent  couriers,  whom  I  dispatched  to  Rome    I 
sent  a  letter,  at  the  same  time,  to  the  senate  v 
and,  if  my  people  obeyed  their  instructions    iH 
was  not  delivered  till  it  was  first  read  to  yo«. ' 
But,  if  these  expresses  should  not  be  arrived   I" 
am  persuaded  they  have  been  intercepted  by 
Dolabella;  who,   after  having  most  yillanously 
murdered  Trebonius^  has  made  himself  master 
ot  his  province. 

^  See  rem.  3.  p.  206,  of  this  voL  •       ^^^ 

it  has  already  been  observed  in  fem    4    n    704.  «f*u- 

consulsh  ,,,  ,„  order  to  possess  himself  of  the  Lvernment  of 
Syna.     I„  h.s  way  thither,  he  arrived  at  Smyrna    ^bll 

JZ^r''  P™""*"'  °f  Asia  Minor,  resided.     Trebo'nius  ret 
fused  him  admittance  into  the  city,  but  treated  him    k 

but  illustrious  prisoner      He  S.i     .       ."  ""'^"■■""'a'e^ i 
♦  ..        J.  p'liouer.     He  Kept  him  two  davs  unAt^r  t^r 

odv     °„  "T\^  '''"''"y  "'  '*■«  •»"•"<=  money  in  hi  c°r 
tody,  insulting  him,  at  the  same  tiine,  with  the  mL^ 

brious  language;  he  then  ordered  ht  head  to  be  cut  off  ^^ 

exhibited  to  the  populace  on  .be  point  of  a  spear    hi,  koH 

afterwards  to  be  thrown  into  the  sea.     See  rem  7n  oo     f 

V  OL.  III.  -p 


;« 


m 


374  The  LETTERS        Book  XIV. 

AH  the  troops  which  I  found  in  Syria,  have 
submitted  to  my  authority.  However,  I  have 
beeA  a  little  retarded  in  my  preparations,  in 
.  order  to  distribute  some  donatives  which  I  had 
promised  to  the  soWiei-s,  but  I  have  now  dis- 
diarged  my  engagements. 

If  you  are  sensible  that  I  have  refused  no  la- 
bours nor  dangers  for  the  service  of  my  coun- 
try ;  if  it  was  by  your  advice  and  persuasion, 
that  I  took  up  arms  against  those  infamous  in- 
vaders of  our  liberties  ;  if  I  have  not  only  rais- 
ed an  army  for  the  defence  of  the  common- 
wealth, but  have  even  snatched  it  from  most 
cruel  and  oppressive  hands  ;  let  these  conside- 
rations recommend  my  interests  to  your  care 
and  protection.     Had  Dolabella,  indeed,  pos- 
sessed himself  of  these  forces,  the  expectation 
of  such  an  additional  body  of  troops,  even  be- 
fore they  had  actually  joined  Antony,  would 
creatly  have  confirmed  and  strengthened  his 
party.     If,  upon  this  account,   therefore,  you 
think  these  soldiers  deserve  highly  of  the  re- 
-     public,  let  them  experience  the  benefit  of  your 
patronage,  nor  suffer  them  to  have  reason  to 
regret,   that  they  preferred  their  duty  to  the 
commonwealth,  to  all  the  powerful  temptations 
of  plunder  and  rapine.  I  must  also  recommend 
it  to  your  care,  that  due  honours  be  paid  to 

the 


m 


Book  XIV.        of  CICERO.  273 

the   generals,   Marcus  and   Crispus'.     As   to 
Bassus,  lie  obstinately  refused  to  deliver  up  the 
legion  under  his  command ;  and  had  they  not,  ' 
without  his  consent,  deputed  some  of  their  of' 
ficers  to  treat  with  me,  he  would  have  shut  the 
gates  of  Apamea,  and  forced  me  to  have  en- 
tered the  town  by  assault.     I  make  these  re- 
quests,  then,  as  well  in  the  name  of  our  friend- 
ship,  which,   I  trust,  will  have  much  weight 
with  you ;  as  in  that  of  the  republic,  which  has 
ever,  I  know,  been  the  object  of  your  wamest 
affection.     Believe  me,    the  army   under  my 
command  is  zealously  attached  not  only  to  the 
senate,  and  to  every  friend  of  our  country,  hut 
particularly  to  yourself.  The  frequent  accountsi 
indeed,  they  hear  of  your  patriot-disposition, 
have  extremely  endeared  you  to  them,   and 
should  they  find  their  interests  to  be  a  part  of 
your  concern,  they  will  consider  you,  in  aU  re- 
spects, as  their  first  and  greatest  benefactor. 

Since  I  wrote  the  above,  I  have  received  in- 
telhgence  that  Dolabella  is  marched  into"  Cili- 
cia,  whither  I  purpose  immediately  to  follow 
him.  I  will  give  you  early  notice  of  the  event 
of  this  expedition,  and  may  I  so  prove  success- 
ful, as  I  shall  endeavour  to  deserve  well  of  the 
,  „  republic. 

mentiord  in'^r"'  "^  """'  ?"»«-'.«'  well  as  of  Ba«„,, 

T2 


276 


The  letters       Book  XIV. 


Book  XIV.         of  CICERO. 


277 


A 


r 


republic.     Take  care  of  your  health,  and  con- 
tinue your  friendship  to  me.     Farewel. 

From  my  camp,  May  ihe  7th. 

LETTER  XL 

[A.  u.rioj 
To  Decimus  Brutus,  Consul  elect. 

The  message  you  commissioned  Galba  and 
Volumnius  to  deliver  to  the  senate,  sufficiently 
intimates  the  nature  of  those  fears  and  suspi- 
cions which  you  imagine  we  have  reason  to 
entertain.     But  I  must  confess,  that  the  appre- 
iiensiofly'you  would  thus  infuse  into  us,  seem, 
by  no  means,  worthy  of  that  glorious  victory 
you  have  obtained  over  the  enemies  of  the  com- 
monwealth.     Believe    me,    my   dear   Brutus, 
both  the  senate,  and  the  generals  that  support 
its  cause,    are  animated  with  an  undaunted  re- 
solution ;  we  were  sorry,   therefore,  that  you, 
whom  we  esteem  the  bravest  captain  that  ever 
tlie  republic  employed,  should  think  us  capable 
of  any  timidity.     Is  it  possible,  indeed,  after 
having  confidently  reposed  our  hopes  on  your 
courage  and  conduct,  when  you  were  invested 
by  Antony  in  all  the  fulness  of  his  strength  and 
power,  that  any  of  us  should  harbour  the  least 
fear  now  that  the  siege  is  raised,  and  the  ene- 

4  ^y^ 


my's  army  entirely  overthrown  ?     Nor  have  we 
any  thing,  surely,  to  apprehend  from  Lepidus. 
For  who  can  imagine  him  so  utterly  void  of  all 
rational  conduct,  as  to  have  professed  himself 
an  advocate  for  peace,  when  we  were  engaged 
in  a  most  necessary  and  important  war,  and 
yet  to  take  up  arms  against  the  republic  the 
moment  that  most  desirable  peace  is  restored  ? 
You  are  far  too  sagacious,   I  doubt  not,  to  en- 
tertain such  a  thoughts     Nevertherless,    thq 
fears  you  have  renewed  amongst  us,  at  a  time 
wiien  every  temple   throughout  Rome  is  re- 
sounding with  our  thanksgivings  for  your  de- 
liverance, have  cast  a  very  considerable  damp 
upon   our  joy.     May  the  fact   prove,   then, 
(what,  indeed,  I  am  inclined  to  believe  as  well 
as  hope)  that  Antony  is  completely  vanquish- 
ed.    But  should  he  happen  to  recover  some 
degree  of  strength,  he  will  most  assuredly  find 
that  neither  the  senate  is  destitute  of  wisdom, 
nor  the  people  of  courage ;  I  will  add,  too,  nor 
the  republic  of  a  general,  so  long  as  you  shall 
be  alive  to  lead  forth  her  armies.     Farewel,    • 

May  the  ipth. 

LETTER 

'  It  will  appear,  in  the  progress  of  these  letters,  that  if 
Cicero  was  really  in  earnest  in  what  he  here  says  concerning 
Lepidus,  it  was  he  himself,  and  not  Bruius,  who  wanted 
jjagacity. 

T  3 


£78 


The  letters        Book  XIV, 


LETTER  XIL 

[A.  u.  no.] 

Plancus  to  Cicero. 

Antony  arrived  at  Forum- Julii,  with  the 
van  of  his  army,  on  the  15th  of  May,  and 
Ventidius  is  only  two  days  march  behind  him. 
Lepidus  writes  me  word,  that  he  proposes  to 
wait  for  me  at  Forum-Voconii',  where  he  is  at 
present  encamped,  a  place  about  four-and-r 
twenty  miles  distant  from  Forum- Julii.  If  he 
and  Fortune  do  not  deceive  my  expectations, 
the  senate  may  depend  upon  my  speedily  termir 
nating  this  business  to  their  full  satisfaction. 

I  mentioned  to  you,  in  a  former  letter,  that 
the  great  fatigues  which  my  brother  had  un- 
dergoHC,  by  his  continual  marches,  had  ex- 
tremely impaired  his  constitution.  However, 
as  soon  as  he  was  sufficiently  recovered  to  get 
abroad,  he  considered  his  health  as  an  acquisi- 
tion which  he  had  gained  as  much  for  the  ser- 
vice of  the  republic,  as  for  himself;  and  was 
the  first,  therefore,  to  engage  in  every  hazardous 
expedition.  But  I  have  recommended  it  to 
him,  and,  indeed,  insisted,  that  he  should  re- 
turn to  Rome,  as  he  would  be  much  moie  likely 
to  wear  himself  away   by  continuing  in  the 

canip, 

'  Now  called  Le  Luc,  in  Provence. 


Book  XIV. 


OF  CICERO. 


S7fi 


camp,  than  be  able  to  give  me  any  assistance:. 
Besides,  I  imagined,  now  that  the  republic  was 
most  unhappily  deprived  of  both  the  consuls, 
that  the  presence  of  so  worthy  a  magistrate 
would  be  absolutely  necessary  at  Rome.  But 
if  any  of  you  should  think  otherwise,  letTwebe 
censured  for  my  imprudent  advice;  but  let  not 
by  brother  be  condemned  as  failing  in  his 
duty. 

Lepidus,  agreeably  to  my  request,  has  deli- 
vered Apella  into  my  hands,  as  an  hostage  for 
the  faithful  execution  of  his  engagements  to 
co-operate  with  me  in  the  defence  of  the  com^ 
monwealth.  Lucius  Gellius,  has  given  me 
proofs  of  his  zeal,  as  he  has  acted  also  in  the 
affair  of  the  three  brothers,  to  the  satisfaction 
of  Sextus  Gavianus.  I  hav^- lately  employed 
the  latter  in  some  negociations  between  Le- 
pidus and  myself,  and  I  have  found  him  firmly 
attached  to  the  interest  of  the  republic.  It  i$ 
uith  great  pleasure  I  give  this  testimony  in  his 
favour,  a  tribute  which  I  shall  always  be 
ready  to  pay  wherever  it  is  deserved. 

Take  care  of  your  health,  and  allow  me  the 
8ame  share  of  your  heart  which  you  most  as- 
suredly possess  of  mine.  I  recommend  my 
dignities,  likewise,  to  yaur  protection  j  and  I 
hope,  if  I  can  plead  any  merit,  you  will  conv 

T  4  tinue 


280 


The  letters 


Book  XIV. 


tinue  your  good  offices  to  me  with  the  same 
singular  affection  you  have  hitherto  discover- 
ed.    FareweL 

LETTER  Xin. 

[A.U.  no.] 

To  CORNIFICIUS. 

You  recommend  a  friend  of  my  own,  M^ien 
you  desire  my  good  offices  to  Lucceius :  be 
assured  I  shall  faithfully  support  his  interest 
by  every  mean  in  my  power. 

We  have  lost  our  colleagues*,  Hirtius  and 
Pansa :  and  the  death  of  these  excellent  con- 
suls, who  discharged  their  office  with  great 
advantage  to  the  repubhc,  has  happened  at  a 
very  unseasonable  conjuncture.  For  though 
we  are  at  present  delivered  from  the  oppres- 
sions of  Antony,  \vc  are  not  wholly  free  from 
all  apprehensions  of  danger.  But,  if  I  may 
be  permitted,  I  shall  continue  my  usual  endea- 
vours to  preserve  the  commonwealth  from  ruin; 
though,  I  must  confess,  I  am  full  weary  of  the 
work.  No  lassitude,  however,  ought  to  obstruct 
the  duties  we  owe  toour  country.— But  I  for- 
bear to  enter  farther  into  this  subject,  as  I  had 
rather  you  should  hear  of  my  actions  from  others, 
than  from  myself.  The  account  I  receive  of 
yours  is  entirely  agreeable  to  my  wishes;  but 

it 

*  In  the  college  of  augurs. 


Book  XIV.  of  CICERO. 


281 


it  is  far  otherwise  with  respect  to  the  reports 
concerning  Minucius.  They  are,  indeed,  very 
unfavourable  to  his  character,  notwithstanding 
all  the  fine  things  you  said  of  him  in  one  of 
your  letters.  I  should  be  glad  to  know  the 
truth  of  the  case,  and  to  be  informed  of  every 
thing  else  which  is  transacting  in  your  pro^ 
vince.     Farewel 


LETTER  XIV. 

[A.U.710.] 

To  Decimus  Brutus,  consul-elect 
It  is  with  infinite  satisfaction,  my  dear  Brutus, 
that  I  find  you  approve  of  my  conduct  in  the 
senate,  with  respect  both  to  the  decemvirs', 
and  to  tlie  honours  decreed  to  our  young'  man. 
.Yet,  after  all,  what  have  my  labours  availed  ? 
Beheve  me,  my  friend,  (and  you  know  I  am 
not  apt  to  boast)  the  senate  was  the  grand  en- 
gine of  my  power :  but  all  those  springs  which 
I  used  so  successfully  to  manage,  have  utterly 

lost 

*  These  decemvirs  were  probably  the  ten  persons  whom 
the  senate,  in  the  first  transports  of  their  supposed  complete 
victory  before  the  walls  of  Modena,  had  appointed,  to  enquire 
into  the  conductor  Antony,  during  his  administration  of  the 
consular  office.  Vid.  Appian.  B.  C.  iii.  578. 
'  ■  Octavms.  The  honours  here  mentioned  were,  perhaps, 
k-  T"**'^"*  (5  ^^^^  ^^  inferior  and  less  splendid  triumph) 
which,  by  the  influence  of  Cicero,  was  decreed  to  yotjng  Cae- 
sar, for  his  services  at  the  siege  of  Modena.  See  Life  ofCic. 
in.  p.  211.  ^    -^ 


£82 


The  letters         Book  XIV. 


lost  their  force,  and  I  can  no  longer  direct  its 
motions.     The  truth  of  it  is,  the  news  of  your 
glorious  sally  from  the  garrison  of  Mutina,  of 
Antony's  flight,  and  of  his  army  being  entirely 
cut  to  pieces,  had  inspired  such  confident  hopes 
of  a  complete  victory,  that  the  disappointment 
has  cast  a  general  damp  upon  the  spirit  I  had 
raised  against  our  enemies ;  and  all  my  ardent 
invectives  seem  at  last  to  have  proved  just  as 
insignificant  as  if  I  had  been  combating  with 
my  own  shadow.     But  to  the  purpose  of  your 
letter.— Those  who  are  acquainted  with  the 
dispositions  of  the  fourth  and  the  martial  le- 
gions, assure  me,  they  will  never  be  prevailed  on 
to  serve  under  you.    As  to  the  supply  of  money 
which  you  desire,  some  measures  may,  and 
most  assuredly  shall,  be  taken  in  order  to  raise 
it.     I  am  wholly  in  your  sentiments  with  re- 
gard to  the  calling  Brutus"  out  of  Greece,  and 
retaining  Caesar  here  for  the  protection  of  Italy. 
J  agree  with  you,  likewise,  my  dear  Brutus, 
that  you  have  enemies ;  and  though  I  find  it 
no  very  difficult  matter  to  sustain  their  attacks, 
yet  still,  however,  they  somewhat  embarrass 
my  schemes  in  your  favour. 

The  legions  from  Africa'  are  daily  expected. 

In 

»  Marcus  Brutus. 

'  These  were  some  of  the  veteran  legions  that  had  served 
wnder  Julius  Casar.    See  rem.  4.  on  let.  18.  of  this  book. 


Book  XIV.  of  CICERO,  ggj 

Jn  the  mean  time,  the  world  is  greatly  astonish, 
ed  to  find  that  the  war  is  broke  out  again  in 
your  province.  Nothing,  in  truth,  ever  hap- 
pened so  unexpectedly ;  as  we  had  promised 
ourselves,  from  theaccountof  the  victory  which 
was  brought  to  us  on  your  birth-day,  that  the 
peace  of  the  republic  was  established  for  many 
generations.  But  now  ajl  our  fears  are  revived 
with  as  much  strength  as  ever. 

You  mentioned  in  your  letter,  dated  the  1 5th 
of  May,  that  you  were  just  informed,  by  an  ex- 
press from  Plancus,  that  Lepidus  had  refused 
to  receive  Antony.  Should  this  prove  to  be 
fact,  our  business  will  be  so  much  the  easier; 
if  not,  we  shall  have  a  very  difficult  struggle  to 
maintain ;  and  it  depends  upon  you  to  ease  mc 
of  my  great  apprehensions  for  the  event.  As 
for  my  own  part,  I  have  exhausted  all  my 
powers,  and  I  am  utterly  incapable  of  doing 
more  than  I  have  already  performed.  It  is  far 
otherwise,  however,  with  my  friend ;  and  I  not 
only  wish,  but  expect,  to  see  you  the  greatest 
?nd  most  distinguished  of  Romans.     Farewel 

LETTER 


iSI 


284  The  LETTERS      Book  XIV. 

LETTER  XV. 

[A.  U.  710.] 

To  Plancus. 

NoTHixG,  my  dear  Plancus,  could  be  more 
glorious  to  yourself,  nor  more  acceptable  to 
the  senate,  than  the  letter  you  lately  addressed 
to  that  assembly:  I  will  add  too,  nothing 
could  be  more  opportune  than  the  particular 
juncture  in  which  it  was  delivered.  Cornutus 
received  it  in  the  presence  of  a  very  full  house, 
just  as  he  had  communicated  to  us  a  cold  and 
irresolute  letter  from  Lepidus.  Yours  was 
read  immediately  afterwards,  and  it  was  heard 
with  the  loudest  acclamations  of  applause.  It 
was  highly  pleasing,  indeed,  to  the  senate,  not 
only  from  the  importance  of  its  contents,  and 
those  zealous  services  to  the  republic  of  which 
it  o-ave  us  an  account,  but  from  that  strength 
and  elegance  of  expression  with  which  it  was 
animated.  The  senate  was  extremely  urgent 
that  it  might  immediately  be  taken  into  consi- 
deration :  but  Cornutus  thought  proper  to 
decline  their  request:  However,  the  whole  as- 
sembly expressing  great  indignation  at  his  re- 
fusal, the  question  was  put  by  five  of  the  tri- 
bunes of  the  people.  When  Servilius  was  called 
upon  for  his  opinion,  he  moved  that  the  debate 

might 


Book  XIV.        of  CICERO. 


285 


might  be  adjourned.  What  my  sentiments 
were  (and  I  was  supported  in  them  by  the  una- 
nimous concurrence  of  the  whole  house)  you 
will  see  by  the  decree  that  passed  upon  this 
occasion. 

I  am  sensible  that  your  own  superior  judg- 
ment is  abundantly  sufficient  to  direct  you  in 
all  emergencies ;  yet  I  cannot  forbear  advising 
you  not  to  wait  for  the  sanction  of  the  senate 
in  so  critical  a  conjuncture  as  the  present,  and 
which  undoubtedly  must  often  demand  imme- 
diate action.  Be  a  senate,  my  friend,  to  your- 
self; and,  without  any  other  authority,  scruple 
not  to  pursue  such  measures  as  the  interest  of 
the  republic  shall  require.  In  one  word,  let 
your  actions  anticipate  our  expectations,  and 
give  us  the  pleasure  of  hearing  that  you  have 
'executed  some  glorious  exploit,  ere  we  are  so 
much  as  apprised  that  you  even  had  it  in  your 
intention.  I  will  venture  to  assure  you,  that 
the  senate  will  most  certainly  approve  both 
your  zeal  and  your  judgment  in  whatever  you 

shall  thus  undertake.     Farewel. 

LETTER 


f   1    * 


S86  The  LETTERS        Book  XIV. 

LETTER  XVL 

[A.  U.  710.] 

To  Decimus  Brutus,  Consul  elect. 

I  AM  indebted  to  you  for  your  short  letter  by 
Flaccus  Volumnius,  as  well  as  for  two  otherg 
more  full,  one  of  which  was  brought  by  the 
courier  of  Titus  Vibius,  the  other  was  forward- 
ed to  me  by  Lupus ;  ^nd  all  of  them  came  to 
my  hands  on  the  same  day.     I  find,  by  your 
own  account,  as  well  as  by  that  which  Gr«- 
ceius  has  given  me,  that  the  war,  far  from  be- 
ing  extinguished,  seems  to  be  breaking  out 
again  with  greater  violence.     You  are  sensible, 
if  Antony  should  gain  any  strength,  that  all 
your  illustrious  services  to  the  republic  will  be 
utterly  frustrated.     The  first  accounts  we  re- 
ceived here,  and  which,  indeed,  were  univer- 
sally credited,  represented  him  as  haviqg  run 
away  in  great  consternation,    attended  only 
with  a  few  frightened  and  disarmed  soldiers. 
But  if  the  truth,  after  all,  should  be  (what 
Graeceius  assures  me)  that  Antony  is,  in  fact, 
so  strong  as  to  render  it  unsafe  to  give  him 
battle,  he  does  not  seem  so  much  to  have  fled 
from  Mutina,  as  to  have  changed  the  seat  of 
war.  This  unexpected  news  has  given  all  Rome 
another  countenance,  and  a  general  air  of  dis- 
appointment 


Book  XIV. 


OF  CICERO. 


287 


appointment  appears  in  every  face.  There  are 
even  some  amongst  us  who  complain  of  your 
not  having  immediately  pursued  Antony  ;  for 
they  imagine,  if  no  time  had  been  lost,  that  he 
must  inevitably  have  been  destroyed.  But  it 
is  usual  with  the  people  in  all  governments, 
and  especially  in  ours,  to  be  particularly  dis- 
posed to  abuse  their  hberty,  by  licentious  re- 
flections on  those  to  whom  they  are  indebted 
for  the  enjoyment  of  it.  However,  one  should 
be  careful  not  to  give  them  any  just  cause  for 
their  censures. 

To  say  all  in  one  word,  whoever  destroys 
Antony  will  have  the  glory  of  terminating  the 
war :  a  hint  which  I  had  rather  leave  to  your 
own  reflections,  than  enter  myself  into  a  more 
open  explanation\     Farewel. 

LETTER  XVII. 

[A.  U.  710.] 

Decimus  Brutus  to  Cicero. 

I  WILL  no  longer  attempt  to  make  any  formal 
acknowledgments  of  the  repeated  instances  I 
receive  of  your  friendship :  mere  words  are  a 
very  inadequate  return  to  those  obligations 
which  my  best  services  can  but  ill  repay.  If 
you  .will  look  back  upon  my  former  letters,  you 

,     .  cannot 

I. 

'5  See  rem.  6.  p.  2^0.  of  this  vol. 


sss 


The  letters 


Book  XIV. 


XIV.         er  CICERO. 


J«9 


cannot  be  at  a  loss  to  discover  the  reasons  that 
prevented  me  from  pursuing  Antony  immedi- 
ately after  the  battle  of  Mutina.     The  truth, 
my  dear  Cicero,  is,  that  I  was  not  only  unpro- 
vided both  with  cavalry  and  baggage-horses, 
but  not  having  at  that  time  had  an  interview 
with  CoEsar,  I  could  not  depend  on  his  Assist- 
ance :  and  I  was  wholly  ignorant,  likewise,  that 
Hirtius  was  killed.     This  will  account  for  my 
not  having  pui-sued  Antony  on  the  day  of  the 
engageinent.     The  day  following  f  received 
an  express  from  Pansa,  to  attend  him  at  Bono- 
nia;  but,  in  my  way  thither,  being  informed 
of  his  death,  I  immediately  returned  back  to 
join  my  little  corps.     I  may  justly  call  them^ 
so,  indeed,  as  my  forces  are  extremely  dimi- 
nished, and  in  a  very  bad  condition,  frohi  th6 
great  hardships  they  suffered  during  the  siege. 
It  was  by  these  means  that  Antony  got  two 
days'  adx'ance  of  me  ;  and,  as  he  marched  in 
disorder,  he  could  retire  much  faster  than  it 
was  in  my  power  to  pursue.     He  increased  his 
forces  likewise  by  prcssing  the  inhabitants,  and 
throwing    open    the    prisons   in   every   town 
through  which  he  passed :  and  in  this  manner 
he  continued  his  march  till  he  arrived  in  the 
fens  of  Sabata.     This  is  a  place  with  w  hich  I 
raust  bring  you  acquainted.     It  is  situated  be- 
tween the  Alps  and  the  Apennines,  and  the 

roads 


roads  that  lie  about  it  are  scarce  practicable. 
When  I  had  reached  within  thirty  miles  of  An- 
tony,  I  was  informed  that  he  had  been  joined  by 
Ventidius,  and  had  made  a  speech  at  the  head 
of  their  combined  troops,  to  persuade  them  to 
follow  him  over  the  Alps;  assuring  them  that 
Lepidus  had  agreed  to  support  him.     Never- 
theless, not  only  his  own  soldiers  (which,  in- 
deed,  are  a  very  inconsiderable  number)  but 
those  likewise  of  Ventidius,  repeatedly  and  una- 
nimously  declared  that  they  were  determined 
either  to  conquer,  or  perish  in  Italy ;  and  at  the 
same  time  desired  that  they  might  be  conducted 
to  Pollentia*.     Antony  found  it  in  vain  to  op- 
pose them :  however,  he  deferred  his  march  till 
the  ensuing  day.    As  soon  as  I  received  this  in- 
telligence, I  detached  five  cohorts  to  Pollentia; 
and  am  now  following  them  with  the  remainder 
of  my  troops.     This  detachment  threw  them- 
selves into  that  city  an  hour  before  Trebellius 
arrived  with  his  cavalry ;  a  circumstance  which 
gives  me  great  satisfaction,  as  it  is  a  point,  I 
think,  upon  which  our  whole  success  depends. 
When  the  enemy  found  tliat  their  designs  were 
thus  frustrated,  they  conceived  hopes  of  cros- 
sing the  Alps  into  Gaul ;  as  they  supposed  the 
four  legions  commanded  by  Plancus  would  not 

bo 

*  Some  remains  of  this  city  still  subsist,  under  the  name 
of  Poienza,  It  is  situated  at  4Jie  confluence  of  the  Stura  and 
the  Tanaro,  in  Piedmont.  ' 

Vql,  III.  U 


S90 


Thx  letters 


Book  XIV. 


1 

ti 


li 


be  able  to  withstand  their  united  forces,  and 
that  an  army  from  Italy  could  not  overtake 
tliem  soon  enough  to  prevent  their  passage.— 
However,  the  Allobroges,  together  with  my  de- 
tachment, have  hitherto  been  sufficient  to  pre- 
vent their  design  ;  which,  I  trust,  they  will  find 
still  more  difficult  to  effect,  when  I  shall  come 
up  with  the  rest  of  my  forces.  But  should  they 
happen,  in  the  mean  time,  to  pass  the  Isara,  I 
shall  exert  my  utmost  endeavours  that  this  cir- 
cumstance mav  not  be  attended  with  anv  ill 
consequences  to  the  commonwealth. 

Let  it  raise  the  spirits  and  the  hopes  of  the 
senate,  to  observe  that  Plancus  and  myself,  to- 
gether with  our  respective  armies,  act  in  per- 
fect concert  with  each  other,  and  are  ready  to 
hazard  every  danger  in  support  of  the  common 
cause.  However,  whilst  you  thus  confidently 
rely  on  our  zeal  and  diligence,  you  will  remit 
nothing,  I  hope,  of  your  own,  but  employ  your 
utmost  care  to  send  us  a  reinforcement,  as  well 
as  every  other  necessary  supply,  that  may  ren- 
der us  in  a  condition  to  defend  your  liberties 
against  those  who  have  infamously  conspired 
their  ruin.  One  cannot,  indeed,  but  look  up- 
on these  our  enemies  with  so  much  the  greater 
indignation,  as  they  have  acted  with  the  vilest 
hypocrisy,  and  suddenly  turned  those  troops 
against  their  country,  which  they  long  pre- 
tended to  have  raised  for  ita  defence.     Farewel. 

LETTER 


Book  XIV.         of  CICERO. 


m 


iiii 

a 


>iu         LETTER  XVIH. 
Decimus  Brutus  to  Cicero. 

..!t 

I  WISH  you  would  peruse  the  ktter  I  b^ve  ad- 
dressed to  the  senate,  and  make  wha,t  altera- 
tions you  shall  judge  proper.  You  will  find 
by  it,  that  I  am  under  an  absolute  necessity  of 
thus  applying  to  them.  Whilst  I  imagined 
that  1  should  be  joined  by  the  fourthi  add  mar- 
tial legions^  agreeably  to  the  decree  of  the  se- 
nate which  passed  for  that  purpose  on  the  mo- 
tion of  Paulus  and  Drusus,  I  was  less  i^olicitous 
about  the  rest ;  but  now  that  I  have  only  some 
new-raised  regiments,  and  those  too  extremely 
ill  accoutred,  I  cannot  but  be  apprehensive 
upon  your  accounts,  as  well  as  upon  ijiy  own. 

The  citizens  of  Vicentia*  have  always  distin- 
guished Marcus  Brutus  and  myself  by  their 
particular  regard.  I  entreat  ypu,  therefore^  to 
endeavour  that  justice  be  done  them  by  the  se- 
nate, ia  the  affair  coucerning  the  slaves.   They 

are> 

♦  These  were  veteran  legions  which  had  served  under  Cae- 
sar. But,  notwithstanding  that  they  entered  into  the  army 
of  the  late  consuls,  Hirtius  and  Pansa,  they  could  by  no 
means  be  prevailed  with  to  join  Decimus  Brutus;  in  resent- 
ment, 'tis  probable,  of  the  part  he  bore  in  the  conspiracy 
against  their  favourite  general.     Vid,  Ep*  F^mil,  ?(i.  14. 

^  Viacnm^  a  maritime  city  in  the  (erritorl&s  pf  (bf  Vene- 
tiaas. 

Us 


S92 


The  letters        Book  XI Vi 


B66K  XIV:         ^  CICERO. 


295 


are,  indeed,  entitled  to  your  favour,  both  by  the 
equity  of  their  cause,  and  the  fidelity  with 
which  they  have,  upon  all  occasions,  persevered 
in  their  allegiance  to  the  republic :  whereas 
their  adversaries,  on  the  contrary,  arc  a  most 
seditious  and  faithless  people.     Farewel.    ^lori 

Vercellae^  May  the  2l8t.  -lori 

LETTER  XIX.  tj.Kl 

[A.  U.710.]  J  ^iK  hnu 

Marcus  Lepidus*' to  Cicero.   '      rr; 

Having  received  advice  that  Antony  was  ad"^ 
vancing'with  his  troops  towards  my  province, 
and  had  sent  before  him  a  detachment  of  his 
cavalry,  under  the  command  of  his  brother  Lu^ 
cius,  I  moved  with  my  army  from  th^  c^oilftfi- 
ence  of  the  Rhone  and  the  Arar^  iti  order  to 
oppose  their  passage.     I  continued  liiy 'maY^ti 
without  halting,  till  I  arrived  at  Forum  V6co- 
nii,  and  am  now  encamped  somewhat  beyond 
that  town,  on  the  river  Argenteus',  opposite  to 
Antony.  Ventidius  has  joined  him  \^ith  his  three 
legions,  and  has  formed  his  catnp  at  little  aboVe 
mine.   Antony,  before  this  conjunction,  had  the 
second' l^gtori  en tii^e^'  togtfher  with  a  cotisider- 

hijd  9l  able 

•  Vercelli,  in  the  dutchy  of  Milan.  ii^aiq  aril  leh 

*»  See  rem.  *,  p.  217.  of  this  voJ.        •  'ditr*  -rq  jzom 

.  ^  The  Saone,  which  falls  into  the  Rhone  at  Lyonsk-'/^  lo 
*      •  The  Angcns,  in  Provence  :  it  empties  ilself  into  the  ^9- 

diterranean,  a  few  miles  below  Freji»,V        noinoiir'do  UB'fl 


able  number  of  men,  though,  indeed,,  wholly 
unarmed,  who  escaped  from  the  general  slaugh- 
ter of  his  other  legions :  he  is  extremely  strong 
HI  cavalry ;  for,  as  none  of  those  troops  suffered 
iia  tJie  late  action,  he  has  no  less  than**** 
horse.  Great  numbers  of  his  soldiers,  both 
horse  and  foot,  are  continually  deserting  to  my 
camp ;  so  that  his  troops  diminish  every  day. 
Both  Silanus'  and  Culeo*  have  left  his  army, 
and  are  returned  to  mine.  But  notwithstand- 
ing I  was  greatly  offended  by  their  going  to 
Antony,  contrary  to  my  inclination,  yet,  in  re- 
gard to  the  connexions  that  subsist  between  us, 
ji^l^d  jin  compliance  with  my  usual  clemency,  I 
h^?e  thought  proper  to  pardon  them.  How- 
c^yier,  I  do  not,  upon  any  occasion,  employ  their 
services,  nor,  indeed,  suffer  them  to  remain  in 

o  jAsto  what  concerns  my  conduct  in  tJiis  war, 
ycvu  may  depend  upon  it  I  shall  not  be  wanting  in 
(fPy  ^Mt^f  ither  to  the  senate  or  the  republic ;  and 
jwhat^jfPffarther  measures  1  shall  take  to  this  end, 
I  fth^lpioft  faii  to  communicate  tliem  to  you. 

dfhlmi  ,aoir)i!uni  The 

^j^?.T|ie;mpl)er  i^  omitted  in  all  the  ancient  ^^^^^ 

.  ■  See  rem.  2.  p.  250.  of  this  vol. 
vX\^  He  had  been  sent  by  Lepidus  with  a  body  of  men,  un- 
der the  pretence  of  guarding  the  passes  of  the  Alps;  but, 
most  probably,  with  secret  instruction!*  to  favour  the  march 
of  Antony  over  those  mountains,  in  his  way  to  the  camp  pf 
Lepidus;  for  he  suffered  Antony  to  pass  them  without  th« 
least  obstruction.     Jpjfian,  B.  C  iii.  p.  579* 

U  3 


'i 


B94 


Tut  LETTERS         Book  XIV. 


53fi?Thc  friendship  between  us  has  upon  all  occa- 
^ons  teen  inviolably  preserved  on  both  sides, 
and  we  have  mutually  vied  in  our  best  good 
offices  to  each  other.  But  I  doubt  not  that, 
%mce  this  great  and  sudden  commotion  has  been 
raised  in  the  commonwealth,  some  false  and  in- 
jurious reports  have  been  spread  of  me  by  my 
enemies,  which,  in  the  zeal  of  your  heart  for 
the  interest  of  the  republic,  have  given  you 
much  uneasiness.  I  have  the  satisfaction,  how- 
ever, to  be  informed  by  my  agents  at  Rome, 
that  you  are  by  no  means  disposed  easily  to 
credit  these  idle  rumours ;  for  which  I  think  my- 
self, as  I  justly  ought,  extremely  obliged  to 
you.  I  am  so,  likewise,  for  the  former  in- 
stances of  your  friendship,  in  promoting  my 
public  honours,  the  grateful  remembran<Q^  ,of 
which,  be  assured,  is  indelibly  impressed  upon 

my  heart.  ^.^^ 

Let  me  conjure  you,  my  dear  Cicero,  if  you 

Jjfg^nsible  that  my  public  conduct  has  upon  all 

♦pccasions  been  worthy  of  the  name  I  bear,  to 

^persuaded  that  1  shall  continue  to  act  with 

equal,  or,  if  possible,  even  with  superior  z^y. 

Let  me  hope,  too,  that  the  greater  the  favours 

'  There  was  so  little  of  truth  in  these  professions,  that  Le- 
pidus,  within  a  yery  few  days  from  the  date  of  this  letter, 
openly  joined  with  Antony  against  the  senate.  See  let.  28. 
ci  this  book. 


Book  XIV. 


TCICERQ^T 


Q9S 


arc  which  you  have  conferred  upon  me,  the 
more  you  will  think  yourself  en^ged  to  sup- 
port my  credit  and  character.     FareWeL*  »„i.. 

Froa>  my  camp,  at  Pons  Argenteus,  M»y  the  i2d,   " 


LETTER  XX. 


/ill    V 


S  'i' . ' 


[A.  u.  no.] 
Pi^ANCus  to  Cicero. 

Tl6v  have  been' apprised,  no  doubt,  by  Laevus 
and  Nerva,  as  well  as  by  the  letter  they  deli- 
'^vered  to  you  on  my  part,  of  the  design  I  was 
meditating  when  they  left  me;  as,  indeed, 
they  have  constantly  borne  a  share  in  all  my 
councils  and  measures  of  every  kind.  It  has 
happened,  however,  to  me,  what  happens  not 
infrequently,  I  suppose,  to  every  matn  Avho  is 
tender  of  his  reputation,  and  ddsirous  of  ap- 
proving his  conduct  to  the  friends  ofMs'fcoun- 
try  :  I  have  given  up  a  safer  scheme,  as  being 
liable,  perhaps,  to  some  ill-natured  exceptions, 
fn  "exchange  for  a  more  dangerous  one  that 
may  better  evince  my  zeal.  I  am  to  inform 
j/6^,  Wi^n,  that,  after  the  departure  of  my  lieu- 
tenants* I  received  two  letters  from  Lepidus, 
tfhtreating  me  to  join  him.  These  were  se- 
conded by  the  much  stronger  solicitations  of 

Laterensis, 


.fdJIai  grrii  1 


^  Lsvus  and  Nerva,  the  persons  mentioned  abov«. 

U4 


f&5 


TufcfllETTEllS        Book  X1% 


Book  XIV.        of  CICERO. 


SS^ 


J^aterensU,  who   earnestly  represented  to  me 
•fwhat,  indeed,  I  am  also  apprehensive  of  my- 
selO  that  there  is  great  reason  to  fear  a  mutiny 
among  the  disaffected  troops  under  the  condnct 
pfLepidus.     I  determined  immediately,  there- 
fore, to  march  to  his  assistance,  and  take  an 
equal  share  in  the  dangers  with  which  he  was 
threatened.     I  was  sensible,  at  the  same  time, 
that  to  wait  on  the  banks  of  the  Isara  till  Bru- 
J^s  should  pass  that  river  with  his  army,  and  to 
meet  the  enemy  in  conjunction  with  my  col- 
league, whose  forces,  as  well  as  their  general, 
vrpuld  act  in  perfect  harmony  with  me  and  my 
troopSj  would  be  much  the  most  cautious  mea- 
sure with  respect  to  my  own  personal  security. 
But  I  reflected,  that  if  any  misfortune  should 
attend  Lepidus,  it  would  be  wholly  imputed  to 
me,  and  I  should  be  condemned  either  as  ob- 
stinately suffi^riug  my  resentment  to  prevent 
iBp,  from  giving  succour  to  my  enemy  in  tlie 
cause  of  the  republic,  or  of  timidly  avoiding  to 
take  part  ia  the  danger  of  a  most  just  and  ne- 
<f^ssary  war.    As  my  presence,  therefore,  might 
be  a  mean  of  protecting  Lepidus,  and  of  bring*^ 
ing  his  army  into  a  better  disposition,  I  resolved 
tq expose  myself  tp.aljl. hazards,  rather  than  ap* 
pear  to  act  with  too  much  circumspd?ction.    But} 
q^ypr  w^japy  man  more  anxious  in  an  affair  foR 
which  he  was  in  no  sort  answerable,  than  I  am 

in 


itt  the  present;  for  though  I  should  have '^ifo 
manner  of  doubt  if  the  army  of  Lepidus  were 
not  concerned,  yet,  under  that  circunfistanct^;  I 
.am  full  of  apprehensions  for  the  event.  Had  it 
been  my  fortune  to  have  met  Antony  befofe  rhy 
junction  with  Lepidus,  I  am  sure  he  would  not 
have  been  able  to  have  kept  the  field  against  me 
even  a  single  hour ;  such  is  the  contidencfe  I 
have  in  my  own  troops,  and  so  heartily  do  I 
despise  his  broken  forces,  as  well  as  those  <^ thai 
paltry  muleteer,  the  contemptible  Ventidius^. 
But,  as  the  case  is  now  circumstand^d',  I  dt^aA 
to  tliink  what  may  be  the  consequence,  should 
any  ill  humours  lie  concealed  5^ ^the^'amly6f 
Lepidus ;  as  they  may  possibly  brjcak  out  in ^H 
their  malignity,  before  they  ekn  fee  remedied,  Ot 
even  discovered.  It  is  certain,  however,  that 
Lepidus,  together  with  the  well-affected  part  df 
his  army,  would  be  exposed  to  great  danger,  if 
we  should  not  act  in  conjunction  :  besides  thaf,' 
our  infamous  enemies  would  gain  li'Vbrj^  consi- 
derable advantage,  should  they  draw  off  any^'^ 
llifr^» forces. :  If  my  presence,  th^refdi^,'  sfflbifftf 
pgjvea  mean  of  preventing  these  evils,  I  shall 
tihink  myielf  much  indebted* to  my  colira^tf^Ba 
gqod  fortmie  for  engaging"  me  toinake  thcr'tbi^ 
peaflmentiirjJtfith  tliis  design  I  mov^d  mttirnfi 
auonoy  irora  the  banks  of  the  Isara  oil  the  2 1st 'df 
£«£  Lniuil  ,t)i(iiii J  -     i>  Jio^  ou  III  yJ^ii  ^i  Rf ayf 

^..  5  See  rem.  3.  p.  25o.  of  this  voK 


298 


The  letters        Book  XIV. 


I 


Ml 


May,  having  first  erected  a  fort  at  each  end  of 
the  bridge  which  I  had  thrown  over  that  river, 
and  placed  a  strong  party  to  defend  it,  that  when 
Brutus  shall  arrive,  he  may  have  nothing  to  re- 
tard his  passage.  I  have  only  to  add,  that  I 
hope  to  join  Lepidus  within  eight  days  from 
the  date  of  this  letter.     Farewel. 

LETTER  XXL 

[A.  U.  710.] 

From  the  same,  to  Cicero. 

I  SHOULD  be  ashamed  that  this  letter  is  so 
little  consistent  with  my  former,  if  it  arose  from 
any  instability  of  my  own.  But  it  is  much 
otherwise ;  and  I  have  steadily  pursued  every 
measure  in  my  power  to  engage  Lepidus  to  act 
in  concert  with  me,  for  the  defence  of  the  re- 
public, imagining  it  would  render  you  less  ap- 
prehensive of  my  success  against  our  wretched 
enemies.  To  this  end,  I  not  only  complied 
\rith  all  the  conditions  he  proposed;  but  even 
enoaared  for  more  than  he  demanded  ;  and  I  had 
so  much  confidence  in  the  sincerity  of  his  in- 
tentions, that  I  ventured  to  assure  you,  no 
longer  than  two  days  ago,  that  he  would  zea- 
lously co-operate  with  me  in  carrying  on  the 
war  upon  one  common  plan.  I  depended,  in- 
deed, upon  the  promises  he  had  given  me  un- 
der his  own  hand,  together  with  the  assurances 
1  I  had 


Book  XIV.        of  TCTCERO. 


59t 


il  had  likewise  received  from  Laterensis,  who 
was  at  that  time  in  my  camp,  and  whoearnestly 
conjured  me  to  forget  all  resentments  against 
Lepidus,  and  to  rely  upon  his  good  faith.     But 
ILepidus  has  now  put  it  out  of  my  power  to  en- 
tertain these  favourable  hopes  of  him  any  longer: 
however,   I  have  taken,  and  shall  continue  to 
take,  all  necessary  precautions,  that  the  republic 
may  not  be  prejudiced  by  my  too  easy  credulity, 
I  am  to  inform  you,  then,  that,  after  I  had  used 
the  utmost  expedition  (agreeably  to  his  own 
4^arB6st  request)  to  transportmy  army  over  the 
Isara,  and  for  that  purpose  had,  in  the  space  of 
#  single  day,  thrown  a  bridge  across  that  river, 
^r  received  a  counter-express  from  him,  requir- 
fng  me  to  advance  no  farther,  as  he  should  not 
have  occasion,  he  said,  for  my  assistance,   Ne? 
vertheless,   I  will  own  to  you,  I  was  so  impru- 
^^nt  as  to  proceed  in  my  march,  believing  tli^ 
ithe  true  reason  of  his  thus  changing  his  min^ 
^jpse  from  an  unwillingness  to  have  a  partner 
ly^ith  him  in  his  glory.     I  imagined  that,  with - 
j^t^depriving  him  of  any  share  of  that  honour 
^hich  he  seemed  so  desirous  to  monopolize,  ^ 
.ipight  post  myself  at  some  convenient  distanc€^ 
jn  order  to  be  ready  to  support  him  with  my 
troc^5,  in  case  he  should  be  pressed  by  the  ener 
ipy:  an  event  which,  in  the  simplicity  of  my 
^eart,  I  thought  not  improbable.     In  the  mean 
b  time 


300 


f/ 


The   letters        Book  XIW 


II 


time  I  received  a  letter  from  the  excellent  Late* 
rensis,  which  was  conceived  in  terms  full  of  des- 
pair. He  compMl'ned  that  he  had  be^h  ^e^tJy 
deceived,  and  assured  me  that  neither  Lepidus 
nor  his  army  were  to  be  trusted.  He  expressly 
cautioned  me,  at  the  same  time,  to  be  upon  my 
guard  against  their  artifices ;  adding,  that  he 
had  faithfully  discharged  the  engagements  he 
had  entered  into  on  his  part,  and  hoped  I  would 
act  with  the  same  fidelity  to  the  republic  on 
mine.  I  have  sent  a  copy  of  this  letter  to  Ti- 
tins,  and  purpose  to  transmit  the  originals  of 
all  the  rest  relating  to  this  aifair,  by  the  hands 
of  Laevus  Cispius,  who  was  privy  to  the  m  hole 
tiansaction.  I  shall  insert  in  this  packet  the 
letters  of  Lepidus,  to  which  I  did  not  give  any 
credit,  as  well  as  those  to  which  I  did.  ' '-'^^ 
**  I  must  not  forget  to  add,  that  when  Lepidus 
harangued  his  soldiers,  these  mighty  honest 
fellows  were  exceedingly  clamorous  for  peace. 
They  protested  that,  after  the  loss  of  both  the 
consuls,  after  the  destruction  of  so  many  brave 
men,  who  had  perished  in  defence  of  their  coun- 
try, and  after  Antony  and  his  adherents  had 
been  declared  enemies  of  the  commonwealth, 
and  their  estates  confiscated,  they  were  deter- 
mined not  to  draw  their  swords  any  more  ei- 
ther on  the  one  side  or  the  other.  They  were 
prompted  to  behave  thus  mutinously,  not  only 
;^^.   :  by 


Book  XIV.         of  CIGERO. 


301 


by  the  insolent  suggestions  of  their  own  hearts, 
but  by  the  encouragement  also  of  their  officers, 
particularly  Canidius,    Rufrenus^^^^^u^iOthers^ 
whose  names  the  senate  shall  be  acquainted 
with  at  a  proper  season.     Lepidus  was  so  f^i: 
frpm  punishing  this  sedition,  that  he  did  not 
take  even  a  single  step  to  restrain  it.    I  thought, 
therefore,  that  it  would  be  the  highest  temerity 
to  expose  my  own   faithful  troops,   together 
with  my  auxiliaries,  which  are  commandejd  by 
some  of  the  most  considerable  chiefs  of  Gaul, 
and  in  effect,  too,  my  whole  province,  to  their 
combined  annies.     I  considered,  if  I  shoukj 
thus  lose  my  life,  and*involve  the  republic  iu 
my  own  destruction,  I  should  fall^   not  only 
without  honour,  but  without  pity,    jlf^.conse-* 
quence  of  these  reflections,  I  have  determine4 
to   march    my   forces   back  again,    that  our 
>v;retched  enemies  may  not  have  so  great;  .^^,^^1 
vantage  as  my  advancing  any  farther  migfe'l 
possibly  give  them.     I  shall  e^d^^y our  to  pospt 
my  army  so  advantageously  as  to  cover  the  prjp-r 
vj^ce  under  my  command  from  being  insult^^, 
ftjyen  supposing  the  troops  of  Lepidus  should 
a<5tually  revolt     In  short,  it  shall  be  i»y  iCajJf 
to  prieserve  every  thing  in.  its  present  situation 
tin 'the  senate  shall  send  an  army  hither,  an^ 
vindicate  the  liberties  of  the  republip  w^feh  the 
same  success  in  this  part  of  the  world,  ?i^  atj 

tended 


m 


302 


The  letters        Book  XlVi 


Book  XIV. 


OF  CICERO. 


303 


tended  their  arms  before  the  walls  of  Mutina. 
In  the  mean  time,  be  assured,  that  no  man  will 
act  with  more  fervent  zeal  than  myself  in  all 
the  various  occurrences  of  the  war  :  and  I  shall 
roost  readily  either  encounter  the  enemy  in  the 
field,  or  sustain  the  hardships  of  a  siege,  or  even 
lay  down  my  life  itself,  as  any  of  these  circum* 
stances  shall  prove  necessary  for  the  service  of 
the  senate.  Let  me  exhort  you,  then,  my  dear 
Cicero,  to  exert  your  utmost  efforts  to 
send  a  speedy  reinforcement  to  me,  ere  An- 
tony shall  have  increased  the  number  of  his 
forces,  or  our  own  shall  be  entirely  dispirited. 
For  if  dispatch  be  divert  to  this  affair,  these  in- 
famous  banditti  will  undoubtedly  be  extirpated, 
and  the  republic  remain  in  full  f)Ossession  of 
her  late  victory.  Take  care  of  your  health, 
arid  continue  your  friendship  to  me. 
^  p.  S.  I  know  not  whether  it  may  be  neces- 
s^ry  to  make  any  excuse  for  the  absence  of  my 
brother,  who  was  prevented  from  attending  me 
Jn  this  expedition,  by  a  slow  fever,  occasioned 
bv'tke  great  fatigues  he  has  lately  undergone, 
no  man  h?fcs  shewn  more  zeal  or  courage  in 
'Se  ^ause  of'the-r^e^u^tic,  he  will  undoubtedly 
return  to  the  duties  of  his  post  the  very  first 
moment  his  health  shall  permit.  , 

^'1  recommend  my  honours  tb'your  protec- 
tioa;  though  I  must  confess^  at  the  same  time. 


that  all  my  desires  ought  to  be  satisfied,  since 
I  enjoy  the  privilege  of  your  friendship,  and 
the  satisfaction  of  seeing  you  invested  with  the 
high  credit  aud  authority  I  have  ever  wished 
you.  I  will  leave  it,  therefore,  entirely  to  your- 
self, both  when  and  in  what  manner  I  shall  ex- 
perience the  effect  of  your  good  offices ;  and 
will  only  request  you  to  suffer  me  to  succeed 
Hirtius  in  your  affection,  as  I  certainly  do  in 
the  respect  and  esteem  he  bore  you.    I'areweL 


■■'■^-  Ya4,ii 


»    if' 


that 


LETTER  XXII. 

[A.  u.  no.] 

To   FuRNIUS^. 

If  the  interest  of  the  republic  requires  the  con- 
tinuance  of  your  services,  and  it  be  necessary 
(as  all  the  world,  indeed,  is  of  opinion  it  is) 
that  you  should  bear  a  part  in  those  important 
operations,  which  must  extinguish  the  remain- 
ing flames  of  the  war,  you  cannot,  surely,  be 
engaged  in  a  more  worthy,  a  more  laudable,  or 
a  more  illustrious  pursuit.  I  think,  therefore, 
you  should  by  no  means  interrupt  your  ap- 
plauded efforts  in  the  cause  of  liberty,  for  the 
sake  of  obtaining  the  praetorship  somewhat 
earlier  than  you  are  regularly  entitled  to  enjoy 
it.     I  say  your  applauded  efforts :  for  let  not 

my 

^  He  had  been  tribune  in  the  year  of  Rome  703,  and  was 
at  this  time  in  the  army  of  Plancus,  as  one  of  his  lieutenants. 


i 


304 


The  letters        Book  XIV. 


my  friend  be  ignorant  of  the  fame  which  his 
conduct  has  acquired.  Believe  me,  it  is  inferior 
only  to  that  of  Plancus  himself,  both  by  his 
own  confession,  and  in  the  judgment  too  of  all 
the  worid.  If  there  is  any  farther  service  then 
remaining  for  you  to  perform  to  your  country, 
you  ought  to  pursue  it  with  an  unbroken  ap- 
plication, as  an  employment,  of  all  others,  the 
most  truly  honourable :  and  what,  my  friend, 
shall  stand  in  competition  with  true  honour  ? 
But  should  you  imagine  that  you  have  amply 
satisfied  the  duties  you  owe  to  the  common- 
wealth, I  do  not  dissuade  you  from  hastening 
hither  when  the  time  of  the  elections  shall 
approach,  provided  this  ambitious  impatience 
^hall  nothing  diminish  from  the  lustre  of  that 
reputation  you  have  so  justly  obtained.  I 
could  name,  however,  many  instances  of  per- 
sons of  great  distinction,  who,  during  their 
engagements  in  the  service  of  the  republic 
abroad,  have  renounced  their  legal  pretensions 
of  soliciting  employments  at  home ;  a  sacri- 
fice which,  in  your  own  case,  will  be  so  much 
the  less,  as  you  are  not  at  present  strictly 
qualified  to  offer  yourself  as  a  candidate.  Had 
you  already,  indeed,  passed  through  the  office 
of  eedile,  and  two  vears*  had  intervened  since 

your 

*  By  the  laws  of  Rome  a  man  could  not  be  chosen  pr^tor 


your  exercising  that  function ;  the  self-d^tlF 
would  have  been  greater :  whereas  now  you  will 
forego  nothing  of  the  usual  i'ild  stated  time  of 
petitioning  for  the  post  in  question.  I  am  very 
sensible  that  your  interest  is  mufch^  to(i'l4tV6ng 
to  require  the  assistance  of  Plancus:  neverthe- 
less, should  his  arms  be  attended  with  the  suc-t 
cess  we  wish,  your  applications  would  certainly 
ap^ar  with  greater  advantages  'w^e  tfj^}^  de^** 
ferred  till  the  time  of  his  eomulate. 

Thus  much   (as  I  waSf  willing  ycki  shotdtf^' 
know  my  sentiments)  I  thought  jirop<^f  to  siaff^ 
but  more^  I  sm«  persuaded,  yotrr  own  gond^mc 
and  judgment  WottW  render  unnecessary.   The 
sum  of  all,  then,  is  shortly  this:   that  I  wouW 
have  Y^ti  regulate  your  dklduct,  uptrti  tiff  Ac- 
cArrences,  tjot  by  the  common  st^dard  of  po* 
pular  ambition,   but  Iry  that  of  true  ^ird  scrlid*^ 
gtory;  and  look  upon  a  lastfftg  repulattdn  ai^ 
of  ftibte  valufe'tlian  the  tran^Hithorfout^  of  en- 
joying the  prsetorian  office  somewhat  earlier 
than  usual.    I  had  a  cottsulta'frofn  tlie  bthei^dhy  ' 
at  my  lK>Qse  upon  this  subject;  with  your  thery* 
good  friends  Cascina,  Calvrsius,  §nd  my"  bVo-^ 
ther,  at  which  your  freedman  Dardanus  was, 
likewise  present :  and  they  every  one  of  them 

till  two  years  after  he  had  served  the  office  of  ^dile ;  and  tho 
same  distance  of  time  was  likewise  require^  between  thejriB- 


9<f 


torshfp  and  the  consulate. 

Vol.  III. 


X 


306 


The  letters        Book  XIV. 


joined  with  me  in  the  opinion  I  have  here  given 
you.  But  after  all,  you  yourself  are  the  best 
and  most  competent  judge.     Farewel. 


M 


LETTER  XXIIL 

[A.  u.  no.] 

Decimus  Brutus  to  Cicero. 

Friendship  and  gratitude  make  me   feel, 
upon  your  account,  what  I  never  felt  upon  my 
own;  and  I  will  confess,  that  I  am  not  without 
fear  in  regard  to  a  story  which  has  been  pro- 
pagated concerning  you.     I  thought  it  by  no 
means  a  matter  to  be  despised  when  I  had  only 
heard  of  it,  as  I  frequently  did,  from  common 
report :  but  it  has  lately  been  mentioned  to  me, 
likewise,  by  Segulius.    This  man  tells  me  (tho' 
what  he  says,  indeed,  is  generally  of  a  piece  with 
the  rest  of  his  character)  that  paying  a  visit  at 
Caesar's,  where  you  were  much  the  subject  of 
the  conversation,   Caesar  complained  (and  it 
was  the  only  charge,  it  seems,  which  he  brought 
against  you)  of  an  ambiguous  expression*  which 
you  had  made  use  of  concerning  him.  I  suspect 

the 

♦  The  expression  itself  is  inserted  in  the  original ;  but  as  it 
turns  upon  an  ambiguity  that  will  not  hold  in  our  lanszuagr, 
it  was  impossible  to  preserve  it  in  the  translation.  Laudan- 
dum  adolescent um^  Cicero  is  charged  with  having  said,  ornaiim 
dujUt  tollendum  :  the  last  of  which  words  is  capable  of  a  dou- 
ble meaning,  and  may  imply  either  that  Ociavius  should  be 
advanced  to  the  dignities  of  the  state,  or  that  his  life  should 

be 


Book  XIV. 


OF  CICERO. 


307 


the  whole  to  be  a  mere  fiction  of  Se^iiilius :  or 
at  least,  that  it  was  he  himself  who  reported 
these  words  to  C^sar.     Segulius  endeavoured, 
at  the  same  time,  to  persuade  me  that  you  are 
in  great  danger  of  falling  a  victim  to  the  re- 
sentment of  the  veteran  legions,  who  speak  of 
you,  he  pretends,  with  much  indignation.  The 
principal  cause,  it  seems,  of  their  displeasure  is, 
that  both  CcTsar  and  myself  are  left  out  of  the 
commission  for  dividing  the  lands^  among  the 
soldiers,  and  that  every  thing  is  disposed  of  just 
as  you  and  your  friends  at  Rome  think  proper. 
Notwithstanding  that  1  was  on  my  march^ 
Avhen  I  received  this  account,  yet  I  thought  it 
would  not  be  advisable  to  pass  the  Alps  till  I 
had  informed  myself  how  affairs  stand.     I  am 
well  persuaded,  nevertheless,  that  with  respect 

to 

be  taken  away.  The  polite  and  learned  panegyrist  of  Cicero's 
conduct,  has  endeavoured  to  vindicate  his  admired  hero  from 
a  charge  so  little  favourable  both  to  his  prudence  and  his  ho- 
nour :  and  it  is  to  be  wished  that  bis  arguments  were  as  con- 
vincing as  they  are  plausible.     In  a  puint,  however,  that  does 
not  admit  of  any  positive  proof,  candour  will  incline  on  the 
favourable  side  ;  though  I  cannot  but  agiee  with  an  excellent 
author,  that  if  the  accusation  was  true,  "  it  very  much  takes 
*'  off  from  the  ingratitude  of  Octavius,  in  consenting  to  the 
**  death  of  his  benefactor  :  since  such  double  dealing  could 
"  hardly  deserve  the  name  of  an  oblioation,  let  the  effects  of 
"  it  be  ever  so  advantageous.'*     Life  ofCic,  iii.  p,  240.  06- 
serv,  on  the  Life  ofCic.  iii.  p.  54. 

*  These  were  lands  which  the  senate  seem  to  have  promised 
as  an  encouragement  to  their  troops,  upon  the  breaking  oul 
of  the  war  against  Antony.     Vid.  Philip,  xiw,  13. 

'  In  order  to  join  Plancus. 

X2  .  .. 


508 


The  letters        Book  XIV. 


Book  XIV-         of  CICERO. 


309 


to  yourself,  these  reports  and  menaces  of  the 
veterans  aim  at  nothing  farther  than  by  alarm- 
ing your  fears,  and  incensing  the  young  Caesar 
against  you,   to  obtain  for  themselves  a  more 
considerable  proportion  of  the  rewards  decreed 
by  the  senate.    But  I  do  not  intend,  by  saying 
tills,  to  dissuade  you  from  standing  upon  your 
guard  :  as  notliing,  be  assured,  is  more  valuable 
to  me  than  your   life.     Let  me  only  caution 
you,  not  to  suffer  your  fears  to  run  you  into 
greater  dangers  than  those  you  would  avoid. 
However,   I  would  advise  you  to  obviate  the 
clamours  of  these  veterans,  as  far  as  you  rea- 
sonably may ;  and  to  comply  with  their  de- 
sires, both  in  regard  to  the  decemvirs^,  and  to 
the  distribution  of  their  rewards.     As  to  those 
forfeited  estates  which  belonged  to  the  veterans 
who  served  under  Antony ;  I  should  be  glad, 
if  you  think  proper,  that  Caesar  and  myself  may 
be  nominated  to  assign  them  to  the  troops.   But 
in  reference  to  the  pecuniary  donative  which 
they  have  been  also  promised ;  it  will  be  proper 
to  act  with  more  deliberation,   and  as  the  cir- 
cumstances of  the  public  finances  shall  require: 
to  which  end  it  may  be  signified  to  them,  that 
the  senate  will  take  tliese  their  claims  into  con- 
sideration. 

^  The  persoiis  appointed  to  execute  the   commission  for 
the  distribution  of  the  lands  aboxe  mentioned. 


sideration.  As  to  those  other  four  legions  to 
whom  the  senate  has  also  decreed  an  allotment 
of  lands,  I  imagine  that  the  estates  in  Cam- 
pania, together  with  those  which  were  formerly 
seized  by  Sylla,  will  be  sufficient  for  the  pur- 
pose. I  should  think  too  that  the  best  method 
of  division  would  be,  either  to  parcel  out  those 
lands,  in  equal  shares,  to  the  several  legions,  or 
to  determine  their  respective  proportions  by  lot. 
But  when  I  thus  give  you  my  opinion,  it  is  by 
no  means  as  pretending  to  superior  judgment, 
but  merely  from  the  affection  of  my  heart  to- 
wards you,  and  from  my  sincere  desire  that  the 
public  tranquillity  may  be  preserved  :  which  I 
am  very  sensible,  if  any  accident  should  happeh 
to  you,  cannot  possibly  be  maintained. 

I  do  not  purpose  to  march  out  of  Italy,  unless 
I  should  find  it  greatly  expedient.  Meanwhile 
I  am  employed  in  disciplining  my  troops,  and 
furnishing  them  with  arms :  and  I  hope  to  ap- 
pear with  no  contemptible  body  of  forces,  upon 
any  emergency  that  shall  again  call  me  into  the 
field.  But  Caesar,  however,  has  not  sent  back  the 
leorion  to  me,  which  served  in  Pansa  s  army. 

I  re(iuest  your  immediate  answer  to  this 
letter :  and  if  you  should  have  any  thing  of 
importance  to  communicate  to  me,  which 
requires  particular  secresy,  I  desire  you  would 

X  3  convey 


310 


The  letters        Book  XIV. 


:h\ 


IM  f 


convey  it   by  one   of  your   own   domestics. 
Farewel. 

Eporedia',  May  the  24th. 

LETTER  XXIV. 

[A.  U.  710.] 

From  the  same  to  Cicero. 

All  things  here  go  on  well':  and  it  shall  be 
my  endeavour  to  render  them  still  better.  Lepi- 
dus  seems  to  be  favourably  disposed  towards 
me  :  and,  indeed,  we  have  reason  to  divest  our- 
selves of  all  our  fears,  and  to  act  with  un- 
daunted freedom  in  defence  of  the  common- 
wealth. But  had  our  affairs  a  far  less  promising 
aspect ;  yet  it  might  justly  animate  and  aug- 
ment that  courage  which  I  know  always  resides 
in  your  breast,  to  reflect  that  we  have  three 
powerful  armies'  devoted  to  the  service  of  the 
republic,  and  that  Fortune  has  already  declared 
in  our  favour. 

The  report  which  I  mentioned  in  my  former 
letter  is  evidently  calculated  to  intimidate  you. 
But  believe  me,  if  you  exert  a  proper  spirit,  the 
whole  united  party  will  be  unable  to  withstand 

your  eloquence. 

I  pur- 

•  A  town  not  far  from  Vercellae  ;  from  whence  the  last 
letter  from  Brutus  was  dated.     See  p.  292.  of  this  vol. 

'  "  Bruius  having  received,  most  probably,  some  fresh  in- 
«  telligence  concerning  Lepidus,  wrote  this  letter  to  Ciceio 
«*  the  day  after  he  had  written  the  former.     Mr,  Ross, 

'  That  of  Octavius,  Plancus,  and  his  own. 


Book  XIV. 


OF  CICERO. 


311 


I  purpose,  agreeably  to  what  I  told  you  iii 
my  last,  to  remain  in  Italy  till  I  shall  hear 
from  you.     Farewel. 

Eporcdia,  May  the  25ih. 


LETTER  XXV. 

[A.  U.  710.] 

To  Plancus. 

1  HE  news  from  your  part  of  the  world  is  so 
extremely  variable  and  contradictory,  that  I  am 
utterly  at  a  loss  what  to  write.  Sometimes  the 
accounts  we  receive  of  Lepidus  are  agreeable  to 
our  wishes,  and  at  others  entirely  the  reverse. 
All  reports,  however,  concur  in  assuring  us, 
that  you  are  superior  to  every  danger,  either 
from  fraud  or  force.  If  you  are,  in  some  de- 
gree indebted  for  the  latter  to  Fortune ;  it  is 
certain  that  the  former,  at  least,  is  owing  to  your 
prudence  alone. 

I  am  informed,  by  a  letter  from  your  col- 
league^  dated  the  15th  of  May,  that  you  men- 
tioned, in  one  of  your  expresses  to  him,  that 
Lepidus.  had  refused  to  receive  Antony.  We 
should  have  been  more  disposed  to  credit  this 
intelligence,  if  you  had  taken  notice  of  it  in  any 
of  your  dispatches  to  Rome.  But,  perhaps, 
you  would  not  venture  to  communicate  to  us 

this 

«  Decimus  Brutus. 

X4 


41 


512 


The  letters        Book  XIV. 


this  piece  of  good  news,  as  having  been  a  little 
premature  in  an  account  of  the  same  kind  in 
your  last.  Every  man,  indeed,  is  liable  to  be 
deceived  by  his  wishes;  but  all  the  world  knows 
that  you  can  never  be  imposed  upon  by  any 
other  means.  In  the  present  instance,  however,^ 
all  possibility  of  farther  error  is  removed  :  for  to 
stumble  twice  against  the  same  stone,  is  a  dis- 
grace, you  know,  even  to  a  proverb.  Should  the 
truth  prove  agreeable  then  to  what  you  men- 
tioned in  your  letter  to  your  colleague,  all  our 
fears  are  at  an  end  :  nevertheless,  mx  shall  not 
dismiss  them,  till  we  receive  a  confirmation  of 
this  account  from  your  own  hand.   ' 

I  have  often  assured  you  of  my  firm  persua- 
sion, that  the  whole  credit  of  dehvering  the 
commonwealth  from  this  civil  war,  will  devolve 
entirely  upon  that  general  who  shall  extmguish 
these  its  last  surviving  flames :  an  honour  which 
I  liope,  and  believe,  is  reserved  solely  for  your- 
self. 

Jt  is  with  great  pleasure,  though  without  the 
ka«t  surprise,  that  I  find  you  entertain  such 
grateful  sentiments  of  my  zeal  in  your  service. 
Higher,  indeed,  it  cannot  possibly  rise:  but  you 
may  depend  upon  my  exerting  it  to  more  im- 
portant purposes,  if  affairs  in  your  part  of  the 
world  should  succeed  as  we  wish.     Farewel. 

May  the  29th. 

LETTER 


BcJokXIV.         of  CICERO. 


313 


LETTER  XXVL 

[A.  u.  no.] 

Lentulus*  to  Cicero. 

As  I  found,  when  I  applied  to  Brutus  in  Mace- 
donia, that  he  would  not  soon  be  prepared  to 
march  to  the  assistance  of  this  province^  I 
determined  to  return  hither,  in  order  to  collect 
what  remained  of  the  public  money,  and  to  re- 
mit it  with  all  possible  expedition  to  Rome.  In 
the  interval  I  received  intelligence  that  Dola- 
bella's  fleet  appeared  upon  the  coast  of  Lycia% 
and  that  he  had  procured  above  an  hundred 
transport-vessels,  intending,  if  he  should  not 
succeed  in  his  designs  upon  Syria^,  to  sail  di- 
rectly with  his  forces  to  Italy,  and  join  the  An- 
tonys and  the  rest  of  those  infamous  rebels.  I 
was  so  much  alarmed  at  this  account,  that  I 
thought  proper  to  postpone  all  other  affairs, 
and  immediately  proceed  in  quest  of  this  fleet. 
And  notwithstanding  my  ships  were  unequal 
both  in  number  and  size  to  those  of  the  enemy, 

I  should 

*  He  was  the  son  of  Publius  Lentulus,  to  whom  several 
letters  in  the  first  and  second  books  are  addressed.  He  at- 
tended Trebonius  into  Asia  Minor  as  his  quaestor  in  that  pro- 
vince, from  whence  the  present  letter  was  written. 

^  In  order  to  quell  the  commotions  which  EKjIabella  had 
raised.     See  rem.  7.  p.  273  of  this  vol. 

*  It  formed  part  of  the  province  of  Asia  Minor.  It  is 
|iow  called  Aldinelli. 

*  See  rem.  4..  p.  194  of  this  voJ. 


^. 


314 


The  letters         Book  XIV. 


I  should  probably  have  destroyed  their  whole 
fleet,  if  I  had  not  been  obstructed  by  the  Rho- 
dians:  however,  I  have  disabled  the  greatest 
part  of  it,  and  dispersed  the  rest.  I  have  taken, 
likewise,  every  one  of  their  transports,  the  sol- 
diers and  officers  on  board  having  quitted  them 
upon  the  first  notice  of  my  approach.  In  a  word, 
I  have  succeeded  in  the  main  of  my  design,  hav- 
ing defeated  a  scheme  which  I  greatly  dreaded, 
and  prevented  Dolabella  from  strengthening 
our  enemies  by  transporting  his   forces  into 

Italy. 

I  refer  you  to  the  letter  which  I  have  written 
to  the  senate^  for  an  account  of  the  ill  treat- 
ment I  received  from  the  Rhodians ;  though, 
indeed,  I  have  by  no  means  represented  it  in  its 
strongest  colours.  These  people,  in  conse- 
quence of  their  imagining  that  the  affairs  of 
the  commonwealth  were  utterly  desperate,  be- 
haved towards  me  with  the  most  insufferable 
insolence.  Cut  their  affronts  to  my  own  per- 
son are  in  no  sort  the  foundation  of  my  com- 
plaints :  I  have  ever  disregarded  injuries  of  this 
kind,  that  centred  entirely  in  myself  It  is  their 
disaffection  to  the  republic,  their  attachment  to 
the  opposite  party,  -their  constant  ill  offices  to 
all  those  who  distinguish  themselves  in  the  sup- 
port of  our  liberties,  that  I  thought  demanded 

my 

•  The  following  letter. 


Book  XIV. 


OF  CICERO. 


315 


my  resentment.  Let  me  not  be  understood, 
however,  as  passing  an  indiscriminate  censure 
upon  the  whole  island  in  general :  far  am  I,  in- 
deed, from  thinking  them  all  equally  infected 
with  the  same  principles.  But  I  know  not  by 
what  fatality  it  happens,  that  those  very  ma- 
gistrates who  refused  to  give  protection  to  my 
father,  to  Lucius  Lentulus,  to  Pompey,  and  to 
the  rest  of  those  illustrious  chiefs  who  fled  into 
this  island  after  the  battle  of  Pharsalia,  arc  all 
*  of  them,  at  this  juncture,  either  actually  in  the 
administration  themselves,  or  possess  an  unli- 
mited influence  over  those  who  are.  Accord- 
ingly, they  have  conducted  themselves  in  this 
afl'air  with  their  usual  malevolence ;  and  it  is 
not  only  expedient,  but,  indeed,  absolutely  ne- 
cessary, that  the  republic  should  interpose  her 
authority,  lest  the  insolence  of  this  people  should 
rise  to  still  greater  heights,  by  passing  any  longer 
unchastised. 

Let  me  hope  you  will  continue,  as  usual,  to 
take  my  interests  under  your  protection  :  and 
that  you  will,  upon  all  occasions,  both  in  the 
senate,  and  in  every  other  instance,  promote 
my  honours  with  your  suffrage.  As  the  pro- 
vince of  Asia  is  decreed  to  the  consuls^,  with  a 

power 

^  Hirtius  and  Pansa :  the  news  of  whose  death,  together 
with  that  of  the  battles  in  which  they  fell,  bad  not  yet 
leached  the  knowledge  of  Lentulus. 


Ill 
1 


516 


The  letters        Book  XTV. 


i 


» 


\ 


power  of  appointing  whomsoever   they  shall 
think  proper  to  administer  the  government  rill 
their  arrival ;  I  entreat  you  to  employ  your  in- 
terest with  them  to  confer  this  dignity  upon 
me.     The  situation  of  aflFairs  in  this  province 
does  by  no  means  require  their  presence  before 
the  expiration  of  their  consular  office,   or  in 
any  sort  render  it  necessary  that  they  should 
send  hither  an  army  ;  for  Dolabella  is  now  in 
Syria  :  and,  agreeably  to  what  you  declared 
with  your  usua,l  prophetic  discernment,  he  will 
certainly  be  defeated  by  Cassius  ere  the  con- 
suls can  possibly  arrive.     Accordingly,  he  has 
been  obliged  to  abandon  the  siege  of  Antiocha,^ 
and  has  retreated  to  Laodicea,  a  sea-port  town 
in  Syria,  as  the  only  city  in  which  he  could 
confide.     I  hope  he  will  soon  meet  with  the 
fate  he  so  well  deserves ;  or  Father,  indeed,  I 
am  persuaded  it  has  already  attended  him,  for 
he  has  no  other  place  to  which  he  can  retreat, 
and  it  is  impossible  he  should  make  any  long 
or  effectual  resistance  against  so  powerful  au 
army  as  that  which  Cassius  has  led  against 
him'.     I  imagine,  therefore,   that  Pansa  and 

Hirtius 

•  This  shortly  afterwards  proved  to  be  the  fact ;  for  Cas- 
sius having  forced  the  city  of  Laodicea  to  surrender,  Dola- 
bella, in  order  to  avoid  falling  into  the  hands  of  bis  enemy, 
put  an  end  to  his  own  life  by  the  assistance  of  one  of  his 
slaves,  whom  he  comroajided  to  be  his  executioner.  VtL 
fOttcrc.  ii.  69. 
1 


Book  XIV.         of  CICERO. 


Sir 


Hirtius  will  be  in  no  haste  to  come  into  these 
provinces,  but  rather  choose  to  finish  their 
consular  year  at  Rome.  For  this  reason  I  am 
inclined  to  hope  that  you  may  prevail  with  them 
to  appoint  me  their  substitute, 

I  have  received  assurances  from  both  of  them, 
as  well  in  person  as  by  letter,  that  no  successor 
should  be  elected  to  my  office  during  their  con- 
sulate :  and  Pansa  has  lately  repeated  the  same 
promise  to  my  friend  Verrius.  Believe  me,  it 
is  not  from  any  ambitious  views  that  I  desire 
to  be  continued  some  time  longer  in  this  pro- 
vince. But  as  I  have  met  with  many  difficul- 
ties and  disadvantages  in  the  discharge  of  my 
functions,  I  should  extremely  regret  the  being 
obliged  to  resign  my  post  before  I  shall  have 
fully  reaped  the  fruit  of  my  labours.  If  it 
were  in  my  power  to  remit  to  Rome  the  whole 
of  those  assessments  I  had  actually  levied,  I 
should  be  so  far  from  wishing  to  remain  here, 
that  I  should  desire  to  be  recalled.  But  I  am 
very  solicitous  to  receive  the  money  I  advanced 
to  Cassius ;  to  replace  what  I  lost  by  the  death 
of  Trebonius,  and  the  oppressions  of  Dolabel- 
la; as  well  as  to  recover  the  several  sums  which 
are  due  to  me  from  those  who  havT  perfidiously 
broken  the  good  faith  they  owed  both  to  my- 
self and  to  the  republic.  Now,  these  are  points 
which  I  can  by  no  means  effect,  unless  the 

time 


[ 


■^jii 


f 


318 


The  letters         Book  XIV. 


Book  XIV.        of  CICERO. 


519 


V 


f 


time  of  my  continuance  in  this  province  be 
prolonged  :  a  privilege  wliicli  I  hope  to  obtain 
by  the  interposition  of  your  usual  good  offices. 
I  persuade  myself  that  my  services  to  the 
commonwealth  give  me  just  reason  to  expect, 
not  the  honour  only  of  administering  this  pro- 
vince, but  as  high  dignities  as  Cassius  and 
the  two  Bruti :  as  I  not  only  shared  with  them 
in  forming  the  design  and  undergoing  the  ha- 
zard of  that  ever-memorable  enterprize  against 
Caesar^,  but  have  exerted  myself  with  equal  zeal 
and  spirit  in  all  our  present  commotions.  I 
was  the  first,  let  me  boast,  that  bid  defiance  to 
the  oppressive  laws  of  Antony.  I  was  the  first 
that  brouo-ht  over  the  cavalry  of  Dolabella  to 
the  interest  of  the  republic,  and  delivered  them 
into  the  hands  of  Cassius.  I  was  the  first  who 
levied  troops  in  defence  of  our  common  liber- 
ties against  the  infamous  attempts  of  those  who 
have  conspired  our  destruction  :  and  it  is  ow- 
ing entirely  to  me  that  Syria,  together  with  the 
army  in  that  province,  joined  themselves  under 
Cassius  in  the  support  of  the  republic.  The 
truth  is,  if  I  had  not  very  expeditiously  con- 
tributed 

9  Plutarch  (as  Manutius  in  bis  remark  upon  this  passage 
observes)  taking  notice  that  several  affected  to  be  thought  as- 
sociates in  the  conspiracy  against  Caesar,  who,  in  tiuth,  were 
in  no  way  concerned  in'  that  affair  ;  particularly  mentions 
Lentulus  as  one  in  that  number.  But  he  paid  dear  for  his 
boast ;  as  it  cost  him  his  life  when  Octavius  got  into  power. 
Fiut.  in  ri/.  G^sar, 


tributed  those  large  subsidies,  both  of  men  and 
money,  \vith  which  I  supplied  Cassius,  he  would 
not  have  ventured  to  march  into  Syria :  and  the 
name  of  Dolabella  would  now  have  been  no 
less  formidable  to  the  republic  than  that  of  An- 
tony himself.  Yet,  at  the  same  time,  that  I 
acted  thus  warmly  for  the  interest  of  the  repub- 
lic, I  had  every  private  bias  that  could  draw 
me  to  the  opposite  party.  Dolabella  was  my 
friend  and  companion ;  as  the  Antonys  were 
Tny  nearest  relations  :  and  it  was  by  the  united 
good  offices  of  the  latter  that  I  obtained  the 
quaestorship  of  this  province.  But  the  love  of 
my  country  was  superior  to  every  other  attach- 
ment :  and  I  stood  forth  the  first  to  declare  war 
against  the  strongest  and  most  endearing  con- 
nexions both  of  blood  and  friendship.  Incon- 
siderable, it  must  be  acknowledged,  is  the  fruit 
which  I  have  hitherto  reaped  from  these  in- 
stances of  my  patriotism.  However,  I  do  not 
despair :  and  I  shall  unweariedly  ])ersevere,  not 
only  in  displaying  my  zeal  for  our  liberties,  but 
in  exposing  myself  to  every  difficulty  and 
every  danger  for  their  support.  Nevertheless, 
I  cannot  but  add,  if  I  were  to  be  encouraged 
by  some  of  those  honours  I  have  merited  from 
the  senate  and  from  every  friend  to  our  coun^ 
try,  they  would  give  me  an  authority  which 

would 


320 


The  letters 


Book  XIV. 


,i. 


would  enable  me  to  act  with  greater  advantage 
to  the  common  cause. 

I  did  not  see  your  son  when  I  was  with  Bru- 
tus, as  he  was  just  gone  into  winter-quarters 
with  the  cavalry*.  But  I  had  the  satisfaction 
of  finding  that  he  was  in  general  esteem  : 
which  gave  me  great  pleasure,  not  only  on  his 
account  and  yours,  but  hkewise  upon  my  own. 
For  I  cannot  but  consider  a  son  of  yours,  that 
thus  copies  out  his  father's  virtues,  as  standing 
in  the  relation  to  me  of  a  brother.     Farewel. 


Perga%  May  the  29tb. 


LETTER 


I  ti 


Brutus,  when  he  first  left  Italy,  sailed  directly  for 
*'  Athens,  where  he  spent  some  time  in  concerting  measures 
"  how  to  make  himself  master  of  Greece  and  Macedonia : 
"  which  was  the  great  design  that  he  had  in  view.  Here  he 
*'  gathered  about  him  all  the  young  nobility  and  gentry  of 
**  Rome,  who,  for  the  opportunity  of  their  education,  had 
**  been  sent  to  this  celebrated  seat  of  learning  :  but  of  them 
"  all,  he  took  the  most  notice  of  young  Cicero.  He  made 
"  him,  therefore,  one  of  his  lieutenants,  though  he  was  but 
**  twenty  years  old  ;  gave  him  the  command  of  his  horse ; 
"  and  employed  him  in  several  commissions  of  great  trust 
*'  and  importance ;  in  all  which  the  young  man  distinguished 
"  both  his  courage  and  conduct."  Life  ofQc.  iii.  142. 
*  A  city  of  Pamphylja,  in  Asia  Minor :  now  called  Pirgi, 


Book  XIV.        of  CICERO. 


321 


LETTER  XXVII. 

[A.  u.rio.] 
Lentulus,  Proqua^stor  and  Propraetor,  to  the 
Consuls,  the  Praetors,  the  Tribunes  of  the 
People,  the  Senate,  and  the  Commons  of 
Rome. 

As  soon  as  Dolabella  had  possessed  himself  of 
Asia*  by  the  most  infamous  and  cruel  act  of 
treachery*,  I  applied  immediately  to  the  army 
in  Macedonia  under  the  command  of  the  illus- 
trious Marcus  Brutus,  as  the  nearest  assistance 
to  which  I  could  have  recourse,  in  order  to  re- 
cover this  province  as  soon  as  possible  to  the 
dominion  of  the  commonwealth.  But  Dolabel- 
la being  apprehensive  of  my  design,  advanced 
with  so  much  rapidity,  that  he  had  got  out  of 
these  territories  before  it  was  possible  that  the 
forces  I  had  solicited  could  arrive.      In  his 
march,  however,  he  laid  the  whole  country 
waste,  seized  upon  the  public  money,  and  not 
only  plundered  the  Roman  citizens  of  their  ef- 
fects, but  most  inhumanly  sold  them  as  slaves. 
I  did  not  think  it  necessary,  therefore,  to  defer 
my  departure  out  of  Macedonia,  till  the  troops 
of  Brutus  should  be  ready.     It  appeared  to  be 


*  Asia  Minor.     See  rem.  8.  p.  309.  vol.  il. 

•  See  rem.  7.  p.  273.  of  this  vol. 

Vol.  III.  Y 


most 


:f 


S22 


The  letters         Book  XIV. 


Book  XIV. 


OF  CICERO. 


313 


It 


V    ii"  < 


I 


Hi: 


most  for  the  advantage  of  the  repuhlic,  that  I 
should  return  with  all  expedition  to  the  duties 
of  my  post,  in  order  to  levy  the  remainder  of 
the  public  taxes,  to  collect  the  money  I  had 
deposited,  to  inquire  what  part  of  it  had  been 
seized,  and  by  whose  neglect :  in  a  word,  to 
transmit  to  you  a  full  and  faithful  account  of 
the  state  in  which  I  should  find  the  affairs  of 
this  province.    With  these  views,  I  embarked : 
but  as  1  was  sailing  among  the  Greek  islands, 
1  received  intelligence  that  Dolabella's  fleet  lay 
off  the  coast  of  Lycia,  and  that  the  llhodians 
had  a  considerable  number  of  ships  of  war  ready 
.to  sail.     I  resolved,  therefore,  to  put  back  to 
Rhodes  with  the  ships  that  attended  me,  and 
which  were  now  joined   by  those  under  the 
command  of  Patiscus,  the  proqua^stor :  a  person 
whom  I  must  mention  as  most  intimately  unit- 
ed with  me,  not  only  by  the  ties  of  friendship, 
but  by  the  same  common  sentiments  towards 
the  republic.     I  assured  myself  that  the  llho- 
dians would  give  me  assistance,  in   the  first 
place,   from  their  regard  to  the  authority  of 
war  degree,  by  which  Dolabella  is  declared  an 
enemy  to  his  country :  and,  in  the  next,  as  they 
stood  engaged  by  a  solemn  treaty  renewed  with 
us  in  the  consulate  of  Marcus  Marcellus  and 
Servius  Sulpicius,   to  consider  the  enemies  of 

the 


the  republic,  in  all  respects,  as  their  own.  But 
I  was  greatly  deccivedin  my  expectation:  they 
Avcre  so  fflr  from  beino'  inclined  to  strensrthen 
my  fleet  with  any  of  their  own  ships,  that  they 
would  not  suffer  it  to  enter  their,  harbour. 
They  even  refused  to  furnish  our  soldiers  with 
provisions  and  water:  audit  was  with  difficul- 
ty I  obtained  permission  myself  to  sail  into 
their  port  with  two  small  vessels.  However,  I 
did  nn^.  think  proper  to  resent  this  insult  upon 
the  rights  and  the  majesty  of  the  Roman  peo- 
ple :  deeming  it  of  more  importance,  in  the  pre- 
sent conjuncture,  to  frustrate  the  designs  of 
Dolabella.  For  I  had  discovered,  bv  some  in^ 
tercepted  letters,  that  it  was  his  purpose,  if  he 
failed  in  his  attempt  upon  Syria  and  Egypt,  (a§ 
fail  I  was  sure  he  must)  to  proceed  directly 
with  his  band  of  robbers  and  their  plunder,  to 
Italy.  Accordingly,  in  view  to  this  his  scheme, 
he  had  pressed,  out  of  the  ports  of  Lycia,  a  con- 
siderable number  of  transports,  none  of  thciU 
less  than  fifty-six  tons  burthen^ :  and  these 
were  strongly  guarded  by  his  fleet.  ;Beiiig 
greatly  alarmed,  therefore,  conscript*  fathers, 

at 


■>'i 


^  These  vessels  were  much  inferior  to  ihosf  emjT^oycd  for 
the  same  purposes  in  our  i>ei,vice ;  liie  iargt^st  of  which  are 
of  300  tons,  and  the  smallest  of  100. 

*  This  appellation  wasat  first  giv«ri  as  a  mark  of  distinc* 
tion  to  tho^c  particular  seuatJis   who  wcie  added  by  Tar- 

Y  2  qiiiuiu^ 


I^f! 


324 


The  letters        Book  XIV. 


at  this  dangerous  design :  I  resolved  to  bear 
with  the  injurious  treatment  of  the  Rhodians, 
and  to  submit  to  every  milder  expedient  of 
gaining  them  over  to  our  interest.     Ibr  this 
purpose,  I  suffered  myself  to  be  introduced  into 
their  senate  in  the  manner  they  thought  piftj 
per :  where  I  represented,  in  the  strongest  terms 
I  was  capable,  the  danger  to  which  the  repub- 
lic would  be  exposed,   if  that  infamous  rebel 
should  transport  his  forces  into  Italy.     But  J^ 
found  them  most  perversely  disposed  to  ima- 
gine, that  the  friends  of  the  republic  were  the 
weaker  party ;  that  the  general  association  iq 
favour  of  our  liberties  was  by  no  means  volun- 
tary.; that  the  senate  would  still  patiently  suf- 
fer the  insolence  of  Dolabella ;  and  that  no  man 
tvould  venture  to  vote  him  a  public  enemy.  Ta 
be  short,  they  were  more  inclined  to  believe  the. 
false  reports  that  had  been  propagated  by  the 
disaffected,  than  to  credit  my  representations, 
though  entirely  agreeable  to  truth.    In  confor-* 
jnity  with  ^is  disposition,  they  had  sent,  b^-, 
fore  mv  arrival  in  the  island,  two  several  em^, 
bassies  to  Dolabella,  notwithstanding  hi§  k^. 

assassi-> 

quinius  Priscas,  or  by  the  people  at  the  settling  of  the  c<omA 
irionwealth,   to  the  hundred    which  friginally  composed  th^ 
senate  as  it  was  instituted  by  Romulos.     But,  iti  after-liihesi 
it  became  a  common  title,  which  wff  promiscuously  made  ^%p\ 
of  in   all   addresses   to   that  great  coODcil  of  the  republic^^ 
Vid,  Manut.de senai^  .  "--^ 

.    i 


Book  XIV. 


OF  CICERO. 


«g5 


assassination  of  Trebonius,  and  the  many  other 
flagitious  acts  which  he  committed  in  this  pro- 
vince.    And  this  they  did  by  an  unexample4 
violation  of  their  laws,  and  contrary  to  the  ex- 
press prohibitions  of  the  magistrates  who  were 
then  in  office.     But  whethej-  this  conduct  was 
owing  to  their  fears  for  the  territories  they  pos- 
sess l3n  the  continent,  as  they  themselves  al- 
ledge ;  or  whether  it  is  to  be  imputed  to  tl^e 
fectious  influence  of  a  few  of  their  principal  ma- 
gistrates, who  formerly  treated  some  of  our  iU 
histrious  countrymen  with  equal  indignity,  I 
know  not.     This,  however,  is  certkiri,  that  t 
could  not  prevail  with  them  to*  take  any  mjea- 
fiures  to  obviate  an  evil,   which  it  was  very 
easy  for  them  to  prevent:  and  all  the  arguments 
r  could  use,  either  with  respect  to  my  own  per- 
sonal danger,  or  in  regard  to  that  which  threat- 
eh'ed  the  republic,  if  this  traitor,  with  his  ban- 
ditti, after  being  driven   from  Syria,    should 
transport  themselves  into  Italy,  proved  utterly 
ineffectual. ^' It  was  even  suspected, 'that  the 
magistrates  themselves  amused  us  with  various 
pretences^  of  delay,  till  they  could  send'inMli-' 
gence   to   Dolabella's   fleet  of  our  approach. 
And,  indeed,   there  were  some  circumstances^ 
that  greatly  increased  this  suspicion ;  particu- 
lariy,  that  Sextius  Marius,  and  Caius  Titius, 
the  lieutenants  of  Dolabella,  suddenly  quitted- 

^  ^  the 


ri 


326 


The  letters        Book  XIV. 


I 


i 


¥ 


the  fleet,  and  abandoned  their  transports,  which 
had  cost  tliem  so  much  time  and  pains  to  col- 
lect    Be  that  as  it  will,  I  pursued  my  voyage 
from  Rhodes  towards  Lycia,  and  falling  in  with 
the  enemy,  I  took  all  their  transports,  and  have 
restored  them  to  their  owners.  By  these  itie^ns 
1  have  obstructed  what  I  so  much  feared,  and  . 
have  remove(t  all  apprehensions  of  Dolabella  s 
passing  into  Italy  with  his  rascal  crew.  I  chased 
the  enemy  as  far  as  Sida,  w^hich  is  the  utmost  li- 
mit of  my  province ;  where  I  learnt  that  part 
of  them  were  separated,  and  that  the  rest  had 
steered  in  company  together  towards  Syra  and 
the  island  of  Cyprus.     Having  thus  dispersed 
this  squadron,   and  knowing  that  brave  com- 
mander and  excellent  patriot,    the  illustrious 
Caius  Cassius,  had  a  considerable  fleet  in  those 
seas,  I  returned  to  the  duties  of  my  employment : 
and  it  shall  be  my  endeavour,  conscript  fathers, 
to  give  both  you  and  the  republic  full  proofs 
of  my  indefatigable  zeal.     To  this  end,  I  shall 
exert  my  utmost  assiduity  in  collecting  the 
public  revenues,  which  I  shall  transmit  to  you, 
together  with  all  my  accounts,  as  expeditiously 
as  possible.  If  I  should  have  time,  likewise,  to 
malce  a  progress  through  the  province,  in  order 
to  inquire  into  the  conduct  of  those  with  whom 
I  entrusted  the  care  of  the  financ^s^  l^^all  not 
fail  to  send  a  list  of  such  who  sh?Jl  appear  to 

have 


Book  XIV.        of  CICERO., 


327 


have  been  faithful  to  their  trust,  as  well  as  of 
those  who,   by  voluntarily  betraying  it,   have 
rendered  themselves  partners  in  the  guilt  of  Do- 
labella.    Let  me  add,  that  if  you  shall  think 
proper  to  chastise  these  last,  according  to  their 
., demerits,  the  execution  of  your  justice  will 
greatly  strengthen  my  authority,  and  enable  me, 
with  more  facility,  to  raise  and  preserve  the  re- 
mainder of  the   pubhc  taxes.     In  the  mean 
while,  the  better  to  secure  the  public  revenue, 
and  to  protect  this  province  from  future  in- 
sults, I  have  formed  (what,   indeed,   was  ex- 
tremely wanting)  a  body  of  troops  composed 
entirely  of  volunteers. 
„  ji     Since  I  wrote  the  above,  about  thirty  Asiatic 
soldiers,  who  deserted  from  Dolabella  in  Syria, 
are  arrived  in  Pamphylia.     They  relate  that 
Dolabella  appeared  before  the  walls  of  Antio- 
chia,  in  Syria,  and  finding  that  the  inhabitants 
had  shut  the  city  gates  against  him,  lie  made 
several  attempts  to  enter  by  force ;  but  was  al- 
ways repulsed   with  great  disadvantage.     At 
„  leno-th,  bavins:  lost  about  an  hundred  men,  he 
retired  in  the  night,  and  fled  towards  Laodicea; 
leavino*  all  his  sick  and  wounded  behind  him. 
They  add,  that  the  same  night  almost  the  whole 
of  his  Asiatic  troops  deserted;  eight  hundred  of 
\v:bi(:lv  returned  to  Antiochia,  and  surrendered 

Y  4  themselves 


01 


li 


328 


The  letters         Book  XIV, 


—'  i . 


Book  XIV.  of  CICERO. 


329 


themselves  to  the  officers  of  the  garrison,  which 
Cassius  had  left  in  that  town ;  the  rest,  (of 
which  number  these  soldiers  are)  came  down 
into  Cilicia  by  mount  Amanus;  in  fine,  that 
Cassius,  with  his  whole  army,  was  reported  to 
have  been  but  four  days  march  from  Laodicea 
when  Dolabella  retired  towards  that  city.  I  am 
persuaded,  therefore,  that  this  most  infamous 
villain  will  meet  with  the  punishment  he  de» 
serves  much  sooner  than  we  expected. 

LETTER  XXVIIL 

[A.U.  710.] 

Lepidus,  Imperator  and  sovereign  Pontiff*, 
to  the  Senate  and  People  of  Rome^. 

Heaven  and  earth  will  bearmc  witness,  con- 
script fathers,  that  there  is  nothing  I  have  at  all 
times  more  sincerely  desired,  than  the  preserva- 
tion of  our  common  liberties :  and  I  should 

soon 

il  f'Tbe  function  of  the  Roman  pontiffs  was  to  give  ju<lg- 
menl  in  ali  causes  relating  to  religion,  and  to  regulate  the  fes« 
tivals,  sacrifices,  and  all  other  sacred  institutions.  The  so- 
vereign pontiff,  or  superintendant  of  these  pontificeSj  was  one 
of  the  most  honourable  offices  in  the  commoDwealth. 

'  This  letter  was  wnii.^n  by  Lepidus  to  the  senate,  in  or- 
der to  excuse  tne  junction  t-f  hi*«  forces  with  ih<  se  of  Antony; 
which  was  effected  the  da>  before  its  date.  But  though  he 
represen's  himself  as  merely  pa^sive  in  that  transaction,  and 
to  hav-  been  fc  ;ced  into  it  by  a  gernral  revolt  of  hi«  troops  ; 
yet  It  most  evidently  appears  to  have  been  iii  consequence  of 
a  secret  reaiy  which  had  been  in  H^jtation  during  some 
months  before,  between  him  and  Antony. 


soon  have  convinced  you  of  this  truth,  if  For- 
tune had  not  forced  me  to  renounce  those  mea- 
sures I  purposed  to  pursue.  My  whole  army, 
indeed,  expressed  their  usual  tenderness  to- 
wards their  fellow  countrymen,  by  a  mutinous 
opposition  to  my  designs;  and,  to  own  the 
truth,  they  absolutely  compelled  me  not  to  re- 
fuse my  protection  to  such  a  multitude  of  Ro- 
man citizens.  I  conjure  you  then,  conscript 
fathers,  to  judge  of  this  affair,  not  by  the  sug- 
gestions of  private  resentment,  but  by  the  in- 
terest of  the  commonwealth  :  nor  let  it  be  im- 
puted as  a  crime  to  me  and  my  army,  that, 
amidst  our  civil  dissentions,  we  yielded  to  the 
dictates  of  compassion  and  humanity.  Be  as- 
sured,  that  by  acting  with  an  equal  regard  to 
the  safety  and  honour  of  all  parties,  you  will 
best  consult  both  your  own  and  your  country's 
advantage.     Farewel. 

From  my  camp,  at  Pons  Argenteus, 
May  the  30th. 

LETTER 


1 1  "',:,< 


<i*ti 


•ti 


(     331     ) 


LETTERS 


OF 


MARCUS  TULLIUS  CICERO 


TO 


SEVERAL  OF  HIS  FRIENDS. 


BOOK  XV. 


LETTER  L 

[A.  U.  710.] 

To  Plancus. 

1  HOUGH  I  am  too  well  assured  of  the  dispo- 
sition of  your  heart,  to  require  any  formal  de- 
clarations of  your  gratitude,  yet  I  cannot  but 
confess  that  I  received  your  acknowledgments 
with  great  pleasure,^  as  they  afforded  me  the 
most  evident  proof  of  the  affection  you  bear 
me.     I  was  always,  indeed,  perfectly  sensible 

4  of 


(I 


332 


The  letters  Book  XV. 


Book  XV.        of  CICERO. 


$33 


of  your  friendship ;  but  it  never  appeared  to  me 
in  a  stronger  or  more  advantageous  light. 

Your  letter  to  the  senate  was  extremely  well 
received,  not  only  from  the  important  account 
it  brought  us  of  your  wise  and  heroic  measures, 
bWt  as  it  was  greatly  admired  likewise  for  the 
strength  and  elegance  of  its  composition.     Let 
it  be  your  earnest  labour,  my  dear  Plancus, 
to  extinguish  the  remains  of  this  war,  which  if 
you  should  happily  effect,  you  will  acquire  the 
most  consummate  credit  and   reputation.     I 
wish  all  possible  prosperity  to  the  republic ;  yet, 
believe  me,   spent  as  I  am  with  my  utmost  ef- 
forts  to  preserve   it  from  destruction,    I  ani 
sferce  more  solicitous  for  the  liberties  of  my 
country,  than  for  the  glory  of  my  friend.     I 
hope  that  the  immortal  gods  have  placed  within 
your  power  a  most  favourable  opportunity  of 
increasing  your  fame ;  and  let  me  entreat  you 
to  embrace  it,  my  dear  Plancus,  in  the  full 
persuasion  that  whoever  shall  destroy  Antony, 
vAM  have  the  honour  of  terminating  this  most 
execrable  and  alarming  war.     Farewel. 
,       1         ''''  LETTER 


ir. 


-fk-i   UU    <3i4Ui 


M,   U 


'Tl 


c    ff.. 


7/   I 

!ii0V/ 


}  f1 


J 


Igv  ^- 


'6  cp 


LETTER  ir. 

ll)v#  [A.U,710.] 

AsiNius  PoLLio*  to  Cicero.  n 

It  is  owing  to  Lepidus,  who  detained  my  cou- 
riers above  a  week,  that  I  did  not  receive  ear- 
lier advice  of  the  several  actions  near  Mutina  • 
though,  indeed,  I  should  be  glad  to  have  beei\ 
the  last  that  was   informed  of  this  unhappv 
news,  if  it  were  utterly  out  of  my  power  to  be' 
of  any  assistance  in  redressing  its  consequences. 
I  wish  the  senate  had  ordered  me  intp  Italy^ 
when  they  sent  for  Plancus  and  Lepidus ;  for! 
if  I  had  been  present,  the  republic  would  not 
have  received  this  cruel  wound.     And  thouo-h 
some,  perhaps,  may  rejoice  in  this  event,  frc^. 
the  great  number  of  principal  officers  and  vete^ 
ran  soldiers  of  the  C^sariaii  party  who  have^ 
perished,  yet  they  will  undoubtedly  find  reason . 
to  jament  it,  when  they  shall  be^ensibleof  the  , 
terrible  desolation  it  has  brought  ^upon  thdr  ' 
country.     For  if  what  is  related,  cjoncerning'l 
the  number  of  the  slain,  be  in  any  degree  true, " 
the  flower  and  strength  of  our  armies  are  en- 
tirely cut  off. 

I  was  well  aware  of  the  great  advantage  it 
would  have  proved  to  the  republic,  if  I  could 

have 

'  See  rem.  6.  p.  207.  and  rem.  1.  p.  208.  of  this  vol. 


334 


The  letters 


Book  XV. 


V: 


have  joined  Lepidus;  as  I  should  have  been  ahle, 
especially  with  the  assistance  of  Plancus,  to 
llave  dissipated  those  doubts  which  occasioned 
his  delay  in  declaring  for  the  senate.  But  the 
letters  which  I  received  from  him  beinor  writ- 
ten  (as  you  will  perceive  by  the  copies  I  here- 
with transmit)  in  the  same  spirit  wnth  those 
speeches  which,  it  is  said,  he  made  to  his  army 
at  *Narbo,  I  found  it  neccssarv  to  act  with 
some  sort  of  artifice  towards  him,  if  I  hoped  to 
obtain  leave  to  march  my  troops  through  his 
province.  I  was  apprehensive,  likewise,  if  an 
engagement  should  happen  before  I  could  ex- 
'ecute  my  designs,  that  the  known  friendship 
I  had  with  Antony  (though  not  superior,  in- 
deed, to  that  which  Plancus  entertained  for 
him)  would  give  my  enemies  an  occasion  of 
misrepresenting  my  intentions.  For  these  rea- 
sons I  dispatched  two  couriers  from  Gades^  in 
the  month  of  April,  by  two  different  ships, 
with  letters,  not  only  to  you,  and  to  Octaviiis, 
Jmt  to  the  consuls  also,  requesting  to  be  in- 
formed in  what  manner  my  services  might 
most  avail  the  republic.  But,  if  1  am  right  in 
my  calculation,  thc^e' ships  did  not  sail  till  the 
very  day  on  which  the  battle  was  fought  hc- 
tM'een    Pansa   and   Antony ;  as  that  m^is   the 

soonest, 

*  Narbonne,  in  Provence. 
'  Cadiz. 


Book  XV. 


OF  CICERO. 


335 


soonest,  I  think,  since  the  winter,  that  these 
seas  were  navigable.  To  these  reasons  for  not 
marching,  I  must  add,  that  I  had  so  little  ap- 
prehension  of  this  civil  war,  that  I  settled  the 
winter-quarters  of  my  troops  in  the  ATry  re- 
motest parts  of  Lusitania*.  Both  armies,  it 
should  'seem,  were  as  eager  to  come  to  an  ac- 
tion, as  if  their  greatest  fears  on  each  side  were, 
lest  some  less  destructive  expedient  might  be 
found  of  composing  our  disturbances.  How- 
ever, if  circumstances  required  so  much  preci- 
pitation, I  must  do  Hirtius  the  justice  to  ac- 
knowledge, that  he  conducted  himself  with  all 
the  skill  and  courage  of  a  consummate  general. 
I  am  informed,  by  my  letters  from  that  part 
of  Gaul  which  is  under  the  command  of  Lepi- 
dus,  that  Pansa's  whole  army  is  cut  to  pieces, 
and  that  he  himself  is  since  dead  of  his  Mounds. 
They  add,  that  the  martial  legion  is  entirely 
destroyed,  and  that  Lucius.  Fabatus,  Caius 
Peducasus,  and  Decimus  Carfulenus,  are  amon<»- 
the  number  of  the  slain.  My  intelligence  far- 
ther assures  me,  that,  in  the  subsequent  attack 
:J)jrj.Hirtius,  both  he  and  Antony  lost  all  their 
legions :  that  the  fourth  legion,  after  having 
taken  Antony's  camp,  was  engaged  and  de- 
feated by  the  fifth,  with  terrible  slaughter; 
that  Hirtius,   together  w^ith  Pontius   Aquila, 

and, 


♦  Portugal. 


336 


The  letters         Book  XV. 


and,  as  it  is  reported,  Octavius  likewise,  were 
killed  in  the  action.  If  this  should  prove  true, 
(which  the  gods  forbid)  I  shall  be  very  greatly 
concerned,  My  advices  farther  import,  that 
Antony  has,  with  great  disgrace,  abandoned 
the  siege  of  Mutina ;  however,  that  he  has  **** 
complete  regiments  of  horse  still  remaining, 
together  with  one  which  belongs  to  Publius 
Bao-iennus,  as  also  a  considerable  number  of 
disarmed  soldiers ;  that  Ventidius  has  joined 
him  with  the  seventh,  the  eighth,  and  the  ninth 
legions ;  and  that  Antony  has  determined,  if 
there  should  be  no  hopes  of  gaining  Lepidus, 
to  have  recourse  to  the  last  expedient,  and  arm 
not  only  the  provincials,  but  even  the  slaves  ;  in 
fine,  that  Lucius  Antonius,  after  having  plun- 
dered the  city  of  Parma,  has  posted  himself 
upon  the  Alps.  If  these  several  particulars  are 
true,  there  is  no  time  to  be  lost ;  and  every 
man  who  wishes  that  the  republic,  or  even  the 
name  of  the  Roman  people,  may  subsist,  should 
immediately,  without  waiting  for  the  express 
orders  of  the  senate,  contribute  his  utmost  as- 
sistance to  extinguish  these  dreadful  flames.  I 
hear  that  Uecimus  Brutus  is  at  the  head  of 
only  seventeen  cohorts,  together  with  two  in- 
complete legions  of  new- raised  troops,  which 
had  been  levied   by   Antony.     I  doubt   not, 

however, 

*  The  number  is  omilted  ia  the  MSS. 


Book  XV.  of  CICERO. 


337 


however,  that  the  remains  of  the  forces  com- 
manded by  Hirtius  will  join  him.    I  hope  so  at 
least :  as  there  is  httle,  I  think,  to  be  expected 
from  any  new  recruits  that  may  be  raised ;.  es- 
pecially since  nothing  can  be  more  dangerous 
than  to  give  Antony  time  to  recover  strength. 
My  next  letters  from  Italy  will  determine  the 
plan  of  my  operations  :  and,  as  the  corn  is  now 
cut  down,  arid  partly  carried  in,  I  shall  be  more 
at  liberty  to  execute  them  without  obstruction 
from  the  season  of  the  year.    In  the  mean  time, 
let  me  assure  you,  that  I  will  neither  desert,  nor 
survive^  the  republic.    It  is  a  misfortune,  how- 
ever, that  my  distance  from  the  scene  of  action 
is  so  great,  and  the  roads  so  infested,  that  it  is 
often  six  weeks,  and  sometimes  more,  ere  1 
can  be  informed  of  any  event  that  has  happened. 
Farewcl. 

LETTER 

'  Notwithstanding  Pollio's  pious  resolutions  of  expirinff 
with  the  republic,  he  was  contented  to  live  on,  long  after  its 
total  destruction,  and  died  in  a  good  old  age  in  the  court  and 
favour  of  Augustus.  It  was  not  many  months,  indeed,  from 
the  date  of  this  letter,  that  he  united  with  the  enemies  of  his 
country,  by  joining  his  troops  with  those  of  Antony  and  Le- 
pidus.    Juct,  Dial,  de  Caut.  Corrupt,  Eloquent. 


Vol.  IIL 


LETTER 


338 


Tafc  LETTERS        Book  XV. 


LETTER  IIL 

[A.  U.  710.] 

Decimus  Brutus  to  Cicero. 

It  affords  me  some  consolation,  in  the  midst  of 
ray  great  concern^  that  the  world  is  at  length 
convinced  that  my  fears  were  not  without  just 
foundation*.  I  have  sent,  by  this  express,  a  full 
account  of  the  whole  aftair  to  the  senate.  And 
BOW  let  them  deliberate,  if  they  please,  whether 
they  shall  call  home  their  troops  from  Africa 
and  Sardinia,  whether  they  shall  send  for  Mar- 
cus Brutus,  and  whether  they  shall  order  the 
payment  of  my  forces.  But  of  this  you  may 
be  well  assured,  that  unless  they  act,  with  re- 
gard to  these  several  articles,  in  the  manner  I 
have  pointed  out  in  my  letter,  we  shall  all  of  us 
be  exposed  to  the  utmost  danger. 

I  entreat  you  to  be  extremely  cautious  whom 
the  senate  shall  employ  to  conduct  the  troops 
that  are  to  reinforce  me  :  as  it  is  a  trust  which 
requires  great  fidehty  and  expedition.   Farewel. 

From  my  camp,  June  3d. 

LETTER 

^  Occasioned  by  the  treachery  of  Lepidus,  in  having  de- 
serted the  cause  of  the  republic,  and  joined  himself  to  An- 
tony, this  letter  appears  to  have  been  written  a  few  days  after 
that  event ;  being  dated  the  3d  of  June,  and  the  junction  be- 
tween the  two  armies  of  Lepidus  and  Antony  having  been 
effected  on  the  29ih  of  May. 

*  See  the  llih  letter  of  the  preceding  book,  p.  276-  t» 
which  this  seems  to  allude. 


FooK  XV. 


OF  CICERO. 


339 


LETTER  IV. 

[A.  U.  710.] 

To  Decimus  Brutus^.  "^^^ 

M^it  every  god  confound  that  most  infamous 
of  all  human  beings,   the  execrable  SeguHus  ! 
;For  do  you  imagine,  my  friend,  that  he  has 
told  this  idle  tale  to  none  but  Caesar,  or  to  you  ? 
Be  assured  he  has  related  it  to  every  mortal 
that  would  give  him  the  hearing.    I  am  much 
obliged  to  you,  however,  for  informing  me  of 
this  contemptible  report :  as  it  is  a  very  strong 
Iflitance,  my  dear  Brutus,  of  the  share  you  al- 
low me  in  your  friendship.  ^ 
As  to  what  he  mentioned  concerning  the 
complaints  of  the  veterans,  that  you  and  Csesar 
are  left  out  of  the  commission  for  dividing  the 
lands,  I  sincerely  wish  I  had,  likewise,  been  ex- 
cluded from  so  troublesome  an  office.     But  it 
is  by  no  means  to  be  imputed  to  me,  that  you 
were  not  both  nominated  :  on  the  contrary,  I 
moved  that  all  our  generals  should  be  included. 
J^uttliQ  glamours  of  those  who  always  endea- 
voured to  obstruct  your  honours,   carried  it 
against  me:  and  you  were  both  excepted,  in 

opposition 


M:f 


T  This  letter  is  an  answer  to  the  23d  of  the  foregoing 
book  :  and  was  written  before  any  of  the  letters  which  give 
^D  account  of  Antony's  being  received  by  Lepidus  had  co.-ae 
to  Cicero's  hand8. 

Z2 


340 


Thb  letters 


Book  XV. 


opposition  to  my  warmest  efforts.  Unheeded 
then  by  me,  let  Segulius  propagate  his  impo* 
tent  calumnies  !  For  all  that  the  man  means  is 
nothing  more  than  to  repair  his  broken  for- 
tunes. Not  that  he  can  be  charged  with  hay- 
ing dissipated  his  patrimony  :  for  patrimony  he 
never  had.  He  has  only  squandered  in  luxury 
what  he  acquired  by  infamy. 

You  may  be  perfectly  at  ease,  my  dear  and 
excellent  Brutus,  with  regard  to  those  fears 
which  you  so  generously  entertain  upon  my  ac- 
count, at  the  same  time  that  you  feel  none, 
you  tell  me,  upon  your  own.  .  Be  assured  I  shall 
expose  myself  to  no  dangers  which  prudence 
can  prevent :  and,  as  to  those  against  which 
no  precaution  can  avail,  I  am  httle  solicitous. 
High,  indeed,  would  my  presumption  be,  werfe 
I  to  desire  to  be  privileged  beyond  the  common 
lot  of  human  nature. 

The  advice  you  give  me  not  to  suffer  my  fears 
to  lead  me  into  greater  dangers  than  those  they 
would  avoid,  supplies  me  at  once  with  a  proof 
both  of  your  judgment  and  your  friendship : 
but  the  caution  is  altogether  unnecessary.  The 
truth  of  it  is,  distinguished  as  you  are  by  a  for- 
titude of  mind,  which  renders  you  incapable  of 
fear  upon  any  occasion ;  yet,  there  i  s  no  man  who 
approaches  nearer  to  you  In  that  quality  than 
4  myself. 


Book  XV. 


r^f    '  ■»■ 


OF  CICERO. 


341 


myself  Nevertheless,  I  shall  always  be  upon 
my  guard,  though  I  shall  never  be  afraid.  In- 
deed, if  I  should  have  any  reason,  will  it  not 
be  wholly  owing,  my  dear  Brutus,  to  yourself? 
For  were  I  of  a  disposition  apt  to  take  alai-m, 
yet  I  should  be  perfectly  composed,  in  the  con* 
ficlence  of  that  protection  I  shall  receive  from 
your  approaching  consulate :  especially  as  the 
world  is  no  less  sensible  than  I  am  of  the  sin^ 
gular  share  I  enjoy  of  your  affection. 

'I  agree  entirely  with  your  opinion  concerning 
the  four  legions,  as  also  that  both  you  and  Cjb^- 
sar  should  have  the  distribution  of  those  estatcJi 
yott  mention.  This  is  an  office  on  which  some 
of  my  colleagues  had  cast  a  very  wishful  eye : 
however,  I  have  disappointed  their  longing,  by 
reserving  it  wholly  for  you  and  Caesar.  In  tlie 
mean  time,  if  any  occurrence  should  arise  that 
requires  particular  secrecy,  I  shall  observe  your 
directions,  and  communicate  it  to  you  by  one  af 
uiy  own  domestics.     Farewel  *^r 

June  the  4tb, 


l(iliJ.^ii„.  i .,»  V  *vv;  .i^    /""  '  ■  ' 


»  ;         J- '      t 


)  jkli 


'Slili  • 'II 


'•  i  I J 


-■    OJ'    Vj 


JC  fl. 


(: 


M 


342 


The'L^^ERS        BooKXf. 


Book  XV.        of  CICERO. 


343 


LETTER  V. 

[A.U.  no.] 

PlaNCUS  to  CiCKRO. 

1  SHALL  never  regret  to  undergo  the  greatest 
dangers  in  the  cause  of  my  country,  provided, 
my  dear  Cicero,  that  whatever  happens  to  my- 
self, I  may  not  justly  be  accused  of  temerity. 
But  I  should  not  scruple  to  confess  that  I  had 
been  guilty  of  an  imprudence,  if  I  had  i?ver 
acted  in  reliance  upon  the  sincerity  of  Lepidus. 
Too  easy  a  disposition  to  give  credit  to  fair  pre- 
tences, cannot  so  properly  be  called  a  fault  as 
an  error :  but  an  error  into  which  the  noblest 
minds  are  generally  most  liable  to  fall.  It  w^ 
not,  however,  from  a  mistake  of  this  nature  that 
I  had  lately  well-nigh  been  deceived  :  for  the 
character  of  Lepidus  I  perfectly  well  knew.  It 
was  entirely  owing  to  a  certain  sensibiHty  of 
what  my  detractors  might  say :  a  quality,  I  will 
freely  acknov/ledge,  particularly  prejudicial  in 
the  affair  of  war.  I  was  apprehensive,  if  \  re- 
mained in  my  camp,  that  those  who  are  inclined 
to  misconstrue  my  actions,  might  represent  me 
as  the  occasion  of  the  war  being  protracted,  by 
obstinately  indulging  my  resentment  against 
Lepidus :  and  therefore  I  advanced  almost  with- 
"in  sight  of  him  and  Antony;  I  encamped,  indeed, 
at  no  greater  distance  from  them  than  forty  miles, 
3  that 


that  I  might  be  able,  as  circumstances  should 
require,  either  speedily  to  join  the  army  of  Le- 
pidus, or  safely  to  retreat  with  my  own.  In 
marking  out  my  camp,  I  chose  a  spot  of  ground 
that  gave  me  the  advantage  of  having  a  large 
river  in  my  front,  which  would  take  up  some 
time  in  passing,  and  that  lay  contiguous,  like- 
wise to  the  country  of  the  Vocontii* :  who,  I 
was  sure,  would  favour  my  retreat.  When  Le- 
pidus found  himself  disappointed  of  what  he  so 
much  wished,  and  that  there  was  no  hopes  of 
my  approaching  nearer,  he  immediately  threw 
off;  the  mask :  and  on  the  29th  of  May  he  joined 
Antony.  The  combined  armies  moved  the 
same  day  in  order  to  invest  my  camp :  and  they 
had  actually  advanced  within  20  miles,  before 
I  received  advice  of  their  junction.  However,  I 
struck  my  tents  with  so  much  expedition,  that, 
by  the  favour  of  the  gods,  I  had  the  happiness 
to  escape  them.  My  retreat  was  conducted 
with  so  much  good  order,  that  no  part  of  my 
baggage,  nor  even  a  single  man,  was  either  left 
behind  or  intercepted  by  these  incensed  vil- 

\  i    .1 ;  '  1 1  i  ;  ■  j  il 

lains.  On  the  4th  of  this  month  I  repassed  the 
Isara  with  my  whole  army :  after  which  I  ])roke 
down  the  bridge  I  had  thrown  across  tnat  river. 
I  took  this  precaution,   that  my  troops  mig^t 

have 

'  A  people  of  NarbonensiaD  Gaul, 

Z4 


4344 


The  letters        ^Book  XV. 


have  time  to  refresh  themselves,  as  well  as  to 
give  my  colleague'  an  opportunity  of  coming  up 
'to  me:  which  I  imagine  he  will  be  able  to  effect 
in  three  days  from  the  date  of  this  letter. 

I  must  always  acknowledge  the  zeal  and  fide- 
lity which  Laterensis  has  shewn  to  the  repub- 
lic, in  his  negotiations  between  Lepidus  and 
myself:  but  it  is  certain  that  his  great  partiality 
towards  Lepidi^s,  prevented  him  from  discern- 
ing the  dangers  into  which  I  have  been  led. 
However,  as  soon  as  he  discovered  how  grossly 
be  had  been  imposed  upon,  he  attempted  to  turn 
that  sword  against  his  own  breast,  which  with 
much  more  justice  had  been  plunged  in  the  heart 
of  Lepidus.  But  he  was  prevented  from  com- 
jxleting  his  purpose  :  and  it  is  said  (though  I 
by  no  means  mention  it  as  a  certainty)  that  the 
wound  he  has  given  himself  is  not  mortal*. 

My  escape  from  these  traitors  has  proved  an 
extrenae  mortification  to  them :  as  they  marched 
to  attack  pie  with  the  same  unrelenting  fury 
which  instigates  them  against  their  country. 
Some  late  circumstances  particularly  contri- 
l^uted  to  inflame  their  resentment.  I  had  fre- 
quently and  warmly  urged  Lepidus  to  extin- 
guish this  civil  war :  I  had  disapproved  of  the 
rtff»tl  conferences 

•  Decimus  Brutus. 

'It  proved  otherwise  :  and  the  senate,  in  honour  of  bis 
"patriotism,  not  only  decreed  him  a  public  fuh^ral,  but  or- 
dered a  statue  lo  be  erected  to  bis  memory.  Dio.  p.  324. 


Book  XV.         ov  CICERO. 


345 


conferences  that  were  holden  with  the  enemv : 
I  had  refused  to  see  the  lieutenants  whom  An- 
tony deputed  to  me  under  the  passports  of  Le- 
pidus: and  had  intercepted  Catius  Vestinus, 
whom  the  former  had  sent  express  to  the  latter. 
But  it  is  with  pleasure  I  reflect,  that  the  more 
earnestly  they  wished  to  get  me  into  their  hands, 
the  more  they  suffer  in  the  disappointment. 

Continue,  my  dear  Cicero,  to  employ  the 
same  vigorous  eflbrts  you  have  hitherto  ex- 
erted, that  we  who  are  in  arms,  for  the  defence 
of  the  republic,  may  have  suitable  honours  paid 
to  our  services.  In  the  mean  time,  I  wish  that 
Csesar  would  join  us  with  those  brave  troops  he 
commands ;  or,  if  his  affairs  will  not  permit 
him,  that,  at  least,  they  might  be  sent  under 
the  conduct  of  some  other  general :  fbr  most 
certainly  his  own  personal  interest  is  at  stake*. 
The  whole  force  of  the  disaffected  party  is 
united  against  our  country :  and  shall  Me  not 
put  forth  our  utmost  strength  in  its  defence? 
As  for  Avhat  concerns  myself,  I  will  venture  to 
assure  you,  that  if  you  at  Rome  are  not  want- 
rftg  on  your  parts,  I  will  abundantly  perform 
every  thing  that  can  be  expected  on  mine. 

The  obligations  I  am  continually  receiving 

,  from 

J*  Octavius  was,  at  this  time,  secretly  carr}ingon  a  treaty 
With  Lepidus  and  Antony,  which  bhurtiy  ajfier  ended  in  an 
alliance,  which  every  reader  is  acquainted  with,  under  tiio 
name  of  the  Triumvirate. 


546 


The  letters        Book  XV. 


Siom  your  hands,  endear  you  to  me  every  day 
more  and  more ;  at  the  same  time  that  they  ani- 
mate me  to  act  in  such  a  manner  as  not  to  for- 
feit, in  any  degree,  your  esteem  and  affection. 
I  will  only  add  my  wishes,  that  I  were  able 
in  person  to  give  you  such  proofs  of  my  grati- 
tude, as  might  afford  you  greater  reason  to  re- 
joice in  the  good  offices  you  have  conferred 
upon  me.     Farewel. 

Cularo,  on  the  frontiers  of  the  AHobroges', 
June  the  6th. 


LETTER  VL 

[A.  U.  710.] 

To  Decimus  Brutus. 

To  tell  you  the  truth*,  I  was  once  inclined  to 
1>e  somewhat  angry  at  the  shortness  of  your  let- 
ters: but  I  am  now  so  well  reconciled  to  your  con- 
cise manner,  that  I  condemn  my  own  as  down- 
right loquacity,  and  shall  make  your  epistles  the 
models  of  mine.  How  short,  yet  how  expressive 
are  you  when  you  tell  mc,  that  "  all  things  go 
**  well  with  you,  and  that  you  shall  endeavour 
**to  render  them  still  better;  that  Lepidus 
**  seems   favourably   disposed ;    and   that  we 

**  have 

^  A  people  of  the  Narbonensian  Gaul,  in  which  Cularo, 
DOW  called  Grenoble,  was  situated. 

♦  When  Cicero  wrote  this  letter,  which  is  an  answer  to  the 
24lh  of  the  preceding  book,  p.  310.  of  this  vol.  he  had  not 
yet  received  the  news  of  Antony's  junction  with  Lepidus, 


f  Book  XV.         of  CICERO. 


347 


"  have  every  thing  to  expect  from  our  three 
"  armies' !"  Were  I  ever  so  full  of  fears,  these 
significant  sentences  would  banish  them  all  — 
But  I  exert  the  spirit  you  recommend ;  and, 
indeed,  if,  at  the  time  when  you  were  closely 
blocked  up  in  Mutina,  my  hopes,  nevertheless, 
were  fixed  entirely  upon  you,  how  much  higher, 
think  you,  must  they  be  raised  now  ? 

I  should  be  glad,  my  dear  Brutus,  to  resign 
to  you  my  post  of  observation,  if  I  might  do 
so  M  ithout  incurring  the  censure  of  deserting 
it.  As  to  what  you  mentioned  of  continuing 
in  Italy  till  you  should  hear  from  me,  I  do  not 
disapprove  of  it,  if  the  motions  of  the  enemy 
should  not  call  you  elsewhere ;  as  there  are  ma- 
ny points  upon  the  carpet  at  Rome,  which  may 
render  it  prudent  for  you  not  to  remove  tq  a 
farther  distance.  But,  at  all  events,  if  your 
presence  here  may  prove  a  mean  of  terminat- 
ing the  war,  it  is  undoubtedly  the  first  and 
principal  scheme  you  should  have  in  view. 

The  senate  has  decreed  the  first  money  that 
could  be  raised  for  the  payment  of  your  troops. 
Servius  is  extremely  your  friend  ;  and  you  may 
always  depend  upon  me.     FareweL 

June  the  Sth. 

LETTER 


Those  of  Decimus  Brutus,  Plancus,  and  Oct^vius. 


Ai 


< . 


»l 


«f 


Th£  letters 


Book  XV.- 


LETTER  VII. 

[A.  U.  710.] 
AsiNIUS  POLLIO   to  CiCKRO. 

BALBus^  my  quiEstor,  has  withdrawn  from 
Gades,  with  very  considerable  effects  in  his 
hands,  which  he  had  received  of  the  public 
taxes^  consisting  of  a  large  quantity  of  uncoin- 
ed gold,  a  much  larger  of  silver',  together  with 
a  great  sum  of  ready  money ;  and  what  adds  to 
his  iniquity,  is,  that  he  has  not  discharged 
even  the  pay  of  the  troops^  In  his  flight  he 
was  deUined  three  days,  by  contrary  winds,  at 
Calpe' ;  from  whence,  however,  he  sailed  ou 
the  1st  of  this  month,  and  has  transported 
himself,  together  with  his  treasure,  into  the 
dominions  of  Jiogud,  king  of  Mauritania*.— 

But 

^.'A  •  He  was  nephew  to  Lucius  Cornelius  Balbus,  the  great 
friend  and  favourite  of  Cacbar,  and  of  whom  frequent  mention 
has  been  made  in  the  preceding  letters. 

-  'v  Xbc  quaestor  was  receiver-general  of  the  provincial 
taxes. 

*  The  province  of  Spain  abounded  in  valuable  mines  of 
every  sort,  particularly  in  those  of  silver  and  gold  ;  the  pro- 
prietors of  ubich  paid  a  certain  proportion  to  the  g  )vern- 
ment,  of  the  pure  ore  which  these  mines  produced.  Shab. 
ill.  BunnQM.  devcctigal.  P,  jR.  dissert,  p.  107, 

^  The  payment  ol  the  forces  was  a  part  of  the  business  be- 
longing to  the  provincial  quaestors. 
'  Cibreltar, 

*  One  of  the  most  considerable  kingdoms  in  ancient  Africa, 
^comprehending  those  of  Fez  and  Morocco,  together  with  part 


Book  XV- 


OF  CICERO. 


^ 


But  whether  the  present  prevailing  reports^  will 
bring  him  back  to  Gades,  or  carry  him  to 
Rome,  I  know  not ;  for  I  hear  that  his  resolu- 
tions vary  with  every  different  express  that  ar- 
rives. But,  besides  the  robberies  and  the  ex- 
tortions he  has  committed  in  this  province, 
and  the  cruelties  he  has  exercised  towards  our 
allies,  he  affected,  in  several  instances,  to  imi- 
tate (as  he  himself  used  to  boast)  the  actions 
of  Caesar.  Accordingly,  on  the  last  day  of  the 
games  which  he  exhibited  at  Gades,  he  present- 
ed Herennius  Gallus,  a  comedian,  with  the 
golden  ring,  and  conducted  him  to  one  of  the 
1,4  benches  of  the  theatre,  which  he  had  appro^ 
priated  to  those  of  the  equestrian  order.  He 
likewise  continued  himself  in  the  supreme  ma-^ 
gistracy  of  Gades,  by  his  own  single  authority, 
and  at  two  immediately  successive  assemblies  of 
the  people,  he  nominated,  for  the  two  next  fol- 
lowing  years,  such  of  his  creatures  whom  he 
thought  proper  to  succeed  him  in  the  goverftr 
ment  of  that  city.  He  also  recalled  from  exile, 
not,  indeed,  those  unfortunate  men  wh^  were 

jflj  .ii  iij*^^^^'^*'--^!  banished 

of  Algiers  and  Billedulgerid.  Bogud,  the  prince  of  this 
country,  had,  in  the  late  civil  wars,  favoured  afid  assisted 
Caesar,  by  whom  he  bad  been  greatly  disiinguished  ;  as  he  af- 
terwards supported  Antony  in  the  war  between  him  and  Oc- 
tavius.  It  is  probable,  therefore,  that  Balbus  withdrew  with 
these  treasures,  not  in  order  to  convert  there  to  his  private 
use,  but  to  employ  them  in  the  catise  of  Antcwiy.  Hirt.  de 
BcL  Alex,  59,  de  Bd,  Afrk.  25. 

'  Concerning  the  junction  ofLepidus  with  Antony, 


350 


TftE  LETTERS        Book  XV. 


banished  on  account  of  the  present  commotions, 
but  those  infamous  rebels  who  w^ere  concerned 
in  thesedition  which  was  raised  in  Gades,  during 
the  proconsulate  of  Sextus  Varrus*,  and  in  which 
all  the  members  of  their  council  were  either  as* 
sassinated  or  expelled.  Tims  far  he  had  Caesar 
for  his  mo<lel ;  but,  in  the  instances  I  am  going 
to  mention,  he  exceeded  even  Cassar  himself. 
He  caused  a  play  to  be  acted  at  the  pubHc 
games,  upon  the  subject  of  his  embassy  to  Lu- 
cius Lentulus^,  the  proconsul;  and  the  good 
man  was  so  affected  with  the  remembrance  of 
those  transactions  which  the  scenes  of  this  drama 
recalled  to  his  mind,  that  he  melted  into  tearsJ 
At  the  gladiatorial  games,  he  gave  a  specimen  of 
his  cruelty  with  regard  to  one  Fadius,  who  had 
served  in  Pompey's  army.  This  man  had  twice, 
it  seems,  voluntarily  entered  the  lists  in  combats 

of 

♦  It  does  not  appear  who  this  person  was,  nor  at  what  time 
he  presided  as  governor  of  Spain, 

5  He  was  consul  in  the  year  704,  when  the  civil  war  broke 
oit,  in  which  he  took  part  with  Pompey.  He  accompanied 
that  general  in  his  retreat  to  Brundisium,  and  from  thence 
passed  over  with  him  into  Greece.  But  before  Lentulus  left 
Italy,  Balbus  was  employed  by  Caesar  (as  Manutius  observes) 
to  prevail  with  him  to  return  to  Rome.  Balbus  afterwards 
(as  appears  by  a  passage  which  the  same  commentator  cites 
from  Paterculub)  executed  a  much  more  difficult  commission 
of  this  kind,  at  the  siege  of  Dyrrachium,  where  he  undertook 
to  carry  some  farther  overtures  from  Caesar  to  Lentulus,  who 
was  in  that  garrison,  and  which  he  executed  with  equal  ad-^^ 
dress  and  intrepidity.  It  was  this  adventure,  it  is  probable,^ 
that  formed  the  subject  of  the  play  which  Pollio  here  naen-^ 
tioDS.     Jd  Att.  viii.  1 1.  VcL  Faterc.  ii.  51. 


Book  XV, 


OF  CICERO. 


354 


of  this  kind  ;  but,  upon  the  present  occasion,  he 
refused  to  fight,  though  peremptorily  required 
by  Balbus,  and  accordingly  threw  himself  upon 
the  protection  of  the  populace.  But  the  mob 
having  pelted  Balbus  with  stones,  wlien  he  at- 
tempted to  recover  him  out  of  their  hands,  he 
let  loose  upon  them  a  party  of  his  GaUic  horse. 
Balbus  having,  by  these  means,  got  the  unfor- 
tunate Fadius  into  his  possession,  ordered  him 
to  be  fixed  in  a  pit,  which  was  dug  for  that 
purpose,  in  the  place  where  the  games  were  ex- 
hibited, and  caused  him  in  this  manner  to  be 
burnt  alive.  This  was  performed  soon  after 
Balbus  had  dined^,  who  was  present  during  the 
whole  execution,  walking  about  bare-footed, 
with  his  hands  behind  him,  and  his  tunic  loose, 
in  the  most  unconcerned  and  indecent  manner ; 
and  while  the  unhappy  sufferer  cried  put  that 
he  was  a  Roman  citizen,  "  Why  do  you  not  run 


6 


now 


There  seems  to  have  been  some  peculiar  indecorum  in 
this  circumstance,  though  it  is  not  very  easy  to  determine 
wherein  it  precisely  consisted.     It  may  be,  that  public  execiir^ 
tions,  at  this  time  of  the  day,  were  thought  indecent :  it  is  cer*-' 
tain,  at  least,  that  it  was  deemed  improper  fo  hold  courts  ojf,' 
judicature  for  the  trial  of  criminal  matters  in  an  aflernootti* 
For  Plutarch  takes  notice  that  the  younger  Cato  was  accused 
of  this  practice  during  his  prietorship ;  and  thinks  it  neces- 
sary, for  the  credit  of  that  illustrious  Roman,  to  deny  the 
truth  of  the  charge:  or,  perhaps,  Pollio  might  point  out  this 
circumstance  as  a  mark  of  uncommon  cruelty  of  disposition 
in  Balbus,  who  could  rise  from  table  with  a  temper  of  mind 
so  different  from  that  which  pleasures  of  this  sort  are  nalii-^' 
rally  apt  to  inspire,  and  turn  from  a  cheerful  meal  tp  a  scentf 
of  the  utmost  horror  and  barbarity.     Piut.  in  "cit.  Caton. 
Uticen. 


1)5^ 


The  letters 


Book  XV. 


**  now  (said  the  insulting  and  relentless  Bal- 
**  bus)  to  implore  the  protection  of  the  people?" 
But  this  was  not  the  single  cruelty  he  exer- 
cised. He  exposed,  likewise,  several  Roman 
citizens  to  wild  beasts ;  particularly  a  certain 
noted  auctioneer  in  the  city  of  Hispalis^;  and 
this  for  no  other  reason  but  because  the  poor 
man  was  excessively  deformed.  Such  is  the 
monster  with  whom  I  had  the  misfortune  to  be 
connected  !  But  more  of  him  when  we  meet. 
In  the  mean  time  (to  turn  to  a  point  of  much 
greater  importance)  I  should  be  glad  the  senate 
would  determine  in  what  manner  tliey  would 
have  me  act.  I  am  at  the  head  of  three  brave 
legions,  one  of  which  Antony  took  great  pains 
to  draw  over  to  his  interest  at  the  commence- 
ment of  the  war.  For  this  purpose  he  caused 
it  to  be  signified  to  them,  that  the  very  first 
day  they  should  enter  into  his  camp,  every 
soldier  should  receive  five  hundred  Menarii,  be- 
sides which,  he  also  assured  them,  that  if  he  ob- 
tained the  victory,  they  should  receive  an  equal 
share  of  the  spoils  with  his  own  troops :  a  reward 
which  all  the  world  knows  would  have  been 
without  end  or  measure.  These  promises  made 
a  deep  impression  upon  them;  and  it  Avas  with 
great  difficulty  I  kept  them  from  deserting.     I 

should 

^  ^  The  city  of  Seville,  in  Spain, 
•  About  141.  sterling. 


S53 


Book  XV.  of  CICERO, 

should  not,  indeed,  have  been  able  to  have  ef- 
fected this,  if  I  had  not  cantoned  them  In  dls- 
tant  quarters ;  as  some  of  the  cohorts,'  notwith- 
sUnding  they  were  thus  separated,  had  the  in-.' 
solence    to    mutiny.      Antony    endeavoured' 
likewise  to  gain  the  rest  of  the  legions,  by  im- 
mense offers.     Nor  was  tepidus  less  importu- 
nate with  me  to  send  him  the  thirtieth  legion ; 
which  h^  solicited  both  by  his  own  letters,  and' 

by  those  which  he  caused  Antony  to  write. 

The  senate  will  dome  the  justice,  therefore^  to" 
believe,  as  no  advantages  could  tempt  me  to 
sell  my  troops,  nor  any  dangers  which  I  had 
reason  to  apprehend,  if  Antony  and  Lepidus 
should  prove  conquerors,  could  prevail  with 
me  to  diminish  their  number,  that  I  was  thus 
tenacious  of  my  army  fo.r  no'  other  purpose  but' 
to  employ  it  in  the  service  of  the  republic'. 
And  let  the  readiness  with  which  I  have  obeyed' 
all  the  orders  I  received  from  the  senate,  be  a 
proof  that  I  would  have  complied  in  the  same 
manner  with  every  other  they  should   have 
thought  proper  to  have  sent  me.     I  have  pre- 
served  the  tranquillity  of  this  province;  I  have 
maintained  my  authority  over  the  army  ;  and 
have  never  once  moved  beyond  the  limits  of 
•  my'   ^ 

»  See  rem.  5.  p.  337.  of  this  toL 

Vox-.  III.  A  a 


354  The  LETTERS        Book  XV. 

my  own  jurisdiction,     I  must  add,  likewise, 
that  I  have  never  employed  any  soldier,  either 
of  my  own  troops,  or  those  of  my  auxiliaries, 
in  carrying  any  dispatches  whatsoever :  and  I 
have  constantly  punished  such  of  my  cavalry - 
whom  I  have  found  at  any  time  attempting  to 
desert.     I  shall  think  these  cares  sufficiently 
rewarded,  in  seeing  the  peace  and  security  of 
the  republic  restored.     But  if  the  majority  of 
the  senate,  and  the  commonwealth,  indeed,  in 
general,   had  known  me  for  what   I    am,    I 
should  have  been  able  to  Have  rendered  them 
much  more  important  services. 

I  have  sent  you  a  copy  of  the  letter  which  I 
wrote  to  Balbus,  just  before  he  left  this  pro- 
vince ;  and  if  you  have  any  curiosity  to  read 
his  play,  which  I  mentioned  above,  it  is  in  the 
hands  of  my  friend  Gallus  Cornelius,  to  whom 
you, may  apply  for  it.     FareweL 

Corduba,  June  the  8th. 

LETTER  VIII. 

[A.U.710.] 

To  Plancvs. 
All  our  hopes  are  entirely  fixed  (and  fixed, 
too,  with  the  approbation  of  the  gods  them- 
selves) upon  you  and  your  colleague'.     The 
perfect  unanimity,  therefore,  that  appears,  by 

your 

*  Decimus  Brutus. 


Book  XV. 


OF  CICERO, 


355 


your  several  letters  to  the  senate,  to  subsist 
between  you,  affords  great  satisfaction,  not 
only  to  that  assembly  in  particular,  but  to  the 
whole  city  in  general. 

As  to  what  you  wrote  to  mc  concerning  the 
commission  for  dividing  the  lands,  if  that  affair 
had  been  brought  before  the  senate,  I  should 
have  been  the  first  to  have  proposed  the  most 
honourable  decree  in  your  favour.     But  the 
slowness  of  their  deliberations,  in  the  business 
which  was  then  under  their  consideration,  to- 
gether with  other  obstructions  which  attended 
their  debates,    having  prevented   them   from 
coming  to  any  resolution,  both  your  brother 
and  myself  were  of  opinion,  that  it  was  most 
advisable  to  proceed  upon  the  former  decree ; 
and  I  take  it  for  granted  that  he  has  acquaint- 
ed you  to  whom  it  is  owing  that  it  was  not 
drawn  up  in  the  manner  we  proposed.     But  if^ 
in  this  instance,  or  in  any  other,  your  inclina- 
tions should  not  be  entirely  gratified,  be  well 
persuaded,  however,  that  you  are  in  such  high 
esteem  with  all  the  friends  of  the  republic,  that 
there  is  no  sort  of  honours  they  are  not  dis- 
posed to  confer  upon  you.     I  ^ait  with  great 
iffipatience  for  an  express  from  you,  as  I  ex- 
pect it  will  bring  us  the  news  I  most  wish.— 
Farewel. 

Aa2  LETTER 


35d  The  LETTERS 


Book  XV. 


Book  Xt. 


OF 


3S7 


LETTER  IX. 

[A.U.710.] 
To  CORNIFICIUSV 

Is  it  reajly  SO,  my  friend;  and  have  I  never, 
written  to  vou  but  when  I  had  occasion  to  re- 
commend  the  cause  of  some  Utigipus  suitor  ? 
I.conjfess  I  liaye.  frecjviently  troubled  you  with 
ktters  of  this  kind;  hut  mu^t  you  not  thank 
yj:^ur  own  obliging  partiality  towards  me,  if  the, 
world  is  persuaded  th4t  no  recommendation 
has  sa  much  weight  with  you  as  mine  ?  Tell 
nj^,  however,  when  did  I  omit  writing,  if  your 
family  gave  me  notice  of  an  opportunity  ?  In 
factj  nothing  aifords  me  greater  satisfaction, 
now  that  I  cannot  converse  with  you  in  person, 
than  this  intercourse  of  letters.  I  only  lament 
that  my  public  occupations  prevent  me  from 
cprresgoncjjng  wit^  y^u  as  frequently  as  I 
wish.  If  I  had  more  leisure,  indeed,  I  should 
not  only  provoke  you  to  enter  with  me  into  a 
commerce  of  this  epistolary  kind,  but  I  should 
challenge  you  with  whole  volumes  of  my  works; 
a  challenge  which  I  ought  to  have  received 
from  you,  as  your  engagements,  I  imagine,  are 
not  alto«:ether  so  numerous  as  mine.     But  if  I 


•  S^e  rem.  6.  p.  6^.  of  this  voK 


amc 


am  mistaken  In  this  supp6sition,  ho^  shall  \ 
acquit  you  of  being  a  little  Wnreasoriable,  ik 
expecting  frequent  letters  on  my  part,  when 
you  have  so  seldom  leisute  to  send  me  any  oil 
yours  ?   If  I  have  hitherto  been  engaged  in  the 
most  important  occupations,  as  holding  myself 
bound  to  exert  all  my  cares  in  the  defence  6f 
the  republic,  I  may  still  more  strongly  urge 
that  plea  at  present.     For  as  a  relapse  is  alwayb 
more  dangerous  than  a  first  attack,  so  the  re- 
kindling of  this  war,  after  it  was  almost  totally 
extinguished,  demands  a  double  portion  of  my 
labour  and  vigilance.    But,  not  to  enter  farther 
into  this  subject,  believe  me,  my  dear  Cornifi- 
cius,  I  should  think  myself  most  inexcusably 
indolent,  not  to  say  ill-mannered,  were  I  capa- 
ble of  suffering  you  to  gain  the  superiority  over 
me  in  any  instance  of  friendship.     That  I  enjoy 
yours,  is  a  point  of  which  I  never  once  ha3 
the  least  doubt:  but  the  conversation  I  have 
lately  had  with  Cherip^us,  has  rendered  it  still 
more  evident.     As  agreeable  as  he  alv\^ays  wai 
to  my  taste,  I  could  not  but  look  upon  him,  iii 
his  last  visit,  with  more  than  ordinary  pleasure, 
as  he  not  only  acquainted  me  w  ith  the  senti- 
ments of  your  heart,  in  the  mesisage  he  delivered 
to  me,  but,  as  he  represented,  at  the  same  time; 
a  lively  image  of  your  very  air  arid  counte- 

A  a  3  nance. 


358 


The   LETTtRS  Book  XV. 


Book  XV. 


OF  CICERO. 


359 


nance.  You  had  no  reason  then  to  be  apprehen- 
sive that  I  should  be  displeased  at  your  having 
sent  me  the  same  common  letter  M'hich  you  ad- 
dressed to  all  your  friends  in  general.  If  I  de- 
sired a  more  particular  memorial,  it  was  merely 
from  the  affection  of  my  heart,  and  by  no 
means  as  a  point  upon  which  I  insisted. 

The  loss  of  both  our  consuls*,  together  with 
the  incredible  scarcity  of  money  in  the  treasury, 
puts  it  out  of  my  power  to  ease  you  of  your 
great  and  continual  expence  in  your  military 
preparations.  We  are  trying  all  expedients  in 
order  to  raise  supplies  for  discharging  those 
donatives  we  promised  to  the  troops  that  be- 
haved well :  and  I  imagine  that  we  shall  at  last 
be  obliged  to  have  recourse  to  a  tax^ 

I  am  persuaded  there  is  no  truth  in  the  report 
concerning  Attius  Dionysius  :  as  Stratorius  has 
not  mentioned  a  word  to  me  upon  that  subject. 
With  regard  to  Pubhus  Lucceius  :  be  well  per- 
suaded that  his  interest  is  no  less  my  concern 
than  it  is  yours:  for,  indeed,  he  is  extremely  my 
friend.     I  could  not,  however,  prevail  with  the 

managers 

♦  Hirtius  and  Pansa. 

'  "  This  was  a  sort  of  capitation  tax,  proportioned  to  each 
**  nan's  substance ;  but  had  wholly  been  disused  in  Rome 
**  from  the  conquest  of  Macedonia  by  Paulus  i^milius, 
"  wh  ch  turnii>hed  money  and  rents  sufficient  lo  ease  the  cay 
*•  ever  after  of  that  burthen,  till  the  necebsiiy  of  the  present 
"  times  obliged  them  to  renew  it."  VuL  Max,  iv.  3.  Life  of 
Cic.  ill.  p.  249.     . 


managers  of  the  auction  to  adjourn  the  sale : 
their  engagements  and  their  oath  oblige  them, 
they  assure  me,  to  the  contrary.  I  would  by 
all  means,  therefore,  advise  him  to  hasten  into 
Italy  :  and  if  the  summons  I  sent  him  some 
time  since  had  any  weight,  he  will  be  at  Rome 
when  you  read  this  letter.  As  to  the  affairs 
you  mention,  and  particularly  the  money,  I  find 
you  were  not  apprised  of  Pansa's  death  when 
you  wrote  your  letter,  by  the  hopes  you 
express  that,  through  my  interest,  he  would 
comply  with  your  request.  And  most  un- 
doubtedly he  would,  had  he  been  living :  for 
he  held  you  in  great  esteem.  But  as  he  is  dead, 
I  do  not  see  that  any  thing  can  now  be  dorte 
in  this  matter. 

I  approve,  in  general,  of  your  measures  with 
respect  to  Venullius,  Latinus,  and  Horatius : 
and  particularly,  that  you  have  deprived  them 
of  their  lictors.  But  I  am  not  altogether  so 
well  pleased,  that,  in  order  to  render  this  cir- 
cumstance the  less  uneasy  to  them,  you  have 
taken  away  these  attendants,  likewise,  from 
your  own  lieutenant.  Those  who  deserve  the 
highest  honours  ought  not  to  have  been  thus 
levelled  with  a  set  of  men,  who  certainly  merit 
the  utmost  disgrace  :  and  if  they  will  not  de- 
part from  your  province,  in  obedience  to  the 

A  a  4  decree 


360 


The  letters        Book  XV. 


decree  of  the  senate,  I  think  you  should  use 
compulsory  methods  for  that  purpose. 

I  have  nothing  farther  to  add  in  answer  to 
your  last  letter  (of  which  I  received  a  dupli- 
cate) but  that  1  hope  you  will  be  persuaded, 
your  credit  and  reputation  are  no  less  sacred 
to  nie  than  my  own*.     Farewel. 


11 


•  i 


LETTER  X. 

[A.U.710.] 

To  Decimus  Brutus. 

1  HOUGH  I  always  receive  your  letters  Avith 
the  highest  satisfaction,  yet  I  am  much  better 
pleased  that  you  employed  your  colleague  Plan- 
cus  to  make  an  excuse  to  me,  than  if  you  had 
interrupted  your  very  important  occupations 
by  writing  yourself.  He  has  executed  your 
commission  very  fully  :  and  nothing  can  ren- 
der your  character  more  truly  amiable  to  me, 
than  the  account  he  gives  of  your  zeal  and  di- 
ligence. 

The  junction  of  your  forces  with  those  of 
Plancus,    and  the  harmony  with  Avhich  you 

act 

ft 

*  This  letter  closes  the  correspondence  between  Cicero 
and  Cornificius.  The  latter,  not  long  afterwards,  lost  his  life 
in  bravely  deiending  his  pr  »vii  ce  again>t  the  troops  of  Sex- 
tius  :  who  claim'  d  It  in  the  name  of  Octavius,  by  virtue 
of  the  general  division  of  the  Roman  dominions  that  had  been 
agreed  upon  between  the  triumvirs.     Appian  de  B,  C.  p.  620. 


Book  XV. 


OP  CIGERO. 


«6i 


act  together,  as  appears  by  your  common  let- 
ter to  the  senate,  was  extremely  agreeable, 
both  to  that  assembly,  and  to  the  people  in 
general.  What  remains  then,  my  dear  Bru- 
tus, but  to  conjure  you  to  persevere  in  the 
same  unanimity,  and  to  endeavour,  I  will  not 
say  to  excel  others,  but  (what  is  far  worthier 
of  your  ambition)  to  rise  above  yourself.  I 
need  add  no  more :  especially  as  1  am  writino- 
to  one  whose  epistolary  conciseness  I  purpose 
to  imitate. 

I  wait,  with  impatience,  for  your  next  dis^ 
patches  :  as  I  imagine  they  will  bring  us 
such  accounts  as  are  agreeable  to  our  wishes. 
Farewel. 

LETTER  XL 

« 

[A.U.710.] 

ToFuRNius^. 

When  your  letter  assured  me  that  it  was  ab- 
solutely necessary  either  to  shght  Narbonen- 
sian  Gaul',  ox  to  attack  the  enemy  with  great 
disadvantage,  I  was  glad  to  find  that  the 
former  had  been  chosen  :  as  I  much  more 
dreaded  the  consequences  of  coming  to  an 
engagement  uj)on  unequal  terms.     What  you 

mentioned, 

^  See  rem.  7,  p.  303.  of  this  vol. 

■  In  which  province  were  the  combined  armies  of  Antony, 
and  Lepidus, 


^ 


n 


362 


The  letters        Book  XV. 


mentioned,  likewise,  concerning  the  harmony 
oetVeen  Plancus  and  Brutus,  afforded  me  great 
pleasure  :  for  it  is  a  circumstance  upon  which 
I  found  my  principal  hopes  of  our  success. 

Notwithstanding  you  modestly  refer  it  to 
time  to  inform  me  to  whom  we  owe  that  ge- 
neral zeal  which  appears  in  your  province' ;  be 
assured  it  is  a  point  of  which  I  am  already  per- 
fectly well  apprised.  I  could  not,  therefore, 
but  read  the  latter  part  of  your  letter,  which, 
in  all  other  respects,  was  extremely  agreeable  to 
me,  with  some  concern.  You  there  tell  me,  that 
if  the  election  for  cediles  is  fixed  for  the  month 
of  August,  you  will  soon  be  at  Rome  ;  but  if  it 
is  already  over,  you  will  be  there  much  sooner: 
"  for  wherefore,"  you  ask,  **  should  you  weak- 
*'  ly  continue  to  hazard  your  life,  without  the 
**  prospect  of  any  recompence  ?"  O  !  my 
friend,  is  it  possible  that  you,  who  judge  so 
well  concerning  the  interests  of  others,  should 
be  thus  a  stranger  to  your  own?  But,  as  I 
am  sensible  of  the  strong  impulse  of  your 
heart  towards  true  glory,  I  cannot  believe  that 
these  are  its  genuine  sentiments :  at  least,  if 
they  be,  I  must  condemn  my  own  judgment  as 
well  as  yours,  for  being  so  greatly  deceived  in 

your 

•  Transalpine  Gaul ;  in  which  province  Furni^s  was  li«u- 
tenant  to  Plancus. 


Book  XV, 


OF  CICERO. 


36s 


your  character.  Shall  the  ambition  of  antici- 
pating a  slight  and  common  honour,  (for  so  I 
must  call  the  office  you  have  in  view,  if  obtained 
in  the  manner  by  which  so  many  others  have 
risen  to  it  before  you)  induce  you  to  withdraw 
from  a  theatre  where  you  are  acting  with  such 
universal  and  well-merited  applause  ?  Shallitbe 
a  question  with  you,  whether  to  offer  yourself 
as  a  candidate  now,  or  at  the  next  election  for 
praetors  :  and  is  it  none,  how  you  shall  deserve 
every  illustrious  distinction  which  the  common- 
wealth can  bestow  ?  Are  you  a  stranger  to  the 
exalted  reputation  you  have  acquired  ?  Or  do 
you  consider  it  as  of  no  value,  thus  to  rise  in 
the  esteem  of  your  country?  If  you  are  igno- 
rant, indeed,  of  the  high  credit  in  which  you 
stand  with  the  public,  it  is  an  ignorance  for 
which  we,  who  are  your  friends,  are  undoubt- 
edly to  be  blamed.  But  if  you  already  know  it; 
tell  me,  my  Furnius,  can  any  pratorship  afford 
you  a  satisfaction  superior  to  what  you  feel  in 
discharging  the  duty  you  owe  to  your  country, 
and  in  reaping  immortal  glory  ?  an  acquisition 
which,  though  few,  indeed,  endeavour  to  de- 
serve, yet,  every  man,  most  certainly,  wishes  to 
enjoy.  Calvisius,  who  is  much  your  friend,  and 
a  man  of  great  judgment  also,  frequently  joins 
with  me  in  complaining  of  you  upon  this  arti- 
cle. 


364 


The  letters 


Book  XV. 


cle.  However,  since  you  are  so  desirous  to  at- 
tain this  office,  I  shall  endeavour  that  the  elec- 
tion may  be  deferred  till  the  month  of  Janua- 
ry :  as  this  adjournment  will,  upon  many  ac- 
counts, I  think,  prove  for  the  advantage,  like- 
wise, of  the  republic.  Farewel :  and  may  vic- 
tory attend  you  ! 


LETTER  XIL 

[A.  U.  710.] 

ToCaius  Cassius. 

I  IMAGINE  you  are  informed,  by  the  public 
journals,  which,  I  know,  are  duly  transmitted 
to  you,  of  the  infamous  conduct  of  that  most 
light  and  inconstant  man,  your  relation  Lepi- 
dus'.  We  are  again,  therefore,  involved  in  a 
war,  which  we  flattered  ourselves  was  entirely 
over :  and  all  our  hopes  are  now  placed  upon 
Decimus*  and  Plancus  ;  or,  to  speak  more  truly, 
indeed,  upon  Brutus^  and  upon  you.  For  it  is 
from  you  two  that  we  expect,  not  only  a  pre-^ 
sent  assistance,  in  case  any  misfortune  (which 
the  gods  avert ! )  should  attend  our  arms,  but  a 
firm  and  lasting  re-establishment  of  our  liberties. 

The 

*  Lepidus  and  Cassius  were  married  to  the  two  sisters  of 
Marcus  Brutus. 

*  Brutus. 
^  Marcus. 


Book  XV. 


OF  CICERO, 


36S 


The  reports  in  regard  to  Dolabella*,  are,  in  all 
respects,  agreeable  to  our  wishes,  excepting, 
only,  that  they  want  confirmation.  In  the  mean 
time,  be  assured,  that  the  opinion  and  expec- 
tations of  the  world  concerning  you,  are  such 
as  evidently  shew  that  they  look  upon  you  as 
a  truly  great  man.  Let  this  animate  you  to 
the  noblest  achievements :  in  the  full  persua* 
sion  that  there  is  nothing  so  considerable  which 
your  country  does  not  hope  to  obtain  by  your 
courage  and  conduct.     Farewel. 


LETTER  XIIL 

[A.  U.  710.] 

To  the  same. 


I 


'111  f.*}'.}  '^  iji 


1  TAKE  example  from  the  conciseness  of  your 
letters,  to  shorten  mine :  though,  to  say  truth, 
nothing  occurs  at  present  that  can  tempt  me  to 
lengthen  them.  For,  as  to  our  transaction^,  I 
well  know  you  are  acquainted  with  them  by  the 
pubHc  journals:  and  we  are  perfectly  ignorant 
of  every  thing  that  concerns  yours.  One  would 
imagine,  indeed,  that  all  communication  were 
cut  oflf  between  us  and  Asia  :  for  we  have  re- 
ceived no  intelligence  from  thence,  excepting 
only  some  uncertain,  though,  indeed,  repeated 
rumours  in  relation  to  the  defeat  of  Dolabella. 

We 

♦  That  he  was  defeated  bj  Cassius. 


366 


The  letters 


BookXV, 


Book  XV. 


OF  CICERO. 


367 


/ 


We  imagined  that  the  flames  of  this  civil  war 
were  entirely  extinguished  :  but,  in  the  mid.st 
of  this  pleasing  persuasion,  we  were  suddenly 
and  greatly  alarmed  by  the  conduct  of  your  re- 
lation Lepidus.  Be  assured,  therefore,  that  the 
hopes  of  the  republic  are  wholly  fixed  upon 
you  and  your  army.  We  have,  it  is  true,  a 
very  powerful  body  of  troops  in  this  part  of  the 
world  :  nevertheless,  your  presence  here  is  ex- 
tremely necessary,  to  give  our  affairs  all  the  suc- 
cess we  wish.  I  will  not  say  that  we  have  no 
hopes  of  recovering  our  liberties :  but  I  must 
say  our  hopes  are  small.  Such  as  they  are, 
however,  they  are  entirely  founded  upon  your 
future  consulate^     Fare\veU 

LETTER  XIV. 

[A.U.710.] 

Cassius*,  Quaestor,  to  Cicero. 

Th  e  preservation  of  the  republic,  by  the  vic- 
tory we  have  lately  obtained,  gives  me  inex- 
pressible joy :  as  the  honours  that  have  been 

paid 

*  Ca«:sius  and  Brutus  were  praetors  the  last  year  :  and  the 
laws  entitled  a  man  to  sue  for  the  consulate  two  years  after 
be  hdd  served  the  office  of  pra?tor. 

•  It  is  altogether  uncert«un  whether  the  author  of  this 
letter  was  Lucius  Cassius,  the  brother  of  Caius  Cassius,  or 
another  Cassius,  distinguished  by  the  addition  of  ParmaisiSf 
from  Parma,  the  place  of  his  nativity.  There  is  nothing, 
indeed,  in  the  history  of  these  two  Cassii,  or  in  the  letter 
itself,  that  can  render  it  more  reasonable  to  suppose  it  to 
kave  been  written  by  the  one,  rather  than  the  other :  for 

ihey 


paid  my  friend^,  afford  me,  likewise,  a  very  sen- 
sible pleasure.  I  cannot  sufficiently  indulge 
my  admiration,  when  I  consider  you  as  thus 
rising  above  yourself  in  glory ;  and  that  the 
consular^  should  shine  forth  even  with  more 
lustre  than  the  consul.  Some  uncommon  pri- 
vilege of  fate  most  certainly  attends  your  pa- 
triot virtues  :  as  we  h^ve  often,  I  am  sure,  ex- 
perienced. How  else  should  your  single  elo- 
quence be  of  more  avail  than  the  arms  of  all 
our  generals  ?  You  have  a  second  time,  indeed, 
rescued  the  well-nigh  vanquished  republic  from 
the  hands  of  our  enemies  ;  and  once  more  re- 
stored her  to  us  again.  From  this  period,  there- 
fore, I  date  the  return  of  our  Uberties :  and  I 
shall  now  be  honoured  with  the  public  applause 
of  the  most  distinguished  of  patriots.    Yes,  my 

friend, 

they  were  both  in  the  number  of  the  conspirators  against 
Cassar ;  and  both  afterwards  acted  with  Brutus  and  Cassius 
in  Asia.  This  epistle  appears  to  have  been  written  from  the- 
island  of  Cyprus,  soon  after  the  news  of  Antony's  defeat  at 
the  battle  of  Mutina  had  reached  that  part  of  the  world. 
Casanbon,  ad  Suet.  Jul,  80.     Jppian.  B.  C.  p.  671. 

^  This  seems  to  allude  to  the  honours  that  were  paid  to 
Cicero  by  the  populace,  upon  the  news  that  Antony  had 
been  forced  to  abandon  the  siege  of  Mutina,  "  The  whole 
**  body  of  the  people  (to  give  the  relation  of  this  fact  in  the 
"  words  of  Dr.  Middleton)  assembled  about  Cicero's  house, 
**  and  carried  him  in  a  kind  of  triumph  to  the  capitol : 
"  where,  on  their  return,  they  placed  him  in  the  rostra,  to 
**  give  them  an  account  of  the  victory :  and  then  conducted 
•*  him  home  with  infinite  acclamations."  Phil,  xiv.  5.  Life 
qfCic.  iii.  igj. 

^  Thosg  who  had  passed  through  the  office  of  consul, 
were  styled  congulars. 


S6^ 


The  letters 


Book  XV. 


friend,  you  will  now  declare,  (what  you  pro- 
mised to  conceal  till  the  recovery  of  our  free- 
dom should  render  it  to  my  advantage  to  be 
known)  you   will  now  declare  to  the  whole' 
\^orld  those  instances  you  received  of  my  tender 
attachment  both  to  you  and  to  the  republic, 
during  the  dark  and  dangerous  season  of  our 
servitude.    Tarn  much  less  soKcitous,  however, 
that  you  should  publish  my  praises,  than  that* 
you  should  be  persuaded  I  deserve  thern  :  and  I 
had  rather  stand  approved  by  your  silent  judg- 
ment, than,  without  that  internal  verdict  in  my 
favour,  to  enjoy,  by  your  recommendation,  the 
good  opinion  of  the  whole  world.     It  is  my 
great  ambition,  indeed,  tliatyou  should  esttein 
my  late  conduct  to  have  been,  not  the  effect  of 
a  sudden  and  irregular  impulse,  but  the  natural 
result  of  the  same  uniform  principles  of  which 
you  have  been  a  witness  :  in  a  word,  that  you 
should  think  of  me,  as  of  one  from  whom  the 
republic  has  so  much  to  expect,  as  may  well 
justify  every  honour  ta  which  I  shall  be  ad- 
vanced.    I  am  sensible,  my  dear  Cicero,  that 
your  own  family,  as  they  are  well  worthy  of  the 
relation  they  bear  to  you,  deserve  your  first  and 
most  tender  regard.  But  those  surely  have  a  right 
to  the  next  place  in  your  affection,  whoendea- 
YOtrr  to  imitate  your  patriot  virtues :    and    I 

shaU 


Book  XV. 


OF  CICERO. 


'369 


shall  be  glad  to  find  that  their  number  is  con- 
siderable:   I  imagine,  however,  that  it  is  not  so 
great  as  to  exclude  me  from  a  share  in  your 
good  offices,  and  prevent  you  from  procuring 
any  pubHc  distinctions  in  my  favour  which  shall 
be  agreeable  to  your  inclination  and  your  judg- 
ment   That  I  am  not  unwortfiy  of  them,  with 
respect  to  the  disposition  of  my  heart,  I  have 
already,  perhaps,  sufficiently  convinced  you : 
and,  as  to  my  talents,  whatever  they  may  be, 
the  general  oppression  under  which  our  couti- 
try  so  long  laboured,  would  not  suffer  them  to 
appear  in  their  full  advantage. 

I  drew  together,  out  of  the  ports  of  this  Asi- 
atic province,  and  of  the  neighbouring  islands, 
all  the  ships  of  war  I  could  possibly  collect  : 
and,  considering  the  great  opposition  I  met 
with  from  the  several  cities,  I  manned  them  with 
tolerable  expedition.  With  this  fleet  I  pursued 
thatof  Dolabclla,  commanded  by  Lucilius:  who, 
after  having  frequently  made  a  shew  of  coming 
over  to  me,  but  still,  however,  continuing  to 
retreat,  sailed,  at  length,  into  the  port  of  Co- 
rycus^;  where  he  blocked  himself  up.  .  I  did 
not  think  proper  to  follow  him  thither ;  not 
only  as  judging  it  most  advisable  to  join  our 
land  forces,  but  as  Turulius  the  quaestor  lay 
behind  me  with  a  squadron  which  Tullius  Cim- 

ber 


Vol.  III. 


9  In  Cilicia. 

Bb 


370 


The  letters 


Book  XV. 


ber  fitted  out  the  last  year  from  Bythinia.  I 
put  in,  therefore,  at  Cyprus :  from  whence  I  take 
this  first  opportunity  of  acquainting  you  Avith 
the  intelligence  I  have  here  received.  I  am  to 
inform  you  then,  that  the  city  of  Laodicea,  (in 
pursuance  of  the  example  of  our  faithless  allies 
the  Tarsenses',  though,  indeed,  with  a  greater 
degree  of  folly)  have  voluntarily  called  in  Do- 
labella.  From  those  two  cities  he  has  compos- 
ed an  army  (as  far  as  numbers  can  make  an  ar- 
my) of  Greek  soldiers,  and  is  encamped  before 
Laodicea;  having  thrown  down  part  of  the  walls, 
in  order  to  join  his  camp  with  the  town.  On  the 
other  hand;  Cassius*  is  encamped  about  twenty 
miles  distant  from  him  at  Paltos.  His  army  con- 
sists of  ten  legions,  and  twenty  auxiliary  co- 
horts, together  with  four  thousand  horse.  He 
imagines  that  he  shall  be  able  to  oblige  the  ene- 
my to  surrender,  without  hazarding  a  battle : 
as  wheat  is  so  scarce  in  Dolabella's  camp,  that 
it  is  sold  for  twelve  drachmae.  The  enemy 
must  necessarily,  indeed,  be  destroyed  by  fa- 
mine, if  they  are  not  soon  supplied  by  the  ships 
that  belong  to  Laodicea.  This,  however,  we 
shall  with  great  ease  prevent :  for,  besides  the 
three  squadrons  under  Turulius,  Patiscus,  and 
myself,  Cassius  has  a  considerable  fleet  in  these 
seas  commanded  by  Sextilius  Rufus.     Let  me 


■  The  citizens  of  Tarsus. 
*  Caius  Cassius. 


encourage 


Book  XV.  of  CICERO.  ^71 

€ncourage  you,  then,  to  hope,  that  we  shall  soon 
vindicate  our  liberties  with  the  same  success^ 
in  this  part  of  the  world,  as  has  attended  your 
army  in  Italy.     Farewel. 

Cromyacris,  in  Cyprus,  June  the  13lh. 


LETTER  XV. 

lA.u.  no.] 

To  Decimus  Brutus. 

I  was  expecting,  every  day,  to  hear  from  you, 
when  our  friend  Lupus  gave  me  notice  that  he 
was  just  setting  out  to  you,  and  desired  to  know 
if  I  had  any  thing  to  write.    But  though  I  have 
nothing  worth  communicating,  more  than  what 
you  are  furnished  with  by  the  public  journals, 
and  that  you  are  no  friend,  I  am  told,  to  letters 
of  mere  empty  form,  yet,  I  canuot  forbear  fol- 
lowing your  example,  and  sending  you  two  or 
three  short  words.     Be  assured,  then,  that  all 
our  hopes  rest  upon  you  and  your  colleague*. 
As  to  Brutus^,  I  am  not  able  to  give  you  any 
certain  account  of  him  :  I  can  only  say,  that, 
in  pursuance  of  your  advice,   I  endeavour  to 
persuade  him,  in  all  my  letters,  to  come  over 
into  Italy,  and  to  take  a  part  in  this  general 


^  See  rem.  8.  p.  3l6.  of  this  vol. 

''■  Plancus. 

^  Marcus  Brutus. 

£b2 


war. 


372 


The  letters 


Book  XV. 


Book  XV. 


^ 


If 


war*'.  I  much  wish  he  were  now  here :  as  his 
presence  would  render  me  less  apprehensive  of 
the  consequences  of  these  intestine  commo- 
tions^ which  prevail  in  Rome ;  and  which  are, 
by  no  means,  indeed,  inconsiderable. — But  I 
forget  that  I  proposed  to  imitate  your  laconic 
brevity,  and  am  running  on  in  a  second  page. 
Farewel  then,  and  may  success  attend  your 
arms' ! 

June  18tb. 

LETTER 

•  The  conduct  of  Marcus  Brutus,  as  far  as  can  be  judged 
of  it,  at  this  great  distance,  appears  altogether  unaccounta> 
ble.  Before  the  battle  of  Mutina,  he  had  drawn  down  all 
his  forces  to  the  coast,  in  order  to  embark  tor  Italy,  if  any 
accident  should  make  his  assistance  necessary.  But,  upon 
the  news  of  Antony's  defeat,  he  retired  to  the  remotest  parts 
of  Greece  and  Macedonia,  to  oppose  the  attempts  of  Dula- 
bella :  and  from  that  time  (as  Dr.  Middleton  observes)  seem- 
ed deaf  to  the  call  of  the  senate,  and  to  all  Cicero's  letters, 
which  urged  him  so  strongly  to  come  to  their  relief.  But  bad 
Brutus  and  Cassius  (as  the  same  ingenious  historian  remarks) 
marched  with  their  armies  towards  Italy,  at  the  time  when 
Cicero  first  pressed  it,  before  the  desertion  of  Plancus  and 
the  death  of  Decimus ;  it  seems  reasonable  to  believe,  that 
the  immediate  ruin  of  the  republic  might  have  been  prevent- 
ed.    JUfe  ofCic,  iii.  247. 

'  The  disturbances  to  which  Cicero  alludes,  were,  proba- 
Uy,  those  that  were  occasioned  by  the  violent  measures  of 
Octavius,  in  order  to  obtain  the  consulate.  See  rem.  8.  p. 
381.  of  this  vol. 

•  Decimus  Brutus,  soon  after  the  date  of  this  letter,  was 
most  treacherously  deserted  by  Plancus :  who  drew  off  his 
troops  from  those  of  his  colleague,  and  went  over  with  them 
to  the  camp  of  Antony  and  Lepidus.  **  Decimus  Brutus 
**  being  thus  abandoned,  and  left  to  shift  for  himself,  with  a 
••  needy  mutinous  army,  eager  to  desert,  and  ready  to  give 
**  him  up  to  his  enemies,  had  no  other  way  to  save  himself 
**  than  by  fiying  to  Marcus  Brutus  iu  Macedonia.    But  the 

distance 


OF  CICERO. 


LETTER  XVI. 


373 


[A.  U.  710.] 

To  Caius  Cassius. 

Your  relation  and  my  friend,  the  worthy  Le- 
pidus, together  with  all  his  adherents,  were,  by 
an  unanimous  decree  of  the  senate,  which  pas- 
sed on  the  30th  of  June  last,  declared  pubHc 
enemies  to  their  country :  but,  at  the  same 
time,  a  full  pardon  was  offered  to  such  as  shall 
return  to  their  allegiance  before  the  first  of  Sep- 
tember. The  senate  acts  with  great  spirit ;  but 
it  is  the  expectation  of  being  supported  by  your 
army,  that  chiefly  animates  them  in  their  vi- 
gorous measures.  I  fear,  indeed,  that  we  shall 
have  occasion  for  all  your  assistance ;  as  the 
war  is  now  become  extremely  formidable  by 
the  villany  of  Lepidus. 

The  accounts  which  daily  arrive  concerning 
Dolabella    are    altogether    agreeable    to    our 
wishes  :  but,  at  present,  they  are  nothing  more 
than  mere  rumours.    However,  your  letter  ad- 
dressed 

"  distance  was  so  great,  and  the  country  so  guarded,  that 

"  he  was  often  forced  to  change  his  road,  for  fear  of  being 

**  taken ;  till,  having  dismissed  all  his  attendants,  and  wan- 

"  dered  for  some  time  alone  in  disguise  and  distress,  hecom- 

**  mitted  himself  to  the  protection  of  an  old  acquaintance 

"  and  host,  whom  he  had  formerly  obliged  :  where,  either 

**  through  treachery,,  or  accident,  he  was  surprised  by  An- 

"  tony's  soldiers,  who  immediately  killed  him,  and  returned 

«*  with  his  head  to  their  general.    Vel.  Paterc.  ii.  64.     ^m?. 

"  iii.  588.  Val.  Max.  ix.  13."    LifeofCic,  iii.  242. 

Bb3 


574 


The  letters 


Book  XV. 


dressed  to  the  senate,  dated  from  the  camp  on 
the  9th  of  May,  has  raised  a  general  persuasion 
in  Rome,  that  he  is  actually  defeated.  Accord- 
ingly, it  is  imagined,  that  you  are  now  upon 
your  march  into  Italy,  with  a  view,  on  the  one 
hand,  of  succouring  us  with  your  troops,  if  any 
of  those  accidents  so  common  in  war  should 
have  rendered  our  arms  unsuccessful :  or,  on 
the  other  hand,  of  assisting  us  with  your  coun- 
sels and  authortty,  in  case  we  should  have 
proved  victorious.  You  may  be  assured,  in  the 
mean  while,  that  no  endeavours  of  mine  shall  be 
wanting  to  procure  the  forces  under  your  com- 
mand all  possible  honours.  However,  I  must 
wait  a  proper  season  for  this  purpose,  when  it 
shall  be  known  how  far  they  have  availed,  or 
are  likely  to  avail,  the  republic.  At  present,  we 
have  only  heard  of  their  endeavours  in  the  cause 
of  liberty:  and  glorious,  it  must  be  acknow- 
ledged, their  endeavours  have  been.  But  still 
some  positive  services  are  expected  ;  and  these 
expectations,  I  dare  be  confident,  either  already 
are,  or  soon  will  be,  perfectly  answered.  No  man, 
indeed,  possesses  a  more  patriot  or  heroic  spirit 
than  yourself:  and  it  is  for  this  reason  that  we 
wish  to  see  you  in  Italy  as  soon  as  possible.  The 
fact  is,  if  you  and  Brutus  were  here,  we  should 
look  upon  the  republic  as  restored. 

If 


Book  XV. 


OF  CICERO. 


375 


If  Lepidus  had  not  received  Antony,  weak 
and  defenceless  as  he  was,  when  he  fled  after 
the  battle  of  Mutina,  we  should  have  obtained 
a  complete  victory.  This  infamous  step,  there- 
fore, has  rendered  him  far  more  odious  in 
Rome  even  than  Antony  himself  ever  was  :  for 
Antony  raised  a  war  at  a  time  when  the  repub- 
lic was  in  the  utmost  ferment ;  whereas  Lepi- 
dus has  kindled  the  flames  in  the  midst  of  peace 
and  victory.  We  have  the  consuls  elect^  to 
lead  our  armies  against  him ;  but  though  we 
greatly  depend  upon  their  courage  and  conduct, 
still,  however,  the  uncertain  event  of  war  leaves 
us  much  to  fear.  Be  assured,  therefore,  that 
our  principal  reliance  is  upon  you  and  Brutus, 
whom  we  hope  soon  to  see  in  Italy ;  and  Bru- 
tus, indeed,  we  expect  every  day.  Should  we 
have  defeated  our  enemies,  as  I  hope  we  shall^ 
before  your  arrival,  the  authority,  nevertheless, 
of  two  such  illustrious  citizens  will  be  of  infinite 
service  in  raising  up  the  republic,  and  fixing  it 
upon  some  tolerable  basis.  All  our  business,  in- 
deed, will  by  no  means  be  over,  notwithstand- 
ing we  should  be  delivered  from  the  infamous 
designs  of  our  enemies:  as  there  are  many 
other  disorders  of  a  different  kind,  which  it 
will  be  still  necessary  to  redress.     Farewel. 

LETTER 

^  Deciraus  Brutus  and  Plancus. 

Bb4  '    , 


376 


The  letters 


Book  XV. 


LETTER  XVIL 

[A.  U.  710.1 

To  Ampius'. 
Your  family  has  informed  you,  I  imagine,  of 
my  zealous  labours  to  procure  your  restoration, 
as  I  have  the  pleasure  to  be  assured  that  they 
are  abundantly  satisfied  with  my  services.— 
Uncommon,  indeed,  as  the  affection  is  which 
they  every  one  of  them  bear  towards  you,  yet 
I  cannot  allow  that  they  are  more  sincerely  de- 
sirous of  your  welfare  than  myself  I  am  sure, 
at  least,  their  power  of  assisting  you  in  this 
conjuncture  is  by  no  means  equal  to  mine.  I 
have  employed  it,  and  shall  continue  to  cm- 
ploy  it,  for  your  benefit :  and  I  have  already 
gained  a  very  considerable  point,  which  will 
much  contribute  to  facilitate  your  return.  In 
the  mean  while,  preserve  a  firm  and  manly  spi- 
rit, and  be  well  persuaded  that  my  good  offices 
shall  not  be  wanting  to  you  upon  any  occasion. 
Farewel. 

LETTER 

In  some  MSS.  the  superscription  of  this  letter  is  to 
Appius,  and  in  others  to  Ampius  Balbus.  The  time  when 
tftis  leiter  was  written  is  no  less  uncertain  than  the  person 
to  whom  it  is  addressed. 


I. 


Book  XV. 


OF  CICERO. 


377 


LETTER  XVIIL 

[A.  U.  710.] 

Plancus,  Consul-elect,  to  Cicero. 

1  CANNot  forbear  to  express,  upon  every  oc- 
casion, the  sentiments  I  entertain  of  your  re- 
peated favours ;  though,  at  the  same  time,  it  is 
with  some  reserve  that  I  indulge  myself  in  this 
satisfaction.  The  great  intimacy,  indeed,  which 
you  allow  me  to  enjoy  Avith  you,  renders  all 
formal  acknowledgments  of  this  kind  unneces- 
sary ;  nor  would  I  make  so  cheap  a  return  to 
the  many  important  obligations  I  owe  to  you, 
as  that  of  mere  empty  professions.  I  had  much 
rather  reserve  the  proofs  of  my  gratitude  to 
some  future  opportunity  of  testifying  it  in  per- 
son ;  and,  if  I  live,  I  will  convince  you,  by  the 
assiduity  of  my  good  offices,  and  by  every  in- 
stance of  respect  and  esteem,  that  you  have 
not  a  friend,  nor  even  a  relation,  who  is  so 
warmly  attached  to  you  as  myself.  In  the 
mean  time,  I  am  at  a  loss  to  determine,  whe- 
ther the  daily  pleasure  I  receive,  or  the  lasting 
honour  I  shall  derive  from  your  affectionate 
regard,  be  greater. 

I  find  the  interest  of  my  troops  has  been  a 
part  of  your  care.     It  was  not  with  any  inten- 
tion 


37i 


The  letters 


Book  XV. 


Book  XV. 


OF  CICERO. 


379 


tion  of  advancing  my  own  power,  that  I  was 
desirous  they  should  be  distinguished  by  the 
senate,  as  I  am  conscious  of  having  no  views 
but  what  regard  the  welfare  of  the  repubhc. 
My  reasons  were,  in  tlie  first  place,  because  I 
tliought  they  deserved  to  be  rewarded  ;  and,  in 
the  next  place,  because  I  was  desirous  they 
might,  upon  all  occasions,  be  still  more  attached 
to  the  commonwealth.  I  hoped,  likewise,  by 
these  means,  so  strongly  to  fortify  them  against 
all  solicitations,  that  I  might  be  answerable  for 
their  continuing  to  act  with  the  same  unshaken 
fidelity  which  they  have  hitherto  preserved. 

I  have  kept  entirely  upon  the  defensive;  and, 
though  I  am  Ayell  apprised  with  how  much  just 
impatience  the  public  wishes  for  a  decisive  ac- 
tion, yet  I  persuade  myself  that  the  senate  will 
approve  my  conduct.  If  any  misfortune,  in- 
deed, should  attend  our  armies  in  this  part  of 
the  world,  the  republic  would  not  very  soon  be 
in  a  condition  to  oppose  any  sudden  incursion 
of  these  ra])acious  traitors.  As  to  the  state  of 
our  forces,  I  imagine  you  already  know  that 
those  under  my  command  consist  of  three  ve- 
teran legions,  together  with  one  new-raised  re- 
giment, which  last,  however,  is  composed  of 
far  the  best  disciplined  troops  I  ever  saw  of 
this  sort.     Brutus'  is  at  the  head  of  ten  legions, 


one 


one  of  which  is  veteran,  another  has  been  upon 
the  establishment  about  two  years,  and  all  the 
rest  are  lately  raised.  Thus  you  see,  though 
our  army  is  very  numerous,  it  is  not  extremely 
strong.  The  repubhc,  indeed,  has  but  too  of- 
ten had  occasion  to  be  convinced,  how  little  is 
to  be  expected  from  raw  and  unexperienced 
forces.  However,  if  w^  had  been  joined  either 
by  the  African  legions',  which  are  composed 
wholly  of  veteran  troops,  or  by  CaesarV,  we 
should,  without  hesitation,  have  hazarded  a 
general  engagement.  As  the  troops  of  the  lat- 
ter were  somewhat  nearer  than  the  former,  I 
frequently  pressed  Caesar,  by  letters,  to  advance; 
and  he  accordingly  promised  to  join  us  with 
all  expedition.  But  other  views,  I  perceive, 
have  diverted  him  from  these  intentions.  Ne- 
vertheless, I  have  dispatched  my  lieutenant, 
Furnius,  with  another  letter  to  him,  if  happily 
it  may  any  thing  avail.  You  are  sensible,  my 
dear  Cicero,  that  I  take  an  equal  part  with 
you  in  the  affection  you  bear  to  Octavius.— 
He  has  a  right  to  my  friendship,  not  only  from 

■'•n ».:,)  that 

^  These  legions  composed  part  of  that  army  with  \yhich 
Julius  Csesar  defeated  Scipio  in  Africa,  from  whence  they 
had  lately  been  recalled  by  the  senate.  But,  soon  after  their 
landing,  they  were  corrupted  by  the  other  soldiers,  and,  de- 
serting the  senate,  they  joined  themsclvQs  to  Octavius.  Lif^ 
ofCic.  iii.  241. 

**  Octavius*  , 


m 


ii 


Dcciraus. 


380 


The  letters 


Book  XV. 


that  intimacy  which  I  enjoyed  with  his  uncle^ ; 
but,    in  regard    also  to  his   own  disposition, 
which,  as  far  as   I  could  ever  discover,  is  re- 
gulated by  principles  of  great  moderation  and 
humanity.     It  would  ill,  indeed,  become  that 
distinguished  amity,  which  subsisted  between 
Julius  Caesar  and  myself,  not  to   look  upon 
Octavius  with  all  the  tenderness  which  is  due 
to  the  son  of  my  friend,  after  he  has  been 
ailopted   as  such    by    Csesar's  will,    and  that 
adoption  approved  by  the  senate.     What  I  am 
going  to  say,  therefore,  is  more  the  dictates  of 
concern  than  resentment ;  but,  it  must  be  ac- 
knowledged,  that  if  Antony  still  lives,  if  he 
has  been  joined  by  Lepidus,  if  their  armies  are 
by  no  means  contemptible ;  in  a  word,  all  their 
hopes  and  all  their  attempts  are  singly  owing 
to  Ca?sar^     Not  to  look  farther  back  than  to 
his  promise  of  joining  me  :  had  he  fulfilled  the 
assurances  he  gave  me  for  that  purpose,  the  war 
would,  by  this  time,  either  have  been  totally  at 
an  end,  or  driven  into  Spain,  where  the  enemy 
could  not  have  carried  it  on  without  great  dis- 
advantage, as  that  province  is  utterly  averse 
to  them.     I  am  at  a  loss  to  conceive,  there- 
fore, with   what  view,   or  by  whose  advice, 

CsEsar 


5  Julius  Caesar. 

*  See  rem  2.  p.  "X^Z.  of  this  vol. 


Book  XV. 


OF  CICERO. 


381 


Caesar  was  diverted  from  a  measure  so  greatly 
to  his  interest  and  his  honour,  in  order  to  turn 
his  pursuits  towards  a  consulship  of  a  few 
months  duration^ :  much  to  the  terror,  at  the 
same  time,  of  the  republic*,  and  with  preten- 
sions, too,  exceedingly  ridiculous^  The  re- 
monstrances of  his  friends  might  be  extremely 
serviceable  upon  this  occasion,  both  to  himself 
and  to  the  commonwealth.  But  none  of  them, 
I  am  persuaded,  would  have  so  much  influence 
over  him  as  yours*"" ;  as  there  is  no  man  who 

is 

'  To  the  end  of  the  current  year ;  of  which  there  re- 
mained about  five  or  six  months  unexpired,  when  Octavius 
was  declared  consul. 

*  Octavius  advanced  towards  Rome  at  the  head  of  seve- 
ral legions,  in  order  to  demand  the  consulate :  which  threw 
the  city  into  the  utmost  consternation  and  disorder.  Di«.  p; 
319.     Appian,  p.  585,  6. 

^  Perhaps,  the  absurdity  to  which  Plancus  here  alluded, 
was,  that  Octavius,  who  was  but  a  youth  of  twenty,  and, 
consequently,  who  wanted  above  twenty  years  of  the  age 
prescribed  by  the  laws  for  being  qualified  to  sue  for  the  con- 
sular office,  should  entertain  so  extravagant  a  thought  as  to 
aspire  to  the  supreme  magistracy. 

'**  Plancus  chose  a  very  improper  man  to  dissuade  Octa- 
vius from  pursuing  his  design  upon  the  consulate,  when  he 
fixed  upon  Cicero  as  the  most  likely  person  to  prevail  with 
him  for  that  purpose.  It  appears,  indeed,  that  Octavius  had 
artfully  ensnared  Cicero  to  enter  into  his  views,  by  persuad- 
ing him  that  he  was  desirous  of  having  him  for  his  colleague 
in  the  consular  office,  and  promising  to  leave  the  sole  adjni- 
nistration  of  it  to  Cicero's  superior  wisdom  and  experience. 
The  bait  was  too  well  adapted  to  his  vanity  and  ambition,  to 
be  thrown  out  in  vain  :  and  Cicero  undertook  the  managemrrit 
of  this  affair  upon  the  terms  proposed.     Plutarch,  Appian, 

and 

1 


382 


The  letters        Book  XV. 


Book  XV. 


OF  CICERO. 


383 


is  so  much  obliged  to  you  except  myself:  for 
I  shall  ever  acknowledge  that  the  favours  I 
have  received  from  you  are  great  and  innume- 
rable. I  have  given  instructions  to  Furnius  to 
solicit  Caesar  upon  this  subject :  and  if  I  should 
have  that  authority  with  him,  which  I  am  sure 
I  ought,  he  will  hereafter  thank  me  for  my  ad- 
vice. In  the  mean  time,  we  have  a  very  diffi- 
cult part  to  sustain  here  :  as,  on  the  one  hand, 
we  do  not  think  ourselves  altogether  strong 
enough  to  hazard  an  engagement :  and,  on  the 

other, 

and  Dion  Cassius,  all  concur  in  giving  testimony  to  the  truth 
of  this  fact :  but,  as  it  is  a  fact  which  proves  that  Cicero 
was  by  no  means,  at  this  juncture,  acting  the  part  of  a  pa- 
triot, the  polite  apologist  of  his  conduct  has  endeavoured  to 
discredit  the  evidence  of  these  historians.  To  this  end,  Dr. 
Middleton  produces  the  following  passage  from  the  letters  to 
Brutus,  as  an  incontesiible  proof,  *'  that  no  man  was  more 
**  bhocked  at  Octavius's  attempt,  or  took  more  pains  to  dis- 
**  suade  it  than  Cicero."  CcEsarein — improbissimis  litteris 
quidam  fallacibusque  nunciis  impulerunt  in  spem  certissimam 
consulaius.  Quod  simulatque  sensi,  neque  ego  iHnm- absent  em 
litteris  monere  destiti,  ncc  accusare  pruesentes  ejus  necessarios, 
qui  ejus  cupiditati  suffragari  xidebantur  ;  nee  in  senatu,  scele- 
ratissimorum  consiliorum  fontes  apperire  dubitavi,  Epist,  ad 
Brut.  10.  Now,  there  seems  to  be  the  strongest  reason  to 
question  either  the  authenticity,  or  the  veracity,  of  this  let- 
ter :  because  it  is  most  certain,  from  one  of  Cicero's  Philip- 
pics, that  he  actually  did  favour  the  earliest  possible  promo- 
tion of  Octavius  to  the  consulate.  Quid  est  enim  P.  C,  (says 
he)  cur  earn  (Octavium)  non  quam  primura  amplissimos  ho- 
norcs  capere  cupiamus  ?  Legibus  enim  annalihus  cum  grandio- 
ran  atatem  ad  consulatum  constituebanty  adolescentice  temerita- 
tern  rerebantur,  C.  desar  ineunte  estate  docuit  ab  excellenti 
eximiaque  lirtutej  progressum  aetatis  expectari  non  oportere. 

In 


other,  must  take  care  not  to  expose  the  repub- 
hc  to  greater  dangers  by  declining  one.  How- 
ever, if  Caesar  could  comply  with  the  dictates 
of  his  interest  and  his  honour :  or  if  the  Afri- 
can legions  should  speedily  join  us  :  you  may 
depend  upon  having  nothing  to  fear  from  this 
quarter. — Let  me  entreat  you  to  continue  your 

friendship 

In  hoc  spes  liber  tatis  posit  a  est;  ab  hoc  accept  a  jam  salus, 
huic  summi  honorese^  exquiruntur  et  parati  swity  Phil.  v.  17, 
18.     Could  Cicero,  after  this,  without  being  guilty  of   the 
wildest  and  the  weakest  inconsistency,  "  admonish  Octavius, 
**  by  letter,  against   his   designs  upon  the  consulship  ;  re- 
"  proach  those  to  their  face  who  encouraged  him   in   that 
*'  ambitious  view  ;  and  lay  open  the  source  of  these  iraito- 
**  rous  counsels  in   the  senate;"  (all   which   the  epistle  in 
question  affirms  that  he  did  ;)  when  he  had,  himself,  in  the 
speech  and  in  the  passage  above  cited,  said  every  thing   that 
his  wit  and  eloquence  could  suggest  in  favour  of  Ottavius's 
premature  advancement  tg   the  consular  ofhce  ?  Either  the 
letters,  then,  to  Brutus  are  not  genuine  ;  or  Cicero,  to  serve 
a  present  purpose,  pretended  that  he  had  acted  a  part  which 
he  did  not.     The  former  of  these  suppositions  is  maintained 
by  some  very  learned   and  judicious  critics:  and  the  latter 
will  by  no  means   be   thought   improbable,   if  there   is  any 
weight  in  the  several  instances  of  the  same  kind  which  have 
been  occasionally  produced  in  the  course  of  these  remarks. 
But  whichever  of  these  alternatives  be  the  fact,  it  equally 
concludes  in  support  of  that  historical  evidence  for  which 
I  have  been  contending.     In  farther  confirmation  of  which, 
It  may  be  observed,  that  Plutarch  cites  the  authority  of  Oc- 
tavius himself,  for   what   he  affirms  concerning  the  private 
agreement  between  Octavius  and  Cicero  in  regard  to  the  con- 
sulate.    And  it  is  probable   he  took  this  piece  of  secret  his- 
tory from  those  memoirs  which  Octavius  wrote  of  his  own 
life  :  as  it  is  certain,  that  both   Plutarch  and  Appian  made 
great  use  of  them  in  compiling  their  histories.     Ptut.  in  vit. 
Cic.  Appian.  p,  578,  9.  385.     Dio.  p.   519.  MiddUt.  on  the 
epist.  to  Brut.  p.  134.  rem.  8.     Tunstal's  observ.  on  the  epist. 
to  Brut,  p.  222.  et  Suet,  in  Jug.  S5. 


S84 


The  letters 


Book  XV. 


A  S    ■■1^*' 


friendship  to  me,  and  to  be  assured  that  I  am 
entirely  yours".     Farewel. 

From  my  camp>  July  the  28th. 

AN 


II 


Plancus,  soon  after  the  date  of  this  letter,  abandoned 
his  colleague  Decimus  Brutus,  and  went  over  with  his  troops 
to  Antony  and  Lepidus.  See  rem.  8.  on  letter  15.  of  this 
book.  About  four  months,  likewise,  from  the  time  when 
this  letter  was  written,  the  celebrated  coalition  was  formed 
between  Caesar,  Antony,  and  Lepidus ;  in  consequence  of 
which,  Cicero,  it  is  well  known,  was  sacrificed  to  Antony's 
resentment.  In  the  last  moments  of  his  life  he  behaved 
with  great  composure  :  and  it  is  the  only  circumstance  in  all 
his  misfortunes  that  he  bore  with  a  becoming  fortitude.  He 
had,  indeed,  so  much  the  less  reason  to  complain  of  his 
fate,  as  it  is  certain  that  he  suffered  nothing  more  than  he 
would  have  inflicted,  had  Fortune  put  Antony  into  his 
power.  Omnium  adversorum,  says  Livy,  nihil  ut  viro  dignum. 
eraty  tulit,  prceter  mortem  :  quct,  rere  testimantiy  minus  tndigne 
videri  potuity  quod  a  victore  inimico  nihil  ci-udelius  passurus 
eraty  qudm  quod  ejusdetn  fortuncB  compos  ipse  fecisset .  Liv, 
fragm.  apud  Senec.  Suasor,  6.  This  is  the  judgment  which 
the  noblest  and  most  impartial  of  the  Roman  historians  has 
passed  upon  Cicero  :  and  the  truth  of  it  is  abundantly  con- 
firmed by  the  foregoing  letters. 


AN 


INDEX, 

Referring  to  the  order  in  which  the  Letters 

of  this  Volume  stand  in  the 

Edition  of  Grcevius. 


Book  XI. 


Ltttet  I. 

II. 

III. 

IV. 

V. 

VI. 

VII. 

VIII. 

IX. 

X. 

XL 

XII. 

XIIL 

XIV. 

XV. 

XVI. 

XVIL 

XVIIL 

XIX. 

XX. 

XXL 

XXIL 

XXIIL 

XXIV. 

XXV. 

XXVL 

XXVII. 

XXVIIL 

Book  XIL 

Letter  I.  —  tH, 
II.  — xiii. 
Vol.  IIL 


Book  XIL 


XXXV, 


i 


INDEX 


Book  XII. 


Lib. 

XXXV.—  xii. 

XXXVL—  xvi. 

XXXVII.— xTi. 

XXXVIIL— xvi. 
XXXIX.—    iv. 


Book  XIII. 


Letter  I. —  xii» 

II. —  xi. 

III.—  X. 

IV.—  X. 

v.—  X. 

VI.—  xii. 

VIL—  X. 

VIII.—  xii. 

IX.—  ix. 

X. —  xii. 

XL—  X. 

XII.—  xii. 

XIII.—  X. 

XIV.—  X. 

XV.—  xii. 

XVI.—  X. 

XVII.—  X. 

XVIIL—  X. 

XIX.—  xii. 

XX.—  X. 

XXL—  xii. 

XXIL— .   xi. 


Book  XIV. 


Letter  I. —  x. 

IL—  X. 

III.—  xi. 

IV.—  X. 

v.—  X. 

VI.—  xi. 

VIL—  X. 

Vm.—  xi. 


Ep. 

-  22 

-  27 

-  21 

-  25 

-  16 


24 

8 

3 

4 

5 

4 

28 

5 

24 

11 

31 

6 

6 

27 

7 

7 

8 

10 

28 

12 

29 

26 


30 
9 
9 
14 
13 
10 
11 
11 


Book  XIV. 


Lib. 

IX.—  X. 

X. —  xii. 

XL—  xi. 

XII.—  X. 

XIIL—  xii. 

XIV.—  xi. 

XV.—  X. 

XVL—  xi. 

XVIL—  xi. 

XVIIL—  xi. 

XIX.—  X. 

XX.—  X. 

XXL—  X. 

XXIL—  X. 

XXI 1 1.—  ix. 

XXIV.—  xi. 

XXV.—  X. 

XXVL—  xii. 

XX  VIL—  xii. 

XXVIIL—  X. 


Book  XV. 


Letter  I.—  X. 

IL—  X. 

III.—  xi. 

IV.—  xi. 

v.—  X. 

VI.—  xi. 

VIL—  X. 

VIIL—  X. 

IX.—  xii. 

X. —  xi. 

XL—  X. 

XII.—  xii. 

•   XIIL—  xii. 

XIV.—  xii. 

XV.—  xi. 

XVL—  xih 

XVIL—  X. 

XVIIL—  X. 


Ep. 

15 

12 

18 

17 

25 

14 

16 

12 

13 

19 

34 

18 

21 

25 

20 

23 

20 

14 

15 

35 


19 
33 
26 
21 
23 
24 
32 
22 
30 
15 

26 

8 

9 

13 

25 

10 

2'9 

■ 24 

INDEX 


INDEX. 


The  Roman  numerals  refer  to  the  volume,  the  figures 
to  the  pages,  and  n.  to  the  notes. 

AbDERA,  a  city  in  Thrace,  ii.  453. 
Acastus,  ii.  80. 

Accensorsy  their  office,  i.  446.  n. 
Accius,  wrote  the  tragedy  of  Oenomaus,  ii.  257. 
Achaia,  a  part  of  Greece,  ii.  443. 

^d/i//^,  Cicero's  letters  to,  ii.  i6'4,  l67,  170,  175,  178. 180, 
W,  189,  190,  195.  »/    ,1/0,1  w, 

—  conjecture  concerning  him,  ii.  l64.  n. 
Actium,  a  city  of  Epire,  ii.  82. 

Addison,  reflection  amt.ng  the  tombs  of  the  great,  iii.  10.  n. 
Adversity  is  to  friendship,  wha:  fire  is  to  gold,  ii.  254. 
Mdiles,  their  office  to  superuuend  the  markets  and  ma£«- 
zines  of  corn,  i.  250. 

—  of  two  kinds,  Plebeian  and  Curule,  i.  295.  n. 

—  Plebeian,  i.  308. 

^gina,  an  Island  between  Peloponnesus  and  Attica,  iii.  o. 
Mius  Sextius,  i.  2^7. 

^fnilius  Paulus  loses  two  sons  in  one  week,  iii.  15.  n, 
^sopus,  the  actor,  account  of  him,  i.  II9.  n.' 

—  died  worth  nearly  200,0001.  i.  II9.  n,       * 
Afranius,  i.  55.  ii.  108. 

—  murdered  by  the  soldiers,  ii.  267.  n. 
Affection  mutual,  characterised,  i.  9. 
Africa,  sad  situation  of  affairs  there,  iii.  150. 

Agesilaus  would  not  suffer  any  picture  or  statue  of  him  to  be 
taken,  i.  83. 

—  account  of  him,  i.  83.  n. 
Agrarian  law  explained,  i.  441.  n. 
Ague,  quartan,  salutary,  ii.  88.  n. 
Alabanda,  a  city  in  Asia  Minor,  i.  344. 

Alexander  would  permit  his  picture  to  be  drawn  only  by 
Apelles,  his  statue  by  Lysippus,  i.  83. 

—  visited  the  tomb  of  Achilles,  i.  ^5.  n. 

C  c  2  Alexander 


m 


i 


I 


r 


INDEX. 

Alexander  appointed  the  Roman  commonwealth  his  general 
heir,  i.  427,  n. 

AliptcB  were  persons  who  prepared  the  bodies  of  comba- 
tants for  athletic  exercises,  i.  179«  "• 

AUievus,  Cicero's  letters  to,  ii.  227,  233. 

—  silver  coin  of,  ii.  227.  n. 

Alsinrtiy  a  town  on  the  western  coast  of  Italy,  ii.  248. 

Ali/sia,  a  city  of  Acarnia  in  Greece,  ii.  75.  n. 

Atnanienses  harassed  by  Cicero,  i.  386. 

Amanus,  a  mountain  that  divides  Cilicia  from  Syria,  i.  S86.. 

Ammonius,  i.  51. 

Amphiaraus,  the  fable  of,  ii.  390.  n. 

Ampins f  ii.  130. 

—  Cicero's  letter^  to  him,  ii.  355.  iii.  376. 

—  account  of  him,  ii.  355.  n.  358.  n. 

—  Cicero  obtains  the  promise  of  his  pardon,  ii.  355. 
Ancharius,  Quintus,  Cicero's  letter  to,  i.  91- 
Anchialus  recommended  by  Cicero  to  Sulpicius,  ii.  422. 
Andro,  ii.  309. 

AniciuSy  i.  49, 

—  recommended  by  Cicero  to  Cornificius,  iii.  153. 
Anneius,  Marcus,  recommended  by  Cicero  to  Thermus,  i. 

399,  400,  401. 
Antepasts  consisted  of  provocatives  to  appetite,  ii.  262,  277. 
ARtiochia,  siege  of,  abandoned,  i.  386. 

—  in  Syria,  iii.  327. 

Antiochus,  king  of  Commagene,  i.  342.  348. 

Antipater^  i.  210.  . 

Antistm,  Titus,  leaves  ten-twelfths  ©f  his  estate  to  Ateius 

Capito,  ii.  224. 

Antonii,  i.  307. 
AntoniuSy  i.  340. 
AntoniuSy  Caius,  i.  472.  n* 

—  Cicero's  letter  to,  i.  17. 

—  uncle  to  Mark  Antony,  i.  17.  n. 

—  Pompey  insisted  that  he  should  be  recalled,  i.  I9.  n. 

—  brought  to  trial,  i.  24.  n. 

Antonius,  Marcus,  put  to  death  by  command  of  Manus,  11. 

448. 
Antony t  Mark,  i.  96.  ii.  352 

—  his  infamous  intercourse  with  Curio,  i.  220.  n. 

—  supported  by  Cicero  in  his  election,  ii.  65.  "•    _ 

—  enriches  himself  by  the  spoils  of  his  fellow-citiiens,  11. 

174.  n. 

—  excitM  the  soldiers  against  Cicero,  iii.  143. 


INDEX. 

Antony  erects  a  statue  to  the  memory  of  Caesar,  iii.  148. 

—  Cicero  laments  that  he  was  spared  when  Cssar  was  mur* 

dered,  iii.  148.  n. 

—  represents  the  murderers  of  Caesar  as  traitors,  iii.  149. 

—  Octavius  and  Cicero  engage  in  a  plot  against  his  life,  iii. 

161.  n. 

—  suspected  of  perfidy  to  Brutus,  iii.  83.  n. 

—  reasons  for  not  entering  into  friendship  with  Cicero,  iii. 

91.  n. 

—  suspected  of  intending  to  rebuild  the  altar  to  Caesar,  iii. 

119. 
'—doubts   on  his  drawing  together  the  veteran  troops,  iii. 

120, 
< —  assembles  the  senate  in  a  few  days  after  Caesar's  death,  iii. 

122.  n. 

—  Brutus  and  Cassius  letter  to  him,  iii,  118,  131, 

—  cannot  bear  a  word  or  look  animated  by  the  spirit  of  li- 

berty, iii.  135. 

—  Cicero  declares,  that  whoever  destroys  him  will  have  the 

glory  of  terminating  the  war,  iii.  260,  287,  332. 

—  arrives  at  the  Forum  Julii,  iii.  278. 

—  recovers  strength,  iii.  286, 

-^  his  retreat  from  Mutina  in  disorder,  iii.  286. 

—  joined  by  Ventidius,  iii.  288. 

—  acts  with  the  vilest  hypocrisy,  iii.  290. 

—  forms  his  camp  above  Forum  Voconii,  iii.  292. 

—  his  troops  desert  to  Lepidus,  iii.  293. 

•— reports  respecting  the  battle  between  him  and  Hirtius, 
HI.  335, 

—  offers  great  rewards  to  the  soldiers  who  join  him,  iii.  352. 
»—  would  have  been  overcome  had  he  not  been  joined  by  Le- 
pidus, iii.  375. 

ApameOf  a  city  in  Phrygia,  i.  373. 

Apella  delivered  by  Lepidus  as  an  hostage,  iii.  279«     t »-     ' 

ApelleSy  i.  83. 

—  his  celebrated  picture  of  Venus,  i.  180.  n. 
ApollOf  ii.l^l,  ' 
Apollonia,  silver  coined  there  for  the  payment  of  Pompey's 

army,  ii.  223. 

—  a  learned  seminary  in  Macedonia,  iii.  87.  n. 
Apollonius  is  desirous  of  recording  the  actions  of  Caesar  in 

Greek,  ii.  465. 
Appius,  i.  159,   178.  n.  202,  447- 
•r-  Pulcher,  Cicero's  letter's  to  him,  i.  225,  268,  270,  278, 

300,  336,  444,  457,  ii.  1,  23,  46,  54. 

C  c  3  Appiusy 


INDEX. 


Appius,  one  of  his  daughters  married  to  the  son  of  Pompeyy 
the  other  to  Brutus,  i.  225.^n. 

—  addresses  his  treatise  on  Augury  to  Cicero,  i.  278. 

—  his  credulity  in  augury,  i.  279«  n. 

—  on  his   return  from  Cclicia  demanded  a  triumph,  but 

dropped  his  claim,  i.  37  !•  n. 

—  severely  plundered  Cilicia,  i.  377.  n.  379-  n» 

—  impeached  of  treason  and  biibery,  i.  437* 

—  supported  by  Pumpey,  i.  439. 

•—  accuses  Cicero  of  obstructing  the  erection  of  a  public  mo- 
nument to  him,  i.  444. 

—  Cicero's  friendship  for  him,  i.  468. 

—  prosecution  commenced  against  him,  ii,  1. 

—  Cicero  promi-cs  to  support  him,  ii.  2. 
— -  acquitted,  ii.  23. 

—  his  character  b}  Cicero,  ii.  25. 

—  congratulated  b\  Cicero  on  his  acquittal,  ii,  46. 

—  his  ingratitude,  ii.  6l. 

—  becomes  a  prodigy  of  reformers,  ii.  68. 

—  plundered  the  temples  of  Greece  to  collect  statues  for  the 

game^^,  ii.  68.  n. 

—  character  of,  by  Marcus  Coecus,  ii.  6^. 

•—  Claudius  Coecus,  the  first  who  supplied  Rome  with  water, 

ii.  30.  n. 
Apuleius^  Cicero's  letter  to,  ii.  242,  247. 
Arar^  a  river  near  Lyons,  now  called  the  Saone,  lii.  292. 
Archagathus  recommended  by  Cicero  to  Acilius,  ii.  170. 
AreopagiteSj  magistrates  of  Athens,  i.  288.  n. 
ArgenteuSy  a  river  in  Provence,  iii.  292. 
AriartheSj  i.  331.  % 

Ariobarzanesy  king  of  Cappadocia,  i.  4l6,  430.  ii.  43. 

—  implores  the  protection  of  Cicero,  i.  330. 

—  plot  against  him  discovered,  i.  332. 
Aristarchus,  a  critic  of  Alexandria,  ii.  29. 
Aristippusy  ii.  353. 

Aristocrat ical  party,  question  respecting,  i.  I96.  n. 

Aristocritus,  i.  40,  42. 

AristotelaSy  Licinius  recommended  by  Cicero  to  Rex,  ii.  467. 

Armj/y  on  the  distribution  of  lands  and  rewards  to  the  sol- 
diers, iii.  307. 

Arpirnm,  a  city  of  the  Volsci,  the  birth-place  of  Cicero,  ii. 
144. 

—  patronized  by  Cicero,  ii.  335. 
Arrius,  i.  33.  n. 

^r^uo^c/e^,  king  of  Armenia,  i.  328. 

AscalpOy 


INDEX. 

Ascalpo,  the  physician,  recommended  by  Cicero  to  Sulpicius, 

ii.  418. 
Asia,  spoken  of  by  classic  writers  in  different  senses,  ii. 

309.  n. 
AsturOy  a  town  in  the  Campagna  di  Roma,  iii.  45. 
AteiuSy  i.  128.  n. 

—  recommended  by  Cicero  to  Lucius  Plancus,  ii.  2$2. 

! —  Tiiius  Antestius  leaves  him  ten-twelfths  of  his  estate,  ii* 

224. 
Atelhy  a  city  in  Campania,  now  called   Santo  Arpino,  re* 

commended  by  Cicero  to  the  protection  of  Cluvius,  iii. 

51. 
Atellan  farces  were  acted  after  serious  dri^matic  perforia* 

ances,  ii.  259.  n. 
Athenaisy  i.  417. 
Athenodorus  i.  448. 

AthenSy  the  seat  of  all  the  useful  and  polite  arts,  ii.  409.  n« 
Athletic  games,  account  of,  i.  123.  n. 
Atiliusy  i.  370. 

Atrium  Libertatis  erected  in  honour  of  Cicero,  i.  161.  d« 
Atticusy  i.  20. 

—  kept  a  band  of  gladiators,  which  he  let  out  on  public  oc^ 

casions,  i.  222.  n. 
AttiuSy  the  essenced,  ii,  451. 
Avarice^  an  attendant  on  luxury,  ii.  68.  n, 
AuctuSy  Cicero's  letter  to,  iii.  77. 

—  conjecture  concerning  him,  iii.  77'  n. 

AufidiuSy  Sextus,  recommended  by  Cicero  to  Cornificius,  iii* 

160. 
Augursy  college  of  i.  279.  n. 
AugustuSy  instituted  a  poetici^l  court  of  judicature,  which  was 

improved  by  Domitian,  i,  118.  o. 

—  instructs  his  grandsons  in  swimming,  i.  151.  n, 
Avianusy  1,  105,  108,  260.  ii.  180. 

AvianuSy  Marcus  iEmilius,  recommended  by  Cicero  to  Sulpi* 

cius,  ii.  419. 
AureliuSy  his  two  sons  recommended  by  Cicero  to  AnchariuSi 

i.  9L 
Authors y  the  vanity  of,  i.  460.  n. 

—  various  kinds  of  writing  characterised,  ii.  374f. 

—  difficulty  of  writing  with  success  when  restrained  by  feari 

ii.  377. 


Bacchanals y  improper  statues  for  Cicero,  i.  107< 
Bacilius,  i.  209.  d. 

Cc4 


Baiie, 


INDEX. 

Bautf  danger  to  the  fair  from  frequenting  tht  hot  baths  there^ 

ii.  234.  D. 
Balbus/i.  135,  ii.  33,  271. 
^-  Cornelius  inviolably  attached  to  Caesar,  i.  319.  n. 

—  withdraws  from  Gades  wiih  considerable  eflects,  iii.  34S. 

—  attempts  to  make  Caesar  the  model  of  his  actions,  iii.  349. 

—  presents  Herennius  Gallus,a  comedian,  with  a  gold  ring, 

iii.  349. 

—  account  of  him,  iii.  350.  n. 

—  orders  Fadius  to  be  put  to  death  for  refusing  to  enter  the 

lists  at  the  gladiatorial  games,  iii.  351. 

—  other  cruelties,  iii.  352. 
Bargylos^  a  city  in  Caria,  i.  345. 
Barsilius,  Cicero's  letter  to,  i.  209. 
Bassus,  Cajcilius,  account  of,  iii.  60.  n.  S5. 
Bellianusy  strangles  Domitius,  ii.  113. 

BtUona,  high  priest  of,  next  in  power  to  the  king,  1.  417.  n. 
Bibulm,  Marcus,  i.  5oy  61,  66,  7oy  n.  iii.  81. 

—  takes  possession  of  Antiochia,  i.  418. 

—  treated  with  contempt  by  Caesar,  ii.  38.  o. 

—  offended  at  Cicero,  ii.  40.  n. 

—  two  of  his  sons  murdered  in  Alexandria,  ii.  41.  d, 
Bilienus,  iii.  3. 

Biography,  advantages  from  the  study  of,  1.  81. 
Bitnyniu,  formed  by  the  Roman  knights,  i.  406. 
Bithynkus,  Cicero's  letter  to,  iii.  89. 

—  letter  to  Cicero,  iii.  176. 
Batia,  a  district  of  Greece,  iii.  68. 

Bulanus,  recommended  by  Cicero  to  Sulpicius,  ii.  399. 
Bona  Dea,  celebration  of,  i.  178.  n. 
Bribery,  amazing  at  Rome,  i.  281.  n, 

Britain,  supposed  by  the  Romans  to  have  abounded  with  gold 
and  silver,  i.  140.  n. 

—  progress  of,  from  barbarism  to  liberty,  i.  141.  n. 
BrundisiumyC]cero  arrives  at,  i.  26.  n. 

Bruttiu$,  Lucius  recommended  by  Cicero  to  Acilius,  ii.  190. 
Brutus,  Decimus,  letter  to  M.  Brutus  and  Cassius,  iii.  82. 

—  account  of  him,  iii.  89.  n.  138.  n. 

—  letter  to  Cicero,  iii.  138,  287,  291,  30€,  SIO. 

—  Cicero's  letters  to  him,  iii.  139,  141,  158,  I6I,  l63,  182, 

V6,  281,  286,371. 

—  encouraged  by  Cicero  to  act  without  wailing  for  sanction 

of  the  senate,  iii.  161. 

—  reasons  that  prevented  him  pursuing  Antony,  iii.  288. 
— *  defeated  by  Plancus,  and  killed  by  Antony's  soldiers,  iif. 

371.  n. 

Brutus^ 


INDEX. 

Brutus,  Marcus,  married  to  Junia,  sister  of  Cassius,  i.  455,  n, 

—  favourable  report  of,  by  Cicero,  ii.  26. 

—  Cicero's  letters  to,  ii.  326,  333,  335,  342,  34^. 

—  account  of  him,  ii.  326.  n. 

—  Cicero  recommends  M.  Varro  to  him,  ii.  326. 

—  Cicero  recommends  the  commissioners  of  Arpinum  to  his 

friendship,  ii.  333. 

—  his  conduct  on  the  ides  of  March  praised  by  Cicero,  iii.  ^6, 
«— ^  D.  Brutus  and  Cassius  letter  to  him,  iii.  82. 

' —  and  Cassius*  letter  to  Mark  Antony,  iii.  118,  131. 
-r-  his  conduct  after  the  battle  of  Mutina,  iii.  o72j  n, 
- —  state  of  his  army,  iii.  379- 
Buckingham,  D,  of,  unexpected  turn  in  a  speech  of  his,  i, 

402.  n, 
Bullis,  the  people  of,  i.  206. 
Bursa  inflames  the  disturbances  on  the  assassination  of  Clo- 

dius,  i.  263,  n. 

—  banished,  i.  263.  n. 

'—  Cicero  entertains  a  stronger  aversion  to  him  than  he  ever 

did  to  Clodius,  i.  264. 
Buthrotmn,  a  city  of  Epire,  ii.  82. 
Qpcina,  Aulus,  Cicero's  letters  to,  ii.  369,  381,  Z^S* 
— -  account  of  him,  ii.  Z6^,  n. 

—  advised  by  Cicero  to  continue  in  Sicily,  ii.  370. 

—  letter  to  Cicero,  ii.  373. 

—  suffers  for  the  liberties  of  his  pen,  ii.  373. 

—  his  caution  in  mentioning  Caesar  in  his  work,  ii.  374« 

—  presages  of  his  being  recalled,  ii.  391* 

—  a  native  of  Etruria,  ii.  391.  n. 

—  recommended  by  Cicero  to  Isauricus,  ii.  3^6, 
Ctesar,  Julius,  supposed  to  be  alluded  to,  i.  2.  n. 

—  and  Crassus  solicit  Cicero  to  join  their  party,  i.  35.  n» 
^-  purposes  either  to  gain  Cicero  or  ruin  him,  i.  40.  n. 

— r  by  aiding  the  farmers  of  the  public  revenues,  obtained 

their  support,  i.  114.  n. 
Cicero's  letters  to,  i.  134.  ii.  462.  404. 

—  rather  discovered  than  conquered  Britain,  i.  134.  n, 
-r-  his  scheme  to  usurp  the  supreme  power,  i.  l65.  n. 

—  fixes  his  winter  «[uarters  near  Italy,  i.  166.  n, 
-y  paid  Curio's  debts,  i.  218.  n. 

1 —  foments  confusion  at  Rome,  i.  243.  n. 

—  his  scheme  of  putting  the  transpadoni  on  the  footing  of 

the  municipal  towns  of  Italy,  i.  274,  n. 
r-  endeavours  to  gain  the  lowest  of  the  people  to  his  int^ 
rest,  i.  306. 

Gesar 


ii\ 


INDEX. 


I  N  D  E  X. 


I 
I 


t 


Crsar  recalled  from  Gaul,  i,  359' 

—  debate  on  his  government  in  Gaul,  ii.  $4,  n« 

—  to  be  admitted  a  candidate  for  the  consuiate^  ii,  44* 

—  bis  opposition  to  Pompey,  ii.  66, 

—  sends  a  menacing  letter  to  the  senate,  ii.  89. 
-*-  letter  received  with  indignation,  ii.  8^^.  n. 

1—  takes  possession  of  Arminium  and  other  towns,  ii.  105. 

—  offers  conditions  to  Rome,  ii.  106. 

—  affected  to  be  thought  a  descendant  of  Venas,  ii.  114.  n. 

—  his  generosity  to  Domitius  Enobarbus,  ii.  115.  n. 

—  incensed  against  the  i>enate  and  tribunes,  leaves  Rome,  it* 

124. 
^-  takes  money  out  of  the  temple  of  Saturn,  an^  proceeds 

against  the  lieutenants  of  Pompey  in  Spain,  ii.  124.  n. 
— •  distributes  preferment  without  regard  to  rank  or  merits 

ii.  135.  n. 

—  gets  a  victory  of  Pompey  at  Pharsalia,  ii.  200. 
'—  defeats  Scipio  in  Africa,  ii.  237.  n. 

—  returns  victorious  from  Africa,  ii.  248,  n. 

—  less  inclined  than  afraid  to  have  recourse  to  arms,  ii.  250w 
•~-  made  a  collection  of  apophthegms,  li.  256. 

—  intendjs  to  establish  a  republican  government,  ii.  290. 

—  his  generosity  to  Cicero,  ii.  295. 

—  his  moderation  and  generosity,  ii.  305. 

•—  admits  some  of  the  Gauls  into  the  privileges  of  Roman 
citizens,  ii.  318,  n. 

—  takes  the  name  of  superintend cmt  of  mcawertj  ii.  322. 

—  makes  a  law  to  regulate  expences,  ii,  323.  n. 

*—  his  greatness  of  mind  in  pardoning  Marcellus,  ii.  330. 

—  the  reason  why  Caecina  became  the  object  of  his  wrath, 

ii.  37^. 
•—  never  speaks  of  Pompey  but  in  terms  of  the  highest  honour, 

ii.  393. 
— <•  obtains    a    complete   victory   over   young  Pompey,  ii. 

438.  n. 

—  his  method  of  rewarding  his  partisans,  ii.  446.  n. 

—  conspirators  obliged  to  leave  Rome,  iii.  82.  n. 

—  appointed  Dolabella  to  succeed  him  in  the  consulship, 

iii.  92. 

—  at  the  time  of  his  death  purposed  games  in  honour  of  Ve- 

nus, iii.  110.  n. 

—  act  of  oblivion  passes  the   senate  after  his  death,   iii. 

122.  n.      . 
-^  Rome  more  a  slave  to  the  plans  of  Cesar,  after  his  death, 
than  to  himself  when  living,  iii.  123. 

Ccesar 


Cassar,  Brutus,  and  Cassius  reproached  by  Antony,  iii.  132. 

—  a  statue  erected  to  his  memory,  iii.  148. 

—  his  party  intent  to  revenge  his  death,  iii.  149. 

—  his  murderers  represented  by  Antony  as  traitors,  iii.  149, 

—  his  murder  styled  hy  Cicero  x\iQ  noblest  enterprm,  iii.  158. 

—  many  boasted  of  being  concerned  in  the  conspiracy,  who 

were  not,  iii.  318. 

—  Lucius  pardoned  by  hi^i,  and  afterwards  privately  assaS' 

sinated  by  his  order,   ii.  245.  n. 
Cwsena,  an  obscure  town  in  Italy,  iii.  170. 
Ccesim^  Publius,  Cicero's  letter  to,  i.  476. 
Caldus,  Ccelius,  Cicero's  letter  to,  ii.  18. 

—  his  character,  ii.  18.  n. 

—  Cicero  leaves  the  administration  of  Cilicia  in  his  hands. 

11.  58. 
Calinum,  a  city  of  Campania,  ii.  459. 
Calidius,  one  of  the  most  agreeable  orators  of  the  age,  u 

304.  n. 

—  lost  his  election,  i.  304. 
CalistheneSy  i.  77,  n. 

Calpe,  now  Gibraltar,  iii.  348. 

Callus  contested  the  palm  of  eloquence  with  Cicero,  ii. 

185,  n. 
Camillus,  ii.  72. 
Campaniay  considerations  respecting  the  lands  referred  to  a 

full  house,  i.   l65. 

—  case  of  the  lands,  i.  l65.  n. 

—  Curio  attempts  to  procure  a  divison  of  the  lands,  i.  392. 
CanidiuSy  i.  319. 

Caniniusy  i.  61,  67,  95,  125,  291. 

Capena,  a  city  in  Italy,  ii.  274. 

CappadociayiccourX  of  the  kingdom  of,  i.  330,  b. 

—  not  furnished  with  any  place  of  strength,  i.  352. 
Cassius,  i.  109,  388,  390. 

—  Cicero's  letters  to,  1.  450.  ii.   171.  450.  452.  iii.  12i 

142,  148,  192,  199,  219,  364,  365,  373.  .^ 

—  his  speech  on  having  saved  the  life  of  Caesar,  when  ^ 

danger  of  drowning,  i.  152.  n. 

—  account  of  him,  i.  450.  n. 

—  deserted  with  his  whole  fleet  from  Pompey  to  Caesar,  i. 

171,  n. 

—  letters  to  Cicero,  ii.  455.  iii.  366. 

—  D.  Brutus  letter  to  him,  iii.  82. 

—  and  M.  Brutus  letter  to  Antony,  iii.  131. 

Cassiui, 


INDEX. 


INDEX. 


If 

]'■' 


Cassius  pursues  the  fleet  of  Dolabella.  commanded  by  Luci* 
lius,  iii.  369. 

—  his  army,  iii.  370, 

Catiline,  those  concerned  in  his  conspiracy  put  to  death 
without  any  process,  i.  13.  n. 

—  supported  by  persons  of  desperate  fortunes,  i.  23.  n. 

—  recommended  to  Lucius  Lucceius  to  write  a  history  of 

that  conspiracy,  i.  80. 
— -  capital  punishments  inOieted  on  all  concerned  in  it,  i^ 

173,  n. 
Cutilivs xurns  pirate,  iii.  69. 
Catina,  a  maritime  town  in  Sicily,  it.  1^4. 
Cato,  Caius,  opposed  the  restoration  of  Pompey,  i.  5,  n. 

52,  n.  73. 

—  proposes  the  recal  of  Lentulus,  i.  6p.  n. 

Cato,  Marcus,  instructs  his  son  in  swimming,  i.  151.  n. 
-r-  speech,  i.  1 86.  n. 

—  Cicero's  letters  to,  i.  342,  411,  ii.  50. 

—  his  character,  i.  411,  n, 

—  prolonged  the  life  of  liberty,  i,  413,  n. 

—  settled  a  correspondence  through  the  whole  of  the  pro-^ 

vinces,  i.  42iS.  n, 
-r-  enters  into  friendship  with  Deiotarus,  i.  428.  n. 

—  acts  upon  the  principles  of  disinterested  patriotism,  i^ 

428. 

—  letter  to  Cicero,  i.  430. 

—  his  manners  by  no  means  rough  or  unpolished,  i.  431.  n, 
*-*?  supports  a  thanksgiving  to  Bibulus,  ii.  50.  n. 

—  opposes  a  thanksgiving  to  Cicero,  ii.  50.  n. 

—  Cicero's  thoughts  on  his  death,  ii.  267y  n, 

—  Seneca's  eulogy  on,  ii.  268.  n. 

. —  anecdote  of  his  stedfast  behaviour  at  four  years  of  age, 
iii.  2,  n. 

—  thoughts  on  his  own  approaching  dissolution,  occasioned 

by  the  death  of  bis  soiv,  iii.  15.  n. 

—  his  character,  a  fashionable  declamation  for  both  parties 
.    at  Rome,  iii.  50.  n. 

Catullus,  Q.  L.  makes  the  welfare  of  his  country  the  object 

of  his  labours,  ii.  320. 
Caunians  refused  to  pay  interest  for  money  after  having  lodged 

it  in  the  treasury,  i.  346,  n. 
Catmus,  a  city  in  Caria,  i.  345. 
Ceasor^  that  office  explained,  ii.  4,  n. 
•p—  every  ^ve  years  number  the  people,  iii.  90,  n. 

Cerclia 


CtreUa,  account  of  her,  ii.  367.  n. 
Chariots  of  the  old  Britons,  i.  140. 
Chrysippus  the  philosopher,  account  of,  i.  247.  "•  241.  n« 
Cibyra,  a  city  in  Phrygia  Major,  i.  310.  n. 
Cicero,  Quintus,  letters  to  M.  T.  Cicero,  ii.  466. 
-—  io  order  to  obtain  the  recai  of  his  brother,  engaged  to  aa 
unlimited  resignation  to  the  measures  of  Pompey,  u 

167. 

—  letter  to  Tiro,  ii.  110,  118.  iii.  I69. 

—  his  character,  ii.  1 10.  n. 

[There  being  so  many  references  to  the  name  (f  Cicero,  if 
appears  easier  to  divide  the  volumes^  than  to  repeat  the 
volume  to  each  article*^ 

VOL.  I. 

Cicero,  M.  T.  letters  to  Pompey,  i.  1. 

—  complains  of  a  want  of  return  of  friendship  in  Poiapeyi 

and  his  not  congratulating  him  on  his  services,  3. 

—  cause  of  Pompey 's  coolness  towards  him,  6.  n. 

—  letter  to  Quintus  Metellus  Celer,  7. 

—  resolves  to  receive  no  honours  at  the  end  of  his  consular 

office,  9«  n. 

—  swore  that  he  had  preserved  Rome  and  the  republic  from 

destruction,  12.  n. 

—  his  good  offices  to  Pompey,  12. 

—  letter  to  Caius  Antonius,  17- 

—  lam  informed^  the  reason  for  his  using  that  expresst^Oy 

18.  n. 

—  letter  to  Publius  Sestius,  20. 

—  purchases  Crassus's  house,  21. 
— -  in  distress  for  money,  23. 

—  sincerity  not  the  virtue  of,  22.  n» 

—  letters  to  Terentia,  25,  30,  34,  40.  \ 

—  his  dejection  during  banishment,  25,  30. 
-—  a  philosopher  only  in  speculation,  25.  n. 

—  passes  through  Brundisium  in  his  way  to  Greece,  26.  n# 

—  a  law  passed  that  no  person  should  harbour  him,  27-  n* 
! —  his  daughter  Tullia  married  to  Piso,  28.  n. 

—  promises  freedom  to  his  slaves  conditionally,  28. 

—  a  temple  erected  to  Liberty  where  his  house  stood,  32.  n. 
— -  solicited  to  join  Caesar  and  Crassus,  35.  n. 

—  his  design  of  taking  up  arms  against  his  cOunttTt  examin- 

ed, 35.  n.  •  -;-;a..n:^-/-?'  .. 

—  deserted  by  Pompey,  36.  n* 


INDEX. 


li?- 


Cicero,  Cxsar  offered  to  take  him  into  Gaal  as  his  lieute- 
nant, 40.  n. 

—  letter  to  Quintus  Metellits  Nepos,  45. 

—  the  treachery  of  Clodius  to  him,  45,  n. 

—  recalled  from  banishment,  47.  n. 

—  letters  to  Publius  Lcntalus,  50,  6l,  65,  66,  69,  73,74, 

P^,  111,  157. 

—  the  part  he  took  in  placing  Ptolemy  in  this  kingdom,  53. 
' —  letter  to  Quintus  Valerms  Orca,  57. 

—  recommends  his  African  friends,  57. 

—  his  friendship  to  Lentulus,  69. 

—  compares  the  fate  of  Lentulos  with  his  own,  74. 
•—  letter  to  Lucius  Lucceius,  75, 

—  served  as  a  volunteer  under  the  father  of  Pompey,  77,  n. 

—  wishes  to  have  his  life  portraited  by  Lucceius  in  an  his- 

tory of  Catiline's  conspiracy,  80. 

—  purposes  to  be  his  own  historian  if  Lucceius  refuses  it,  &6. 

—  his  vanity,  88.  n. 

-^letter  to  him  from  Quintus  Metellus  Nepos,  89. 

—  letter  to  Quintus  Ancharius,  9L 

—  his  and  Pompey 's  advice  to  Lentulus,  96, 

—  his  duplicity  in  the  affair  of  Ptolemy,  96,  n, 

—  sometimes  represents  his  approbation  and  condemnation 

o(  the  same  actions,  96.  n.  103.  n. 

—  exhorts  Lentulus  to  a  well-regulated  ambition,  102. 

—  makes  immoderate  and  fatal  concessions  to  the  ambition 

of  Caesar,  103.  n. 

—  letter  to  Fabius  Gallus,  105.  ii.  306,  iii.  48,  54. 

—  statues  purchased  for  him,  IO6, 

—  prefers  paintings  to  statues,  109. 

—  motives  of  his  attachment  to  Pompey,  112. 

—  motives  of  his  ambition,  112. 

—  letter  to  Marcus  Marius,  1 1(>,  262,  ii.  197, 280. 

—  on  public  shews,  II6. 

—  advantages  he  derived  from  i£sopus,  II9.  n. 

—  dissatisfied  in  his  situation  of  public  advocate,  125. 

—  wholly  under  the  influence  of  Pompey  and  Caesar,  125,  n. 

—  letter  to  Quintus  Philippus,  127,  210. 

—  letter  to  Marcus  Liclnius  Crassus,  128. 

—  supposed  insincerity  of  his  professed  friendship  for  Cras- 

sus, 128.  n. 

—  Tetters  to  Julius  Caesar,  i.  134.  ii.  462.  464, 

—  letters  to  Trebatius,  138,  140,  142,  144,  147,  149,  154, 

221,229.  232,  235,  239,  247,  261,266.  iii.  126,  129- 

—  letter  to  Munatius,  148. 

—  reconciled  to  Caesar  and  Appius,  159. 


INDEX. 

Ckero,  defence  of  Ms  appearing  advocate  for  Vatinius,  l6(h 

—  traces  the  motives  for  his  conduct,  160. 

—  the  Atrium  Libertatis  erected  as  a  monument  for  his  ser- 

vices, 161.  n. 
— -  the  inscription  ordered  to  be  restored,  I6I.  n. 

—  his  houses  pillaged  and  burnt  by  order  of  Clodius,  l6^.  n. 

—  adheres  firmly  to  his  political  principles,  l63. 

—  the  engagements  on  which  Pompey  favoured  his  recall 

167.  n. 

—  had  no  esteem  for  Pompey,  171. 

—  his  motives  for  uniting  with  Caesar,  172. 

—  in  compliance  to  the  law  made  against  him  by  Clodius, 

he  appears  in   mourning,  and  is  joined  by  20,000 
knights,  175.  n. 

—  deserted  by  some  of  his  friends,  175. 

—  his  recal  opposed,  178.  n. 

—  his  name  dei«ced  from  his  monument,  and  the  name  af 

Clodius  inserted,  179. 

—  inferior  to  Metellus  in  his  beha?iotir  <Juring  banishment, 

182.  n. 

—  recalled  from  banishment  by  Lentulus,  183. 

—  cause  of  his  having  promoted*  the  honours  of  C«5ar,  184. 

—  blamed  for  having  joined  Pompey  and  Caesar,  18*6.  n. 
-i—  defends  Cato,  I89. 

—  provoked  to  engage  in  the  de^fence  of  VatinitJs,  190. 

—  blamed  for  defending  Auius  Gabinius,  191.  n. 

—  at  variance  with  Crassus,  I92. 

—  reconciled  to  Crassus,  193. 

—  his  support  of  Caesar  and  Pompey  indefensible,  195.  A. 

—  principles  on  which  he  acted,  197. 

—  his  character  as  a  patriot  d^reciated,  197.  n.  36^.  n. 

—  sends  ihree  dialogues  on  oratory  to  Lentulus,  199* 

—  delivers  a  poem  on  his  banishment,  sealed  up,  to  his  sotr, 

200.  n. 

—  letters  to  Lucius  Culteolus,  206,  207. 
'^  letters  to  Curius,  208v  ii.  36 1.  iii.  73,  79: 

—  letter  to  Basilius,  209. 

—  letter  to  Lucceius  Valerius,  the  lawyer,  212. 

—  mistakes  the  meaning  of  Homer,  214.  n. 

—  letters  to  Caius  Curioj  217,  231,  236,  242,  245,  25«, 

395. 

—  letters  to  Appius  Pulcher,  225,  268,  270,  278,  300,  335, 

371, 444,  457,  ii.  1,  23,  46, 54. 


I 


V 

J 


INDEX. 

Ckeroj  letters  to  Caius  Memmius,  228,  244,  981. 

—  letters  loCornificius,  234.  iii.  6l,  64,  80,  150,  153,  156, 

160,  165,  179»  230,  238,  241,  280,  356. 

—  sends  a  letter  in  Greek  to  Caesar,  23f . 

—  letter  to  Publius  Sextius,  248. 

—  his  declaration  of  friendship  for  Sextius,  249. 

—  supported  Milo  in  bis  election  for  the  consulate,  becaust 

his  own  dignities  depended  on  it,  254. 

—  letter  to  Titus  Fadius,  258. 

—  letter  to  Titus  Titius,  260,  ii.  158. 

—  obtains  the  banishment  of  Bursa,  263. 

—  conceives  a  stronger  aversion  to  Bursa  than  be  ever  had 

against  Clodius,  264. 

—  letters  from  C«lius  to  him,  272,  2f2,  297,    304,   311, 

314,  353,  388,  437,  442.  ii.  30,  43,  6l,  65,  112,  123, 
145. 

—  his  political  treatises  universally  read,  277* 

—  intimately  united  with  Patro,  284. 

—  his  real  sentiments  of  Patro,  286. 

—  letters  to  Marcus  Coelius,  289,  367y  385.  ii.  18,  57, 127. 

—  often  changes  his  opinion,  or  at  least  his  language,  re- 

specting Poropey,  290.  n. 

—  his  administration  of  Cilicia  commended,  292.  n.  328. 
*—  shares,  with  his  servant  Philotimus,  in  the  profit  made  by 

the  purchase  of  his  friend  Milo's  estates,  at  an  under 
value,  299.  n. 

—  letters  to  Marcus  Marcelks,  320.  ii.  298,  314.  iii.  26. 

—  letters  to  Caius  Marcellus,  322,  432.  ii.  53. 

—  letter  to  Caius  Marcellus  the  elder,  323. 

—  letter  to  Lucius  Paulus,  324,  434. 

—  letters  to  the  consuls,  the  prsetors,  the  tribujies  of  the 

people,  and  the  senate,  327,  348. 

—  takes  Ariobarzanes  under  his  protection,  350. 

—  letters  to  Thermus,  335,  344,  399. 

—  displeased  with  the  conduct  of  Appius,  337. 

—  his  edict  for  the  government  of  Cilicia  very  different  from 

that  of  Appius,  339. 

—  letter  to  Marcus  Cato,  342,  411.  ii.  50. 

—  cannot  rely  on  the  provincial  militia,  531. 

—  voluntary  advocate  for  Tuccius,  355. 

—  letters  to  Publius  Silius,  366, 383,  393,  408,  475. 

—  congratulates  Coelius  on  his  aediieship,  367. 

—  defence  of  himself  against  Appius,  371. 

—  restrains  the  public  expences  in  Cilicia,  375. 

Cictro*9 


INDEX. 

CicfTo's  declaration  of  friendship  for  Appius,  378. 

—  lowers  the  interest  of  money  in  Cilicia,  380. 

—  entitled  to  a  triumph,  385. 

—  gains  a  victory  over  the  Parthians,  386. 

—  his  vanity,  386. 

—  saluted  with  the  title  of  Imperator,  387. 

—  his  esteem  and  affection  for  Nero,  393. 

—  letter  to  Volumnius,  401.  ii.  263. 

—  wishes  to  retain  his  character  of  a  wit,  402. 

—  letter  to  Crassipes,  406. 

—  his  own  account  of  his  government  of  Cilicia,  413. 

—  his  progress  against  the  Parthians,  414. 

—  takes  Pindinessum,  421.  n. 

—  preserved  the  commonwealth   without  drawing  a  sword. 

422. 

—  refused  the  government  of  Macedonia,  424. 

—  represents  himself  as  a  stranger  to  vain-glory,  and  desire 

of  vulgar  admiration,  yet  ambitious  of  military  ho- 
nours, 424,  425. 

—  very  attentive   to    the    interest  of   the  commonwealth, 

426.  n. 

—  calls  philosophy  for  his  advocate,  429. 

—  Marcus  Cato's  letter  to  him,  430. 

—  accused  by  Appius  Pulcher  of  neglect  to  him,  446. 

—  prefers  merit  to  distinction  of  birth,  447. 

—  looks  on  Pompey  as  the  greatest  man  the  world  ever  pro- 

duced, 448. 

—  letters  to  Caius  Cassius,  450.  ii.  443,  450.  iii.  121,  142, 

148,  192,  199,  219, 364,  365. 

—  letters  toC.  Titius  Rufus,  474.  ii.  91,  138. 

—  wfts  a  native  of  Arpinum  in  Italy,  474.  ii.  144.  n. 

—  letter  to  Publius  Caesius,  476. 

—  letter  to  the  inhabitants  of  Fregelle,  476. 

VOL.  II. 

—  promises  to  support  the  honour  of  Appius  Pulcher,  ii.  2. 

—  insincerity  of  bis  professions,  6.  n. 

—  his  obligations  to  Pompey,  12. 

—  not  under  the  obligations  to  Pompey  which  he  pretended, 

12.  n. 

'—  observations  on  his  defence  of  Milo,  13.  n. 

—  letters  to  Papirius  Pstns,  15,  I9I,  253,  265,  271,  273, 

276,  280,  317,  351.  iii.  201. 

—  wore  out  Xenophon's  Life  of  Cyrus  with  reading  it,  16. 

—  his  friendship  with  Marcus  Fabius,  I6. 

Vol.  IIJ.  Dd  Gcero, 


y 
V 


I  N  1>  E  X. 


Cicero,  letter  to  Ccelius  Caldus,  18. 

—  his  expressions  of  joy  on  the  acquittal  of  Appius  PulcheF, 

24. 

—  his  characier  of  Appius  Pulcher  in  a  former  letter  to  At- 

ticus,  25.  ji. 

—  formed  different  opinions  of  Pompcy  at  different  times, 

27.  n. 

—  friendship  for  Appius  Pulcher,  29* 

—  difficulty  la  procuring  a  thanksgiving,  30,  32. 
. —  courted  both  by  Poinpey  and  Caesar,  33.  n* 

—  letter  to  Canninius  Sallmtius,  37. 

—  studied  oratory  at  Rhodes  under  Molo,  37,  n. 

—  anxious  to  leave  his  province  at  the  expiration  of  the 

year,  37. 

—  intends  to  deposit  a  copy  of  his  quaestor's  accounts  at 

Apamea,  39* 

—  advises  the  Parthian  plunder  to  be  laid  out  in  behalf  of 

the  public,  39- 

—  not  on  good  terms  with  Bibulus,  40. 

—  congratulated  on  his  alliance  with  Dolabella,  43. 

—  received  the  account  of  the  death  of  Hortensius  with  real 

concern,  45.  n. 

—  his  thoughts  on  the  marriage  of  Dolabella  with  Tullia, 

48. 

—  does  not  forgive  Cato  for  refusing  him  a  thanksgiving, 

51.  n. 

—  acknowledges  himself  obliged  to  Cato,  52. 

—  acknowledges  his  obligations  to  Appius  Pulcher,  54. 

his  disquietude  on  the  dark  prospect  of  public  affairs, 

58. 

—  leaves  the  administration  of  Ciliciato  Caldus,  58. 

—  letters  to  Terentia  and  Tullia,  70,  100,  102. 
- —  arrives  at  Athens,  70. 

—  laments  the  death  of  Precius,  who  left  him  a  legacy, 

71. 
-^letters  to  Tiro,  72,  75,  76,  77,  79.  81,  83,  87,  105, 

115,    116,    117.    iii.    1,    27,    31,    34,  38,  86,  9©, 

154. 

—  his  temper  more  than  commonly  warm,  73,  n. 

—  in  hopc*tJ  of  obtaining  a  triumph,  73,  n. 

—  deliii..ed  at  Corcyra  by  contrary  winds,  82. 

acount  of  his  vo}age  on  his  return  Irom  his  government, 

83. 

—  mit  by  Teretitia  at  Brundisium,  84. 

—  resolves  not  to  engage  in  party  measures,  85« 

CiccfVy 


INDEX. 

Cicero  arrives  in  the  suburbs  of  Rome,  S8, 

—  finds  Rome  in  civil  war,  88. 

—  takes  Capua  in  Italy  under  his  protection,  90.  n. 

—  on  the  public  expences  of  his  government  in  Cilicia,  91. 

—  pays  a  necessary  obedience  to  the  Julian  law,  93. 

—  his  honorary  list,  g7, 

—  the  money  he  left  in  the  hands  of  the  farmers  of  th*  reve- 

nues at  Ephesus  seized  for  Pompey,  S9. 

—  his  wife  and  daughter  leave  Rome,  102.  n. 

—  with  all  the  friends  of  the  republic,  abandon  Rome,  105. 

—  follows  Pompey  into  Greece,  but  would  not  accept  a  com- 

mand in  Pompey's  army,  108.  n. 

—  letter  to  Servius  Sulpicius,   I19,  136,  283,  410,  414, 

416,  418,  419,  420,  421, 422,  424,  425,  427,  429-  i". 
13. 

—  will  not  take  his  seat  in  the  senate  without  full  liberty  of 

speaking  his  sentiments,  122. 

—  had  formed  a  resolution  of  following  Pompey  into  Greece, 

123.  n. 

—  averse  to  Pompey's  deserting  Rome,  130. 

—  resumes  his  intention  of  following  Pompey  into  Greece, 

131.  n. 

—  professes  that  his  aim  was  to  preserve  the  peace  of  his  coun- 

try, 131. 

—  determines  to  wait  the  event  of  Caesar's  expedition  in 

Spain,  134.  n. 

—  resolves  to  retire  from  Rome,  137. 

—  letters  to  Terentia,  141,  151,  152,  154,  156,  157,  l62, 

165,  166,   168,  169,  176,  177,  179. 

—  attributes  his  cure  to  Apollo  and  Esculapius,  141. 

—  joins  Pompcy  in  Greece,  141.  n. 

—  his  political  character  stated,  142.  n. 

—  Dolabella's  letter  to  Cicero,  148. 

—  Dolabella  endeavours  to  persuade  Cicero  to  quit  Pom- 

pey's party,  148. 

—  conjecture  respecting  some  inoney  which  he  wishes  to  have 

paid,  152.  n. 

—  quits  Pompey's  party,  154.  n. 

—  Pompey  exasperated  against  him,  154, 

—  scarcely  ever  executed   an  important  resolution  without 

repenting  immediately,  154. 

—  his  severe  anxiety,  156. 

—  consoles  Titius  on  the  loss  of  his  son,  158. 

—  thoughts  on  a  future  state,  160. 

D  d  2  Gcero, 


INDEX. 

Cicero,  letters  to  Acilius,  l64,  l67, 170,  t7S,  178, 180, 189, 

190,  195. 
- —  reproaches  hirtiRelf  with  negligence  respecting  his  daugh- 
ter Tullia,  l66. 

—  letters  to  Cassius,  171. 

—  reasons  why  he  declined  a  perseverance  in  the  civil  war> 

171. 

—  had  an  interview  with  Caesar  in  Italy,  179*  n. 

—  letters  to  Trebonius,  181,  324. 

—  acknowledges  favours  received  from  Trebonius,  182. 

—  the  palm  of  eloquence  contested  by  Calvus,  185. 

—  letters  to  Sextilius  Rufus,  188. 

—  repents  that  he  joined  Pompey,  198.  \ 

—  advised  Pompey  to  propose  terms  of  accommodation  to 

Caesar,  199. 

—  lays  down  his  arms  and  returns  to  Italy,  201. 

—  motives  and  defence  of  his  conduct,  204. 

—  letter  to  Cneius  Plancius,  206. 

—  laments  the  present  and  impending  calamities,  207- 

—  his  wife  Terenlia  divorced,  208.  n. 

—  letter  to  Toranius,  210,  215. 

—  letters  to  Marcus  Terentius  Varro,  213,  234,  236,  240, 

243,  244,  248.  iii.  35. 

—  letter  to  Domitius,  217. 

—  advice  to  Domitius  against  suicide,  218. 

—  letters  to  Lucius  Piancus,  221.  iii.  134,  147,  1^4,  I90, 

214,  228,  258,  260,  284,  311,  331,  354. 

—  his  friendship  for  Piancus,  222. 

^  declares  that  he  joined  Pompey  contrary  to  his  own  in- 
clination, in  compliance  with  the  solicitation  and  au- 
thority of  others,  235. 

—  blamed  for  not  standing  neuter  in  the  war  between  Pom- 

pey and  Caesar,  226,  n. 

—  letters  to  Allienus,  227,  233. 

—  letter  to  Lucius  Mercinius,  228. 

—  censures  Pompey  for  his  conduct  towards  him,  229* 

—  obliged  to  associate  with  the  Caesarean  party,  229. 

—  declares  that   he  never  sacrificed  the  public  good  to  his 

own  private  views,  229.  ,  . 

—  rejected  the  doctrine  of  the  immortality  of  the  son!  m  bis 

'  private  opinion,  232.  n. 

—  held  different   opinions  of  the  same  thing,  at  different 

times,  232.  n. 

—  motives  for  not  quitting  Rome,  2SS. 

CkCfOy 


INDEX. 

Cicero y  letters  to  Apuleius,  242,  247. 

—  his  reasons  for  keeping  Varro  within  his  rdach,  245.  n. 

—  inclined  to  join  the  strongest  parly,  250. 

—  thinks  it  best  not  to  disgust  Caesar  or  his  favourites,  255. 
-^institutes  a  kind  of  academy  for  eloquence  at  his  own 

house,  260.  n.  266,  Q69, 

—  intends  a  visit  to  Papirius  Paelus,  261. 

—  resolves  to  retire  into  the  secret  shades  of  philosophy, 

265.  ^  ^ 

—  his  thoughts  on  Cato's  death,  267. 

—  becomes  an  absolute  epicurean,  277. 

—  general  sketch  of  his  manHer  of  life,  279,  352. 
-^  laments  the  desolation  of  the  commonwealth,  284. 

—  consecrates    all    his  time  and  attention  to  philosophy, 

287. 
*—  letters  to  Servilius  Isauricus,  289,  309,  360,  ZQj,  374^ 
384,  S96. 

—  letter  to  Nigidius  Figulus,  29I. 

—  finds   himself  divested  of  all  his  credit,  autharity,  and 

honours,  and  thinks  it  a  crime  to  c<>ntinue  to  live, 
293. 

—  wishes   to  insinuate  himself  into  the  friendship  of  C«* 

sar,  and  pretends  that  modesty  keeps  him  from  inti- 
macy, 296. 

—  disapproved  of  the  manner  in  which  the  civil  war  was 

carried  on,  299. 

—  could  plead  the  merit  of  having  yielded  after  he  was  con- 

quered, 303. 

—  letters  to  Trebianus,  304,  310. 

—  letter  to  QuintusGalluis,  313. 

—  letters  to  Dolabella,  324,  400,  447, 459,  "i.  4?,  67,  92. 

—  letters  to  Marcus  Brutus,  326,  333,  335,  342,349. 

—  letter  to  Ligarius,  330. 

—  zealously  patronizes  the  city  of  Arpinum,  337. 

—  addresses  Caesar  on  the  pardon  of  Marceilus,  340. 

—  thought  it  true  wisdom  to  yield  to  the  circun>9tar>ces  of 

the  times,  344. 
— •  Marcus  Marcellus's  letter  to  him,  348. 
-**•  letter  to  Ampius,  355. 

—  not  equally  solicitous  in  all  bis  recommendation*,  360. 
^—  mixes  with  the  chief  of  the  victorious  faction,  362* 

—  how  far  a  patriot,  362.  n. 

—  letter  to  Ligarius,  364. 

-^h  fiaid   to  have  made  C^sar  tremble  by  his  rhetoric, 
3o5.  n. 

l>d  3  Cicero'^ 


'I' 

4*' 


f 


INDEX. 

Cicero's  letters  to  Aulus  Caesina,  369,  381,  3S5. 

—  letter  to  Titus  Furfanius,  372. 

—  Caesina's  letter  to  him,  373. 

—  his  skill  in  divination,  387. 

—  could  not  support  the   thoughts   of  deserting  Pompey. 

390. 

—  advances  daily  in  th?  friendship  of  Cxsar,  395. 

—  letter  to  Publius  Sulpicius,  398. 

—  letters  to  Aulus  Torquatus,  403,  411. 

—  letter  to  Lepta,  433. 

—  inscribed  his  Orator  to  Brutus,  435.  n. 

—  letter  to  Aulus  Torquatus,  437. 

—  is  appointed  to  judge  between  Nicias  and  Vidius,  444. 

—  Caius  Cassius's  letter  to  him,  455. 

—  letters/ to  Caesar,  462,  464. 

—  Quiutus  Cicero's  letter  to  him,  466. 

—  gives  Tiro  his  freedom,  467. 

—  letter  to  Rex,  467. 

VOL.  HI. 

—  laments  the  death  of  Tullia,  4,  14,  18. 

—  his  character  detracted  by  his  own  nephew,  5.  n. 

—  Servius  Sulpicius's  letter  to  Cicero,  lamenting  the  death  of 

Tullia,  6. 

—  thinks  Caesar  by  no  means  his  enemy,  17. 

—  letters  lo  Lucius  Lucceius,  18,  23. 

—  advantages  he  derived  from  the  advice  of  Luccelus,  IS. 

—  Lucceius  letter  to  Cicero,  21. 

—  laments  how  few  friends  he  has  teft,  and  the  miseries  of 

life,  23. 

—  Vatinius*s  letter  to  Cicero,  32. 

-^  sends  four  dialogues  called  Academica  to  Varro,  36. 

—  writes  a  dialogue   between   Atticus  Varro  and  himself, 

37. 

—  letters  to  Quintus  Valerius  Orca,  41,  46. 

—  recommends  the  citizens  of  Volaterra  to  Orca's  protec- 

tion, 41. 

—  Macula  offers  him  the  use  of  his  house,  44. 

—  letter  to  Cluvius,  51. 

—  recommends  the  citizens  of  Atela  to  the  protection  of  Clu- 

vius, 52. 

—  letter  to  Marcus  Rutilius,  56. 

—  letter  to  Vatinius,  58. 

—  Curius's  letter  to  Cicero,  63. 

—  blamed  for  not  enquiring  into  the  conduct  of  Dolabella, 

67'  n. 

—  letter  to  Auctu?,  77. 

Gcero 


INDEX, 

Cicero  favoured  the  conspirators  against  Csesar,  86,  n. 

—  sends  Tiro  to  Rome  to  receive  his  debts,  87. 

—  letter  to  Bithynrcus,  89. 

—  no  real  friendship  between  him  and  Antony,  91.  n. 

—  approves  of  Dolabella's  consular  conduct,  93. 

—  praises  the  conduct  of  Brutus  on  th«  ides  of  March,  96. 

—  letters  toTrebonius,  gg,  195. 

—  Trebonius's  letter  to,  102. 

—  character  of  his  son,  102. 

—  letters  to  Matius,  105,  112. 

—  friendship  for  Matius,  106. 

—  reviled  that  man  [Caesar]  when  dea-d,  whom  be  was  the 

first  to  flatter  when  living.  111.  n. 

—  his  declarations  of  friendship  to  Brutus  and  Cassius,  121. 

—  letter  to  Oppius,  124. 

• —  motive  of  his  intended  voyage  into  Greece,  134,  n. 

—  Decimus  Brutus'  letters  to,  138,  256,  26l,  268,  28f ,  291, 

306,310,  338. 

—  letters  to  Decimus  Brutus,  139,  141,  158,  I6I,  l63,  182, 

276,  281,  286,  339,  346,  360,  371. 

—  neglects  attending  the  senate  when  divine  honours  were 

to  be  voted  to  Caesar,  143.  n. 

—  cannot  appear  with  safety  in  the  senate,  143. 

—  the  occasion  of  his  1st  and  2d  Philippic,  143.  n. 

—  declines  speaking  when  the  senate  is  surrounded  with  sol- 

diers, 147. 

—  reproaches  the  conspirators  for  sparing  Antony,  148^. 

—  laments  that  he  was  not  one  of  the  conspirators,  148, 

192,  195. 

—  supposed  by  Antony  to  have  been  one  of  the  conspira- 

tors, 142,  149. 

—  favoured  the  design  of  Octavius  against  the  life  of  An- 

tony, 151.  n. 

—  had  a  design  of  publishing  his  letters,  154. 

—  found  it  necessary  to  move  from  Rome,  158.  n. 

—  the  killing  of  Caesar  the  noblest  enterprize  recorded  by 

history,  159. 

—  encourages  Brutus  to  act  without  waiting  for  the  sanc- 

tion of  the  senate,  161. 

—  the  occasion  of  the  3d  and  4th  Philippics,  l65,  196,  n. 

—  Bythinicus's  letter  to  Cicero,  176. 

—  his  flattery  of  Plancus  in  order  to  gain  him  over  to  his 

party,  184,  I90. 

—  Plancus's  letters  to  Cicero,  187,  221,  233,  253,  265, 

270,  278,  295,  298,  342,  377. 

D  d  4  Cicero 


INDEX. 


I  N  D  E  X. 


I 


Cicero  becomes  popular,  194.  ■      t 

—  a  design  tp  destroy  bim^  202. 

—  Caius  Cassius's  letters  to,  205,  313,  272,  373. 

—  Asinius  Pollio's  letters  to,  207,  333,  348. 

—  his  advice  to  Plancus,  215. 

—  letter  to  Lepidas,  217. 

—  is  always  ready  to  assist  Plancos  with  bis  advice  and  in- 

terest, 230. 

—  hopes  for  a  favourable  turn  in  the  affairs  of  the  state, 

232. 

—  recommends  Plancus  to  persevere,  239. 

—  places  a  statue  of  Minerva  in    the   temple  of  Japiter, 

241.  n. 

—  was  the  only  man  who  dared  to  assert  his  freedom  and 

independency  in  the  senate,  244. 

—  his  engagements  with  Octavius,  245.  n. 

—  inveighed  against  the  measures  of  Antony,  244. 

—  Galba's  letter  to,  249. 

—  Octavius  refuses  to  hearken  to  his  advice,  263. 

-J—  his  disappointment  in  Antony  not  being  defeated,  282. 

—  advises  Plancus  not  to  wait  for  the  sanction  of  tlie  senate, 

285. 

—  Marcus  Lepidus's  letter  to,  292. 

—  letter  to  Furnius,  303,  36l. 

—  displeases  Octavius  by  an  ambiguous  expression,  306u 

—  Lentulus's  letter  to,  313. 

—  will  not  expose  himself  to  any  danger  that  prudence  can 

prevent,  340. 

—  Cassius  Quaestor's  letter  to,  366, 

-—  his  eloquence  of  more  avail  than  all  the  armies  of  their 
generals,  367. 

—  honours  paid  him  by  the  populace,  367.  n, 

—  the  ruin  of  the  republic  would  have  been  prevented  by 

following  his  advice,  372.  n. 

—  letter  to  Ainpius,  376. 
— '  Plancus's  letter  to,  377. 

—  artfully  ensnared  by  Octavius,  381. 

—  conjecture  how  far  he  assisted  Petavius  in  obtaining  thr 

consulate,  381.  n.  f-. , 

—  was  sacrificed  to  the  resentment  of  Antony,  3d4.  n. 

—  his  composure  at  his  death,  384.  n. 

Ckeroy  the  Fot^iger,  letters  to  Tiro,  iii.  171, 176.  " 

—  account  of  him,  iii.  171.  n. 

—  lived  with  Cratippus  both  as  his  son  and  pupil,  iii.  172. 

Ciccra 


Cicero  the  Younger y  his  studies,  iii.  173.  •  ■        

—  his  courage  and  conduct,  iii.  320. 
Cilicia^  extent  of  that  province,  i.  327>  n.  456. 

—  military  preparations  there  by  Cicero,  i.  328. 

—  added  to  the  provinces  by  P.  Servilius,  i.  328.  o. 

—  prsetors  draw  lots  for  the  government  of,  i,  363. 

—  prevented  by  Cicero  from  sending  deputies  to  thank  Ap» 

pius,  i.  372. 

—  severely  plundered  by  Appius,  i.  377>  n- 
Cilix,  i.  226. 

Cilo  Magius  stabs  Marcellus,  and  then  kills  himself,  iii.  29. 
CirabeTj  his  treachery  to  Caesar,  ii.  356,  n. 
Cineas,  li.   15,   l6,  n. 
CipiuSj  saying  of,  iii.  48. 

Circensian  giunes  consisted  of  shews  of  various  kinds,  ii*  63.  n. 
Civil  War,  victory  the  supreme  evil  of,  ii.  250. 
Cleopatray  ii.  155,  n. 

Clodius  procures  a  law  that  no  person  shall  harbour  Cicero, 
i.  26,  n. 

—  treachery  to  Cicero,  J.  45,  n. 

—  pillages  and  burns  Cicero's  houses,  i.  l62,  n. 

—  an  enemy  to  the  laws  and  tranquillity  of  Rome,  i.  170. 

—  after  having  driven  Cicero  from  Rome,  opposes  Pomper 

and  Caesar,  i.  172,  n.  176,  n. 

—  his  schemes  against  Cicero*  i.  174,  n. 

—  law  procured  by  him,  i.  174,  n. 

—  intrudes  on  the  Matrons  mysteries,  i.  177. 

—  suspected  of  trim.  con.  with  his  three^^sisfers,  i,  178.  n. 

—  opposes  the  recal  of  Cicero,  i.   178,  n. 

—  impeached  by  Milo,   as  a  disturber  of  the  public  peace, 

i.  178,  n. 

—  killed  by  Milo,  i.  257,  n.  — 

—  his  funeral  pile  made  of  the  benches  of  the  senate-house, 

i.  263,  n. 
Clodius,  Marcus,  recommended  by  Cicero  to  Acilius^  xL  170, 
CUtviuSy  i.  344. 

—  the  cities  of  IMyleta  and  Alabanda  indebted  ta  him,  i. 

344. 

—  has  demands  on  Heraclea  3argylo8  and  Caunus,  i«  345. 

—  his  dispute  with  th«  Caunians,  i.  346,  n. 

—  Cicero's  letters  to^iii.  51.  ..  ,  ..  ^ 
CocceiuSy  ii.  242. 

C(£liusy  Marcus,  letters  to  Cicero,  i.  272,  292,  9^7,  304, 
311,  314,  353,  383,  437,  442,  ii.  30,  43,  6I,  65, 
112,   123,   145. 

C(eUus 


,1 

>■■■ 

I? 


INDEX. 

Callus,  Cicero's  letters  to  him,  i.  289,  36?,  385,  455,  46^, 
'^Gj,  ii.  20,  57,  127. 

—  account  of,  i.  273,  n. 

—  wi>bes  Cicero  to  address  some  of  his  works  to  him,  i* 

299. 

—  ccraplains  of  the  ingratitude  of  Appius,  ii.  6l. 

—  Caiub  Domitius  becomes  his  most  bitter  enemy,  ii.  6l. 

—  Appius  endeavours  to  persuade  Servius  to  impeach  him, 

ii.  62. 

—  indicted  on  the  Scantinian  law,  ii.  63, 

— -  lodges  an  information  against  Appius,  ii.  63. 

—  endeavours  to  persuade  Pompey  to  join  Caesar,  ii.  123. 

—  laments  his  having  joined  Caesar,  ii.  145. 

—  encourages  Pompey 's  party  at  Rome,  ii.  146. 

—  murdered  by  the  soldiers  of  Caesar's  faction,  ii.  147,  n. 
Co^nosco  explained,  i.  214,  n. 

Colophon,  a  city  ot  lonia,  ii.  380. 

Comitial  days,  i.  360,  n. 

Commagene,  a  part  ot  Syria,  i.  342. 

Conjidence  frequently  passes  fur  skill,  i.  212. 

Conscript  Fathers,  the  council  of  the  republic  addressed  by 

that  term,  iii.  323. 
Consuls  become  infamous  barterers  for  provinces,  i.  174. 

—  not  under  the  age  of  42,  ii.  271,  n. 

—  might  not    be  sued    for  until  two  years   after   havin^^ 

served  the  office  of  praetor,  iii.  366,  n. 
Consulars,  whom,  ii.  271,  n. 
Corcyra,  an  island  in  the  Ionian  sea,  now  called  Corfu,  i. 

302,  ii.  206. 
Corinth,  a  city  of  Peloponnesus,  iii.  9. 
Cornelia  visits  the  wife  of  Cicero,  i.  21. 

—  her  character,  i.  319,  »• 
Cornelian  law,  i.  339,  "«  8,  n. 
Cornelius,  i.  21,  60. 
Comificius,  i.  443. 

—  Cicero's  letters  to,  i.  234,  iii.  6I,  64,  SO,  150, 153,  156, 

160,  166,  179,  280,  356. 

—  account  ot"  him,  iii.  61,  n. 

—  lost  his  life  in  defence  of  his  province,  iii.  360,  n. 
Corporation,  or  municipal  towns,  i.  41W,  n. 

Cossinius,  Lucius,  recommended  by  Cicero  to  Sulpicius,  ii. 

421. 
Corey cus,  in  Cilicia,  iii.  36p. 
Crassipes,  i.  194. 
-—  married  to  Tullia,  i.  104. 

CrasippeSf 


INDEX. 

Crasippes,  Cicero's  letter  to,  i.  406. 

Crassus,  Marcus  Licinius,  Cicero's  letter  to,  i.  128. 

—  Cicero's  profession  of  friendship  for  him,  i.  128. 

—  gives  a  general  treat  on  10,000  tables,  and  three  months 

provisions  of  corn,  i.  128,  n. 

—  accepts  the  province  of  Syria,  with  a  design  of  makin<» 

war  on  the  Parthians,  i.  128,  n. 

—  regulated  his  attachment  by  his  interest,  i.  133,  n. 

—  his  son  heads  a  body  of  knights  in  support  of  Cicero,  i. 

175,  n.  , 

—  cause  of  variance  between  him  and  Cicero,  i.  190. 

—  sets  off  for  Syria,  i.   I93,  n. 

—  account  of  him,  ii.  319,  n. 

Cmzz/m/^  employed  on  the  roads,  i.  122,  n.    * 

Cromwell,  paragram  of  his,  i.  402,  n. 

Cromyacris,  irt  Cyprus,  iii.  371. 

Cularo,  on  the  frontiers  of  the  Allobroges,  now  Grenoble, 

iii.  346. 
Culeo  returns  to  Lepidus,  iii.  293. 
Culleolus,  Lucius,  Cicero's  letters  to,  i.  206,  207. 
Cumce,  a  city  in  Campania,  i.  274,  n. 
Curiae,  their  votes  considered  as  the  voice  of  the  people,  i, 

202,  n. 
Curio,  Caius,  i.  66.  ii.  30. 

—  Cicero's  letters  to,   i.  217,  231,  236,  242,  245,  252, 

395. 

—  his  character,  i.  217,  231,  n.  307,  n. 

—  his  debts  paid  by  Cajsar,  i.  218,  n. 

—  lost  his  life  before  the  battle  of  Pharsalia,  i.  218,  n. 

—  his  infamous  intercourse  with  Antony,  i.  220,  n. 

—  gives  public  games,  i.  238,  n. 

—  theatre,  i.  294. 

—  gives  panthers  to  Ccelius,  i.  3l6,  365. 

—  prepares  to  oppose  the  demands  of  Cicero,  i.  365, 

—  joins  Cajsar's  party,  i.  441. 

—  becomes  a  convert  to  Caesar,  i.  470. 
Curius,  ii.  19. 

—  Cicero's  letters  to,  i.  208,  ii.  36l,  iii.  63,  73,  79, 

—  account  of  him,  ii.  361,  n. 

Curius,  Manius,  recommended  by  Cicero  to  Sulpicius,  ii. 
410. 

—  Marcus,  recommended  by  Cicero  to  Auctus,  iii.  78. 
Curtius,  ii.  134,  iii,  46. 

Curtius,  Publius,  evxecpied,  by  order  of  Pompey,  for  trea- 
chery, ii.  454.  .a,- 

Curule 


f.i 


11 


INDEX. 


Ciirule  magistrates  drawn  in  a  car,  ii.  192,  n. 

CMn?i/5,. Lucius  Genucilius^  recommended  by  Cicero  to  Thcr- 
mus,  i.  335. 

Cuspius,  Publius,  i.  58. 

Custidius,  Lucius,  i.  474. 

CybirOf  a  city  of  Lycaonia,  ii.  41 9. 

Ciberitce  hunt  panthers,  i.  SI6. 

Cyprus  had  a  peculiar  claim  on  the  patronage  of  Cato,  i. 
426,  n. 

Cyprus  extremely  oppressed  under  the  government  of  Pto- 
lemy, i.  428,  n. 

Cyzicumy  a  town  in  the  island  of  Propontis,  i.  27* 

Dalmatian  Vatinius's  victories  in,  iii.  72. 
DamasippuSi  i.  106\  lOp. 

Death  to  be  wished  for,  after  the  loss  of  liberty  la  a  country, 
III.  7. 

—  consolation  drawn  from  the  prospect  of  rurned  cities, 

iii.  9» 

—  Addison's  reflections  amongst  the  repositories  of  the  dead, 

iii.  10,  n. 

—  in  an  honest  cause  ought  never  to  lue  shunned,  iii.  115. 
Decemviriy  account  of,  iii.  281. 

—  appointed  to  distribute  lands  to  the  soldiers,  iii.  308. 
DtcuriOf  that  office  explained,  ii.  433. 

Deiotarus,  prince  of  Galatia,  i.  388,  390,  418, 428,  ii.  173,  n. 

—  his  character,  i.  329*  n. 

—  his  great  array,  i.  352, 

—  offers  to  join  Cicero  with  his  forces,  i.  4l6. 
Demetrius,  Magus,  on  being  granted  the  freedom  of  Rome, 

took  the  name  of  Publius  Cornelius,  ii.  187* 
Demetriust  a  celebrated  author,  iii.  3. 
Democritus  of  Sjcyon,  ii.  227. 
Dialogue  writers  have  the  privilege  of  drawing  up  dialogues 

which  had  never  taken  place,  iii.  S7» 
Dictator,  a  ma^^istrate  invested  with  supreme  ami  absolute 

power,  i.  309,  n. 
Diodorut,  a  Greek  philosopher,  ii.  240,  n.  ' 

Diodotus,  a  Stoic  philosopher,  ii.  241,  n. 
Diogenes,  Laertins,  preserved  the  will  of  Epicarus,  i.  286,  n.' 
Dion  Cassius,  i.  24,  n.  36,  n.  56',  n. 
Dionysius,  i.  84»  n. 

—  steals  books  from  Cicero's  library^ ii.  599.  **   '^•'^ 
Drvination  attended  to  by  the  senate,  i.  68. 

—  derived  from  the  Etruscans,  ii.  386,  n. 

1  Dolabella 


INDEX. 


Dolabella  exhibits  articles  of  impeachment  against  Appius,  i. 
437.  - 

—  his  wife  obtains  a  divorce,  i.  43S. 
- —  ungrateful  to  his  patron,  ii.  5. 

—  marries  TuUia,  ii.  43,  47,  58. 
— joins  Caesar,  ii.  108. 

—  letter  to  Cicero,  ii.  148. 

—  his  character,  ii.  148,  n.  iii.  67,  n, 

-—  endeavours  to  persuade  Cicero  to  leave  Pompey,  ii.  150. 
. —  his  neglect  of  Tullia,  ii.  l65. 

—  divorce  purposed,  ii.  169. 

I  —  reasons  for  a  divorce,  ii.  169,  n.  •   i  fVm'^l 

—  employs  his  power  to  seditious  purposes,  ii.  I69,  n. 

—  attended  Caesar  in  the  African  war,  ii.  247. 

—  Cicero's  letters  to  him,  ii.  444,  459.  "i.  4,  67,  92.  i 

—  doubts  whether  the  marriage  with  Tullia  was  dissolved, 

iii.  4,  7,  n. 

—  disperses  the  mob  that  gathered  about  Caesar's  altar,  iii. 

93,  n. 

—  saves  the  commonwealth  as  well  as  the  city,  iii.  97. 

—  if  he  should  not  succeed  in  Syria,  intends  to  join  Antony, 

iii.  313. 

—  obliged  to  abandon  the  siege  of  Antiochia,  iii.  3l6. 

—  puts  an  end  to  his  life  by  commanding  one  of  his  slaves  to 

be  his  executioner,  iii.  316,  n. 

—  in  his  march  from  Asia  laid  waste  the  country,  and  seiz- 

ed the  public  money,  iii.  321.  ^i 

—  his  fleet  destroyed  by  Lentulus,  iii.  322. 

—  the   gates  of  Antiochia  shut  against  him,  and  his  troops 

desert  him,  iii.  327. 

—  defeated  by  Cassius,  iii.  364,  n.  O 

—  collects  his  forces  at  Laodicea,  iii.  370. 

—  price  of  wheat  m  his  camp,  iii.  370. 

Domitian  improved  Augustus's  poetical  court  of  judicA* 
ture,  i.  118,  n. 

Domitiiy  ii.  33. 

Domitius,  Cicero's  letter  to,  ii.  217. 

■ —  account  of  him,  ii.  217,  n. 

Domitius,  Lucius  Enobarbus,  one  of  Caesar'*  avowed  ene- 
mies, i.  276,  n.  >•.  :vi 

—  disappointed  in  his  election,  ii.  65»  ' 

—  seized  and  strangled  by  Bellienus,  ii.  113. 

—  treated  by  Caesar  with  generosity,  ii.  II6. 
Dyrrachium,  a  city  in  Macedonia,  now  Durazzi,  i.  39-  "• 

148,  n.  I  , , 


INDEX. 


INDEX. 


Eggs  the  first  dish  at  etery  table,  ii.  277>  n. 
EguatiuSj  i.  127»    <c 

—  recommended  by  Cicero  to  Silius,  i.  475. 

Egnatiusy  Lucius,  recommended  by  Cicero   to  Apulcius,  it, 

242.  ?t  '•    . 

Egnatius,  Titus,  r^om mended  by  Cicero  to  Isauricus,  ir. 

360. 
Elephants,  terrible  slaughter  of,  i.  124. 

—  supposed  to  partake,  in  some  degree,  of  rational  faculties, 

i.  124. 
■ —  drawn  up  in  the  front  of  Scipio's  army,  ii.  251,  n. 
Elis,  a  city  of  Peloponnesus,  ii.426. 
Elocution,  contrast  between  that  of  Rome  and  Britain,  if. 

269,  n.  . 

Eloquence  not  venal  at  Rome,  i.  21,  n. 

—  the  power  of,  i'u  365,  n. 
Epaminondasy  his  glorious  death,  i.  81. 
Eporedia,  a  town  near  Vercella,  iii.  310. 
Ephesus,  a  city  in  Ionia,  i.  303. 
Epicureans,  their  principles  ridiculed,  i.  229. 

Epicurus  left  his  school  and  gardens  to  the  sect  of  philosophers 

called  by  his  name,  i.  286,  n. 
- —  their  absurd  doctrine  of  ideas,  ii.  353,  n. 
Epipkanea,  a  city  in  Cilicia,  i.  418. 
Epirus  contiguous  to  Greece,  ii.  415. 
F.pistolary  correspondence,  the  proper  subjects  for,  i.  242. 
Equestrian  order,  coalition  of,  with  the  senate,  ii.  230,  n. 

—  required  an  estate  equal  to  about  30001.  ii.  46I,  n. 
Etesian  winds,  ii.  54,  60. 

Exander,  Caius,  i.  228. 

Evocati  troops  composed  of  experienced  soldiers,  i.  340, 

Euripides*  death  cccssioned  by  excessive  joy,  ii.  111. 

Euthydemus,  i.  344. 

Eutrapelusj  ii.  352. 

Fahius,  Quintus,  i.  270. 
EublttSy  Marcus,  i.  450,  455. 

—  his  friendship  with  Cicero,  ii.  I6. 

—  Cicero's  character  of,  ii.  16. 

—  his  brother  intends  selling  an  estate  at  Herculaneum,  ii.  17^ 
Eadius,  Titus,  letter  of  consolation  to,  on  his  banishment,  i. 

258. 

—  burnt  to  death  by  order  of  Balbus,  for  refusing  to  enter 

the  lists  at  the  gladiatorial  games,  iii.  351. 
Faletnian  wines,  iii.  44. 

Farmers 


Farmers  of  the  public  revenues,  i.  114,  n. 

—  decree  in  their  favour  by  Lentulus,  i,  204,  n. 
Favonius,  i.  318.  ii.  32. 

Feasts  of  the  Romans,  ii.  277,  n. 

Feridius,  Marcus,  recommended  by  Ccelius  to  Cicero,  i.  317". 

Flaccus,  Avianus,  and  his  two  sons,  recommended  by  Cicero 
to  Allienus,  ii.  233. 

Flaccus,  Marcus,  i.  26. 

Flaviusy  Caius,  recommended  by  Cicero  to  Acilius,  ii.  167. 

Forum,  a  place  of  general  resort,  iii.  24. 

Forum  VoconHy  a  town  in  Provence,  now  called  Le  Luc,  iii. 
278. 

Fragelle,  Cicero's  letter  to  the  magistrates  of,  i.  476. 

Friendship,  private,  ought  to  give  way  to  more  extensive  ob- 
ligations, i.  169. 

Fujidius  recommended  by  Cicero  to  Brutus,  i.  335. 

Furfanius,  Cicero's  letter  to,  ii,  372. 

Furnius,  1.  392,  454,  ii.  32,  iii.  36l, 

—  Cicero's  letter  to,  iii.  303. 

—  Cicero  encourages  him  to  seek  glory  in  the  field  rather 

than  claim  honours  at  home,  iii.  304. 
Fusius,  Aulus,  recommended  by   Cicero  to   Memmius,    i, 

244. 
Fusius,  Quintus,  i.  21.  » 

Future  state,  Cicero's  thoughts  on,  i.  I60, 

Gabinius,  Aulus,  i.  37»  n.  174,  n. 

—  character  of,  by  Cicero,  i.  191,  n, 

—  first    opposed    and    afterwards    defended   by    Cicero,  i. 

191,  n. 
Gades,  now  Cadiz,  iii.  334.  * 

Gallius,  Quintus  Cicero's  letters  to,  ii.  313,  400, 
Gallus,  i.  110,  B.  * 

—  Fabius,  Cicero's  letters  to,  i,  47,  105.  ii,  306.  iii.  48. 

54, 

—  conjecture  concerning  him,  ii.  306,  n.  \ 
Games  public,  are  instances  of  wealth,  not  of  merit,  i.  237. 
Gaul,  Cisalpine,  how  divided,  i.  274,  n. 

—  orders  and  decrees  of  the  senate  concerning,  i.  359- 
Gellius,  Lucius,  acts  for  the  interest  of  the  Republic,  iii. 

279. 
Gemellus,  Memmius,  recommended  by  Cicero  to  Sulpicius,  ii, 

417. 
Gladiators  J  when  first  introduced  at  Rome,  i.  222.  n. 

GnathOf 


:« 


5' 


« 


u 


m 


i 


INDEX. 

Cnathoy  i.  190. 

GorgiaSy  a  statue  of  solid  gold  erected  to  his  memory,  ii. 

354,  n. 
Gacernment  does  not  require  an  absolute  perseverance  in  one 

sybtem  of  measures,  i.  195. 
— »  bost  security  im  the  aflfections  of  the  people,  i.  333. 
Gracchus,  Senapronius,  i.  104,  n. 
Granius,  account  of  him,  ii.  319,  n. 
Grecians,  carel/essness  their  general  characteristic,  iL  77. 
Greek  farces,  i.  121,  n. 
Groieg^  consecrated,  iii.  127,  n. 

Hagefaretus  rdk)mmended  by  Cicero  to  Sulpicius,  ii.  424. 

Hammonius  recommended  by  Cictro  to  Sulpicius,  ii.  4fO. 

Helico,  iii.  39. 

Ilcraclea,  a  city  in  Caxia,  i.  345. 

Herculaneturif  ii.  17. 

Hercules,  story  of  Pleasure  and  Virtue  appearing  to  him,  i. 

79.  n. 
Herennius,  ii.  182,  n. 

Hesiofl,  his  writings  recomracnded  by  Cicero,  ii.  436. 
JJippiasy  recommended  by  Cicero  to  Acilius,  ii.  I89. 
HippiuSy  recommended  by  Cicero  to  the  magistrates  of  Fra- 

gele,  i.  476. 
Hirrus,  i.  297, 385,  ii.  31 ,  57. 

—  supported  by  Pompey,  i.  308. 

—  character  of,  i.  295,  n. 

• —  afi'ects  to  act  the  patriot,  i.  314. 
Hirtius,}'}.  263.  iii.  83. 

—  did  not  go  with  Caesar  into  Africa,  ii.  249- 

—  conducted  himself  as  a  consummate  general,  ia.  335. 
Uispalis,  a  city  of  Spain,  iii.  352. 

Hispo  recommended  by  Cicero  to  Silius,  i.  408. 

hissing,  displeasure  shewn  by,  ii.  36,  n. 

Homer,  a  passage  misapplied  by  Cicero,  i.  214. 

Honour,  the  next  to  being  applauded  by  the  worthy,  is  tob« 

abused  by  the  worthless,  iii,  50.  n« 
Hortensius,  i.  35>  n.  36,  n. 
-^  his  death  and  character,  ii.45,  n. 

Hospitaktif  considered  as  a  primary  social  duty,  ii.  liSy  n. 
//j^^^ofc,  a  figure  of  speech,  i.  402,  n. 
^ —  a  prevailing  rigure  with  Caesar,  iii.  9^*  o. 
Hypocrisy,  necessity  of,  for  a  man  to  keep  well   with  the 

world,  ii.  7,  n.  < 

Hypocrite* 


1  K  D  E  X. 

/(y/wmfef,  proper  objects  of  ridicule,  ii.  69.  IL 
Hypsceus,  i,  55. 

lambUcas,  an  Arabian  phylarch,i.  349. 

Iconium,  a  city  of  Cilicia,  i.  302. 

lUyricum,  comprehended  Austria,  Hungary,  Sclavonia,  Bos- 
nia, and  Dalmatia,  ii,  32.  n. 

Imperator,  during  the  times  of  the  republic,  explained,  i.  1.  n. 

Integrity,  cannot  be  given  up  with  a  good  grace,  i.  169.  n. 

Jntimelhm,  a  maritime  city  in  Liguria,  ii.  113.  n. 

Intercalation,  performed  by  the  pontifical  college  at  their 
discretion,  i.  266.  n. 

Intercessor,  witticism  of  Cicero  on,  ii.  307.  n. 

Interest  of  money  lowered  in  Cilicia  by  Cicero*,  i.  380»  n. 

Inter-rex,  that  office  explained,  i.  221.  n. 

Issus,  a  city  on  the  frontiers  of  Cilicia  and  Syria,  i.  S87. 

—  Alexander,  having  defeated  Darius,  consecrated  three  «l- 

tafti  there,  i.  419.  n. 
Italy,  cause  of  the  war,  i.  77 -  n. 

—  government  of  the  corporate  towns,  i.  121.  n. 
Jtiba,  account  of,  and  his  death,  ii.  201.  n. 
Julia,  Cxsar's  daughter,  her  death,  i.  147.  n. 
Julian  law^  ii.  38. 

Julius,  Lucius,  i.  $9. 
Junius,  i.  108. 

Laherius,  account  of,  i.  223.  n. 

Labienus  goes  over  to  Pompey 's  party,  ii,   101,  lOli* 

Lcttii,  i.  307.  ' 

Lcelius,  and  Scipio  Africanus,  their  friendship,  i.  4.  n. 

Lanius,  Marcus,  recommended  by  Cicero  to  Silius,  i,  383, 

Lamia,  i.  370. 

—  supported  by  Cicero  in  his  election  for  prsetor,  iii.  140. 
Laodicea,  a  city  of  Phrygia,  i.  302,  309,  3l6. 
Larissa,  two  cities  of  that  name  in  Thessaly,  ii.  424. 
Lateretisis,  decreed  by  the  senate  a  public  funeral,  and  a  sta* 

tue  to  his  memory,  iii.  334» 
Latian festivals,  instituted  by  Pompey,  i.  440.  n. 
Latin  language  to  be  used  by  governors  of  provinces,  i.  464.  n. 
Latium,  a  part  of  Italy,  made  free  of  Rome,  ii.  318.  n. 
Laudator es,  witnesses  to  the  character  of  persons  who  were 

arraigned,  i.  16O.  n. 
Zmv  profession  held  in  great  esteem,  i.  137.  n. 

Vol.  IIJ.  E  e  Law, 


% 


I 


INDEX. 

Laii,  knowledge  ot  not  to  be  acquired  merely  by  books, 

iii.  130. 
Legion,  number  various  at  different  periods,  ii.  434.  n. 

—  how  styled,  iii.  l62«  n. 

Leniutui,  Lucius,  murdered  by  order  of  Ptolemy,  ii,  26T»  n. 
LentuluSf  P.  i.  37,  45.  n.  54.  n.  56.  n.  125.  n. 

—  Cicero's  letters  to,  i.  50,  6l,  65,  66,  69,  7%  74,  92, 

111,  157. 

—  moves  for  the  recal  of  Cicero,  i.  46.  n.  50,  n. 

—  thought  the  obligation  to  his  country  superior  to  every 

other,  i.  50.  n.  <^ 

—  proposed,  and  carried,  a  law  in  favour  of  Pompey,  i.  56,  n. 

—  his  friends,  i.  93. 

—  Pompey's  advice  to  him,  i.  95. 

—  advised  by  Cicero  to  make  himself  master  of  Alexandria 

and  Egypt,  i.  96. 

—  Pompey  bis  friend,  i.  115. 

—  raised  and  animated  the  republic  by  his  patriotism,  i.  173, 

—  recalled  Cicero  from  banishment,  i.  183. 

—  flattery  of  Cicero  to  him,  i.  1 98.  ^ 

—  gives  judgment  against  the  farmers  of  the  revenues,  i. 

204. 

—  letter  to  Cicero  iii.  313. 

—  takes  Dolabella's  transports,  iii.  314. 

—  complains  of  ill  treatment  from  the  Rhodians,  iii.  314. 

—  boasts  of  his  services,  iii.  318. 

—  letter  to  the  consuls,  senate,  &c.  iii,  321. 

—  gives  an  account  of  Dolabella  and  his  fleet,  iii.  321. 
Lepidus  delivers  Apella  as  an  hostage,  iii.  279- 

—  letter  to  Cicero,  iii.  292. 

—  encamps  near  Forum  Voconii,  iii.  292. 

—  his  professions  of  loyalty  to  the  senate,  iii.  294. 

—  a  few  days  after  joins  Antony,  iii.  294''  ». 

—  Plancus  joins  him  with  his  troops,  iii.  295. 

—  his  army  not  to  be  trusted,  iii.  300. 

—  does  not  punish  a  sedition  in  his  army,  iii.  301. 

—  letter  to  the  senate  and  people,  iii.  328. 

—  joins  Antony,  iii.  338,  443,  " 

—  his  sincerity  doubled  by  Plancus,  iii.  342. 

—  his  infamous  conduct,  iii.  364,  366.  i 

—  and  hb  adherents  declared  public  enemies  by  the  senate, 

iii.  373. 

I<yftf,  i.  446.  ii.  79.  '^^^* 

LepU, 


INDEX. 

Lepta,  Cicero's  letters  to,  ii.  433.  iii.  44, 

Letters  frequently  written  by  the  Romans  during  their  meals 
11.  351.  **  • 

LeucaSf  a  Grecian  island,  now  St.  Maure,  ii.  74. 

Libertif,  a  temple  to,  erected  on  the  aera  of  Cicero's  house,  i 

32,  n. 
Liboj  1.  55. 
Licinian  law,  i.  293. 

Lictors,  a  sort  of  beadles  who  attended  the  consuls,  &<?    ik 

128.  n. 
Ligarius,  Cicero's  letter  to,  ii.  330. 

—  account  of  him,  ii.  330.  n. 

—  Cicero's  letters  to,  ii.  364. 

—  Cicero  endeavours  to  obtain  his  pardon,  ii.  364. 

—  after  having  obtained  a  pardon,  joins  Brutus  in  bis  con- 

spiracy against  Caesar,  ii.  ^66,  n. 

—  a  great  favourite  of  Caesar,  his  death,  iii.  40. 
Lilyhceum,  a  sea-port  m  Sicily,  ii.  178. 

Lions,  600  killed  at  Pompey 's hunting  matches,  i.  123.  n. 

Lollius,  i.  358. 

Lucan,  his  character  of  Curio,  i.  218.  n. 

Lucca,  a  town  of  Cisalpine  Gaul,  i.  166.  d. 

Lucceius,  i.  206,  ii.  95. 

—  account  of  him,  i.  75.  n. 

—  wrote  the  history  of  the  Italic  and  Mariau  civil  war?,  i 

76. 

—  Cicero's  letters  to  him,  i,  75.  iii.  18,  23.   , 

—  his  firmness  of  mind,  iii*  19.  ,  -^ 

—  letter  to  Cicero,  iii.  21. 

£»Mceri<i,  a  city  in  Italy,  ii.  175.  ,l 

Luciliiis,  account  of,  ii.  319. 
Lucinia,  i.  109. 
Lucullus,  i.  2.  n.  54,  73. 

—  infidelity  of  his  wife,  i.  282.  n. 

Lupercalf  a  range  of  buildings  at  Rome,  iii.  127. 

Lupus,  i.  55,  62. 

Lusitania,  i.  e.  Portugal. 

Lycia,  part  of  Asia  Minor,  iii.  313. 

Lysippus,  i.  83.  ,  . 

Lyso,  ii.  77,  178.  . 

—  recommended  by  Cicero  to  Sulpicius,  ii.  4l6,  423,      _, 

.l/acro/>w*  or  Laberius,  appeared  first  op  the  ktige  at  69 

years  of  age,  i.  223.  n. 
idaciUa  offers  Cicero  the  use  of  his  house,  iii.  44. 

£  e  2  MatiuSf 


ii 


t 


I  M  D  E  X, 

McPtius,  i^  118. 
Magaiesian  game?,  i.  46' J. 
Ma/iilius,  i.   151. 
Manlius,  Marcus,  i.  2G7. 

—  Tirus  recx>m mended  by  C'icero  (o  Sulpicius,  ii.  420. 
Mantiers,  superiutendant  of,  ii.  322. 

Marccllinus,  i.  53,  61. 

Marcellusy   Caius,   the  elder,  Cicero's  letter  to,  i.  323. 

—  Caius,  Cicero's  letters  to,  i.  322,  432.  ii.  53. 

—  Marcus,  Cicero's  letters  to,  i.  320,  ii.  98,  314,  343,  34S. 

iii.  26'. 

—  account  of,  i.  320.  n. 

—  warmly  opposed  by  Ciesar,  i.  275.  n. 

—  slow  and  inactive,  i.  39I. 

—  a  proof  of  his  virtue,  ii.  300. 

—  during  his  volunthry  exile  visited  by  Brutus,  ii.  300.  n. 

—  Cicero  endeavours  to  persuade  him  to  return,  ii.  302. 

315,  343. 
■^-  of  01^  of  the  noblest  families  in  Italy,  ii.  31 6. 

—  obtains  a  pardon,  iii.  338. 

—  stabbed  by  Marius,  iii.  29. 

—  where  buried,  iii.  30. 

—  a  monument  to  his  memory  erected  at  Athens  at  the  pub- 

lic expellee,  iii.  31. 
Marian  civil  wars,  i.  77.  n. 
MariOy  ii.  80. 
Marius,  Marcus,  i.  205.  n.  ii.   134.  n, 

—  cause  of  the  civil  wars,  i.  77.  n. 

—  Cicero's  letters  to,  i.   116',  26'2.  ii.   197,  280, 

—  characterised,  i.  II6.  n. 

—  horrid  outrages  of  his  party,  ii.  285.  n. 
Master  of  the  horse  at  Rome,  ii.  174. 
Matius,  i.  235. 

—  Cicero's  letters  to,  iii.  105.  .,   ) 

—  his  character,  iii.  105.  n. 

—  gardening    and     poetry   his   favourite   amusemeut,   iii, 

105.   n. 

—  letter  to  Cicero,  iii.  112. 

—  laments  the  death  of  Casar,  iii.  113. 

—  reflections  cast  on  him  after  the  death  of  Caesar,  iii.  113. 

—  his  friendship  for  Csesar,  iii.  115. 
Mato,  ii.  17> 

Matrinius,  ii.  60. 
Mauritania^  in  Africa,  iii.  348. 

MaximttSf 


I  N  D  E  X. 

Maximiis,  Q.  Fabius,  his  resolution  when  he  lost  his  son 
lii.  14.  n.  ' 

Medea,  the  story  of  that  play,  i.  139.  n. 
Megara,  a  city  near  Corinth,  iii.  9. 
Memmius,  Caius,  Cicero's  letters  to,  i.  228,  244,  2S1 

—  account  of  the  family  of,  i.  281.  n.  •         - 

—  enters  into  an  infamous  association,  and  turns  informer. 

J.  281.  n.  ' 

—  banished,  i.  282.  n. 

—  his  character,  i.  282.  n. 

—  formed  to  make  woman  false,  i.  282^  n. 

Menander,  Ampius,  recommended  by  Cicero,  to  Isauricus, 

Menoc rates y  i.  199, 
Mescinius,  ii.  78,  8^. 

—  Cicero's  letter  to,  ii.  228. 

7-  recommended  by  Cicero  to  Sulpicitis,  ii.  425,  430. 
Messala,  M,  Val.  tried  and  acquitted,  i.  292. 
•--;  condemned  on  a  second  impeachment,  i.  304. 
\\^ssienus,  Publius,  recommended  by  Cicero  to  Casius.  i.  47^ 
Metella,  ii.  169.  n.  t       *^» 

Metellus,  i.  46.  n.  50.  n.  113.  n.  178.  n. 
MeteHus,  Q.  Caecil.  Nepos,  attempts  to  procure  the  recal  of 
Pompey,  i,  5.  n. 

—  retires  in  disgust  to  Pompey,  i.  5,  n. 

—  censured  by  the  senate,  i.  6.  n. 

—  Cicero's  letter  to,  i.  45. 

—  letter  to  Cicero,  i.  89.  ~*=  * 

—  his  character,  i.  181.  n. 

—  cause  of  his  exile,  i.  181.  n. 

—  superior  to  Cicero  in  acting  consistently,!.  182.  n. 
Metellus,  Q.  Celer,  letter  to  Cicero,  i.  5. 

—  complains  of  the  persecution  of  his  relation  Metellus,  i.  5. 

—  Cicero's  letter  to  hiip,  i.  7. 

—  character  of  his  wife,  i.  11.  n. 
Metros,  u  417. 

Milo,  i.  72,  178.  n. 

—  supported  by  Cicero  iji   his  election    to  the  consulate. 

1.  253.  ' 

-—  dissipated  three  considerable  estates  in  shews,  i.  255.  n. 

—  kills  Clodius,  i.  257,  n. 

—  banished,  i.  257.  n. 

—  his  estates  sold,  i.  298.  n, 

—  observations  on  ac«ro's  defence  of  him,  ii.  IS.  n. 
•—suspected  of  a  design  against  Pompey's  life,  ii,  14.  n. 
J/wa,  indications  of  a  low  and  little,  i.  S5,  n. 

E  e  3  .  Mind, 


►. 


INDEX. 

Mindf  crimes,  and  not  the  injastice  of  others,  ought  to  dis- 
turb its  serenity,  i.  252. 

Minerva,  festival  observed  in  a  riotous  manner,  ii.  20.       ^ 

MithridateSy  a  brave  but  cruel  prince,  overcome  by  Pom- 
pey,  i.  2.  n. 

Mitylene,  capital  of  Lesbos,  ii.  204.  n.  298.  n. 

Mol9,  i.  ^7*  n. 

Money,  scarcity  of  in  Cappadocia,  i.  330.  n. 

MopsuhestOy  a  city  in  Cilicia,  i.  382. 

Mucia,  married  toPompey,  and  afterwards  divorced,  i.  12.  n. 

Mucins,  i.  151. 

Munatius,  Cicero's  letter  to,  i.  148. 

Munda,  a  city  in  Granada,  ii.  438. 

Murder,  a  master  murdered  in  his  own  house,  the  slates 
punished  with  death,  iii.  30.  n. 

Mushrooms  in  great  esteem,  ii.  323,  445. 

Mutina,  a  city  of  Cisalpine  Gaul,  iii.  l63. 

Mtjkta,  a  city  in  Asia  Minor,  i.  344.  0 

Nctvius,  i.  ^5, 

Narbonne  in  Provence,  iii.  334. 

Neroiia  in  Liburnia,  now  called  Croatia,  ii.  39$.  ui.  34 

Naso,  Otacilius,  ii.  175. 

Nero,  i.  394. 

—  Cicero's  esteem  and  affection  for  him,  iii.  sgs, 
Nicea,  city  greatly  indebted  to  Titus  Pinius,  i.  367. 
Nigidius,  Figulus,  Cicero's  letter  to,  ii.  291. 

—  account  of  him,  ii.  291.  n. 

—  Caesar  is  inclined  to  call  him  fi'om  exile,  iii.  295. 
Nobility  amongst  the  Romans,  i.  101.  n. 
Nonianus,  Considius,  ii.  106. 
Numa  regulates  the  public  registers,  i.  82.  n. 
Numbera,  superstitious  notions  respecting,  ii.  85.  n. 
NysOf  protection  for  the  citizens  requested  by  Nero,  i.  394. 

Obligations  on  asking,  i.  253. 

Ocella,  his  amours,  i.  443.  ' 

Octavius  takes  the  name  of  Augustus  Caesar,  111.  87.  n. 

—  form  a  design  against  the  life  of  Antony,  iii.  151. 

—  the  design  favoured  by  Cicero,  iii.  151.  n. 

' —  complains  of  the  ambiguous  expressions  of  Cicero,  iii. 
.    306. 

—  joins  the  triumvirate,  iii.  345.  n.  384.  n. 

—r  his  conduct  complained  of  by  Plaocus,  iii.  380. 

■'  Octariusf 


\ 


\ 


V 


INDEX. 

Octavius  advances  with  several  legions^  in  order  to  demand 

the  consulate,  iii.  381.  n. 
Oeno7naus,  story  of  that  tragedy,  ii.  257,  n.  ^ 

OffiUuSf  his  opinion  on  wills,  i.  261. 
Omens  observed  by  the  Romans,  i.  136.  n. 
Oppius,  i.  127.  ii.  134. 

—  Cicero's  letter  to,  iii.  124. 

OppiuSf  Lucius  recommended  by  Cicero  toGallius,  ii.  $1^ 
Optimates,  their  irresolution,  ii.  34.  , , .  .^y^. 

Orators  of  Greece  and  Rome,  studied  both  action  and  dilu- 
tion, ii.  269.  n.  j; 
Oratory  J  three  dialogues  on,  sent  by  Cicero  to  Lentuluj^  i 

Orca,  Q.  Val.  Cicero's  letters  to,  l.  57.  iii.  41,  46.  \^:^ 

—  account  of  him,  iii.  41.  n. 

Orfius  purposed  to  be  made  king  of  Gaul  by  Caesar,  i.  1^^^ 
Osciau  farces,  account  of,  i.  121.  n.  ,,,^^^^ 

Ostia,  a  town  on  the  mouth  of  the  Tiber,  ii.  248.  ir 

Owls  salt  to  Athens  J  a  proverbial  expression,  ii.  23.6,  413. 
Pacorus,  son  of  Orodes,  king  of  Parthia,  encamps  at  Tyba, 

Pflp^i«,  Lucius  Castrinius,  i.  296.  '■■^- 

—  recommended  by  Cicero  to  Brutus,  ii.  342. 

Pastus,  Papirius,  Cicero's  letters  to,  ii.   15,  191>  253,  255, 
271,273,276,280,317,351. 

—  a  person  of  great  wit  and  humour,  ii.  15.  n. 

—  his  noble  descent,  ii.  192.  ] 
Palestra,  or  public  building  for  various  exercises,  i.  107.4. 
Pansa,  i.  229. 

—  died  of  his  wounds,  iii.  335. 

Panthers,  to  be  procured  forCcelius,  i.  296,  310,  3l6,  ^6Sj 

463.  .  y 

Paphos,  a  city  of  Cyprus,  ii.  188.  '^^ 

Para^am,  a  species  of  pun,  i.  402.  n. 
Pnrion,  a  city  in  Hellespontus,  i.  335.  (^ 

Parthian,  now  a  part  of  Persia,  i.  311.  n. 

—  a  son  of  the  king  of,  married  to  a  sister  of  th^^^ing  .of 

Armenia,  i.  342.  ^  i\\Vr»r» 

—  army  of,  passes  the  Euphrates,  i.  348,  382.  V^^o 

—  commits  hostilities,  i.  386. 

—  progress  of  the  army,  i.  388* 

—  invade  Syria,  i.  414. 

—  progress  of  Cicero  against  them,  i.  417» 

—  repulsed  by  Cassius,  and  driven  out  of  Syria, ).  452. 
Patricians^  higher  and  lower  order^ii.  1^2.  n,      ,   ,   [^ 

Ee4  Party, 


I 

I 


><!»  


i 

i 


INDEX. 

Party ^  strongest  always  the  best,  ii.  6/.        

Patiscusy  i.  3l6,  463. 

PatrcBy  a  city  of  Peloponnesus,  ii.  74.  n. 

Patriots,  their  duty  to  retire  when  Ibey  can  no  longer  serve 

the  state,  iii.  113,  n. 
Patriot,  Cicero  undeserving  of  that  character,  i.  197.  n.  ii^ 

362.  n, 
Pairo,  Cicero's  acquaintance  with,  i.  284. 

—  wishes  to  be  reconciled  to  Memmius,  i.  285. 
PqmIus,  i.  392.  ii.  30.  n. 

—  Cicero's  letters  to,  i.  324,  434. 
Pausanius,  i.  123.  n. 

Peacocks,  great  value  of  at  Rome,  ii.  26.9. 

Peari,  of  the  vaine  of  80001.  dissolved  and  dran^i  by  the  son 

of  i£sopus,  the  actor,  i.  1 19.  n. 
Pedvceanu^y  Curtius,  Cicero's  lettei*s  to,  i.  456. 
Peducceas  acquitted,  ii.  66, 
Pelops,  story  of  the  sons  of,  ii.  362.  n.  ^ 

Pessinius,  a  city  in  Phrygia,  ii.  21. 
Pefrerus,  ii.  108. 

Petrinufti,  a  town  in  Campania,  iii.  44. 
Phcpdrus,  i.  285. 

Phalaris,  a  sea- port  in  Greece,  iii.  3.  n. 
Phania,  i.  467. 
Phanias,  i.  227,  301, 336. 

—  a  person  of  consoramate  politics,  but  of  infinite  ctiriostty, 

i.  225. 
Pharnaces  makes  an  excursion  into  Cappadocia,  and  the 

Lesser  Armenia,  ii.  173.  n. 
Philemon f  Metrillius,  i.  240. 
PhiUttmSy  i.  30. 
Philippus,  i.  61.  n. 

—  Quinlus  Cicero's  letters,  to  i.  127,  210. 

—  conjecture  concerning  him,  i.  127.  n.  ^ 
PAilo,  i.  285.  ii.  21. 

—  recommended  by  Cicero  to  Acilius,  ii.  170, 
Philoctetes,  sfory  of,  ii.  263.  n. 

Pkilomelium,  a  city  of  Phrygia  Major,  i.  376.  ii.  313. 
Pkilosophf,  one  of  the  noblest  blessings  of  God,  i.  42.9. 
Pbilotes,  of  Alabanda,  assigned  his  dfects  toCIuviu»,  i.  345. 
Pkilotimtu  buys  Milo's  estate  at  an  onder  value,  i.  29S. 
Philoxenus,  Caius  Avianus,  recommended  by  Cicero  to  Aci- 

lius,  ii.  180. 
Pilius,  i.  356,  385. 
Pindtihessum^  a  city  of  Cilicia,  i.  387. 

Pindenessum 


INDEX. 

Pindenessum  surrenders  to  Cicero,  i.  421. 

Pinnius,  Titus,  his  son  has  a  considerable  demand  on  tho 

city  of  Nicaea,  i.  366. 
Vinceeus,  a  sea-port  near  Athens,  now  Pigrida,  iii,  9.  "1 

Piso,  Caius  Frugi,  married  Tullia,    daughter  of  Cicero,  i. 

28.  n. 

Piso,  Lucius  Calphurnius,  his  character,  i.  42.  n.  ii.  102. 

P/ancius  i.  37. 

t—  his  generous  offices  to  Cicero,  i.  38,  n. 

Plancus,  Cneius,  Cicero's  letters  to,    ii.  206,  2?0.  iii.  134, 

147,284,311,331,342,377.  — 

1—  account  of  him^  ii.  206.  n.  iii.  134.  n. 

f—  declared  himself  on  the  side  of  the  senate,  but  soon  went 
over  to  Antony,  iii,  134.  n,  v^. 

f—  advised  by  Cicero  to  act  without  waiting  for  the  sanction 
of  the  senate,  iii.  285. 

'—  purposes  to  join  Lepidus,  iii.  296. 

r-r  his  contempt  of  the  army  of  Anthony  and  Ventidius,  iii,  ^ 
297. 

—  deceived  in  Lepidus,  iii.  300.  '        1 

—  his  proceedings  against  Antony,  iii.  343. 

—  wishes  CcKsar  to  join  him  with  his  army,  iii.  345. 
: —  state  of  his  forces,  iii.  37  f^, 

Plancus y  Lucius,  Cicero's  letter  to,  ii.  221. 

—  account  of  him,  ii.  221.  n.  t 
Planius,  Marcus,  recommended  by  Cicero  to  Dolabella,  ii, 

459. 
Pliny  requested  Tacitus  to  write  his  life,  i.  88.  n. 
Plotian  law,  i.  354.  n. 
Pohy  ii.  63. 

Pollentia,  a  city  in  Piedmont,  now  called  Polenzo,  iii.  289, 
PolleXy  ii.  153. 
Pollio,  ii.  17. 
r —  Asinius,  letters  to  Cicero,  iii.  333,  348. 

—  laments  the  action  near  Mutina,  iii.  333.  'I 

—  his  friendship  for  Antony,  iii.  334. 

—  wishes  to  have  joined  Lepidus,  iii.  334^  i 

—  says  he  will  neither  desert  nor  survive  the  republic,  iifc^^l 

337.  A<^ 

r—  after  this  declaration,  he,  within  a  few  months,  joined  /T 

Antony,  and  survived    the  repulilic  many  years,  iii.   > 

337.  n.  ''\ 

—  his  care  of  his  troops,  iii.  353, 
Polypus  fish,  ii.  259i  26l. 

fompciQf  i.  178.  n.  .     ^.  ..  . 

Pompeitts 


i 


r 


INDEX. 


INDEX. 


Tompeiusy  Cneius,  killed  by  Caesar's  soldiers,  iii.  85.  n. 
Fompeius^  Quint  us,  recommended  by  Cicero  to  Curius,  i. 

208. 
• —  a  principal  author   of  the  disturbances  on  the  death  of 

Clodius,  i.  276.  n. 
Fo?npeiuSf  Sextus,  iii.  85. 
Pompey  the  Great,  Cicero's  letter  to,  i.  1.  — 

—  hib  success  against  Mithridates,  i.  2.  n. 

—  supposed  cause  of  his  coolness  to  Cicero,  i.  3.  n. 

—  his  recal  attempted  by  Metellus  Nepos,  i.  5.  n. 
• —  good  oftices  by  Cicero  to  him,  i.  12. 

^  insists  that  Antonius  should  be  recalled  from  his  govern- 
ment, i.  19.  n. 
• —  laws  in  his  favour,  i.  56.  n. 

—  insulted  when  he  spuke  in  favour  of  Milo»  i.  72. 

—  artifice  of,  i.  ^s,  n.  — 

—  theatre,  i.  11 6.  n. 

—  killed  500  lions  at  his  hunting  matches,  i.  123.  n. 

—  invested  with  the  government  of  Spain  for  five  years,  but 

chose  to  continue  in  Italy,  i.  135.  ^ 

—  set  forward  on  his  expedition  into  Sardinia  and  Africa,  i. 

166. 

—  his  conversation  with  the  brother  of  Cicero,  i.  167. 

—  refuses  to  protect  Cicero  against  Clodius,  i.  175.  n. 

—  foments  confusion  at  Rome,  i.  243.  n. 

—  made  alterations  in  the  method  of  chusing  judges,  i.  265. 

n.  292.  n. 

—  seldom   spoke    his   real    sentiments,  yet  had  not  artifice 

enough  to  conceal  them,  i.  275.  '^ 

—  secretly  fomented  the  tumults,  i.  282.  n. 

—  animated  with  the  most  patriotic  seniiraent*,  i.  290*>  — 
•—  debate  on  the  payment  of  his  forces,   i.  309-  — 

—  married  Cornelia,  daughter  of  Scipio,  i.  319'  n« 

—  questioned  respecting  Ca^^ar,  i.  364. 

—  looked  on  by  Cicero  a^  the  greatest  nian  in  the  world,  ^. 

448. 

—  Cicero's  pretended  obli;;ation5  to  him>  ii.  12.  V 

—  hia  treachery  to  Cicero,  ii.  12.  n,  ^ 

—  his  party  attempt*  to  divest  Caebar  of  his  government  iu 

Gaul,  ii.  20.  n.  "^ 

—  his  character  by  Cicero  at  different  periods,  ii.  27*  n.   'I 

—  Opposes  Caesar'ii  being  elected  consul  before  he  gives  up 

the  command  of  the  army,  ii.  35. 

—  senate  and  judges  declare  in  his  favour,  ii.  68. 

—  apprehensive  of  the  power  of  Caesar,  ii.  90. 

—  receives  money  for  the  public  use,  ii.  96. 

I  Fwnpf^ 


Fompty,  money  seized  for  his  use,  ii.  ^^.  f 

—  treated  Cesar's  design  of  invading  Italy  with  contempt  ii 

106.  n.  ^      ' 

—  the  policy  of  his  leaving  Rome,  and  removing  the  war  out 

of  Italy,  ii.  130.  n. 

—  ill-advised  declaration  when  he  left  Rome,  ii.  146.  n. 

—  after  his  defeat  at  Pharsalia,  is  deserted    by  Cicero,   ii 

154,  n.  J  y     . 

—  defects  in  his  army,  ii.  198. 

—  would  have  overcome  Caesar,  had  his  army  been  com- 

manded  by  a  general  who  knew  how  to  conquer,   ii. 
199,  n. 

—  runs  away  after  the  battle  of  Pharsalia  with  a  single  at- 

tendant, ii.  200,  n. 

—  would  not  follow  the  advice  of  Cicero,  ii.  199. 

—  resolves  to  take  shelter  in  Egypt,  but  is  stabbed  by  order 

of  Ptolemy,  ii.  201,  n. 

—  his  body  burned  with  the  planks  of  a  fishing-boat,   and 

his  ashes  brought  to  Rome,  ii.  201,  n. 
PoTwpey,  the  younger  y  draws  together  a  very  considerable  army 
in  Spain,  ii.  434. 

—  weakness  of  his  intellects,  ii.  458. 
FomptinuSj  the  villa  of  Metrillius  Philemdn,  i.  240. 
Fontiffsy  their  function,  iii.  328,  n. 

Fontinius   distisguished  himself  in  the  affair  of  Catiline,  ii. 
"'^^    3,^1. 

Frcecilim,  his  son,  recommended  by  Cicero  to  Csesar,  ii.  462. 
PrcEcOy  similar  to  the  cryer  in  a  court  of  justice,  ii.  433,  n. 
Frcetor,  not  chosen  until  two  years  after  having  served  th« 
office  of  edile,  iii.  304j  n. 

—  office,  i.  45^,  n. 

—  could  not  absent  themselves  for  more  than  ten  days,  iii. 

131,  n. 

—  exhibited  games  in  honour  of  Apollo,  iii.  145,  b. 
PrtBtorian  cohort,  1.  418,  n. 

—  provinces,  why  so  called,  i.  363,  n. 
PrawnSy  in  great  repute,  ii.  445.  •   • 
Precius  leaves  a  legacy  to  Cicero,  ii.  71. 
PrescenniuSf  i.  30. 

ProtogeneSy  i.  121. 

Ptolemy y  i.  54,  311,  n. 

•*^  father  of  Cleopatra,  i.  51,  n. 

—  money  paid  to  settle  him  on  his  throfie,  i.  51,  n. 

—  driven  out  of  Egypt,  i.  51,  n. 

Ptolemy 


i 


.f..-. 


i^n\nx«i*l 


;f'-     ff'l 


.,  i . 


IN  D  E  X. 

.Ptolemiff  prophecy  found  in  the  Sibylline  books,  against  Kfs 
being  assisted  by  the  Romans,  i.  52,  n. 

—  the  part  taken  by  Cicero  to  replace  him  in  this  kiBgdom. 

1.  53. 

—  debates  on  restoring,  i.  6l. 

—  Cicero  advices  Lentulus  to  place  Ptolemy  on  his  throne, 

i.  97> 

—  his  death,!.  311. 

—  orders  Pompey  to  be  stabbed,  ii.  201,  n. 

Fublia  married  to  Cicero,  and  soon  atter  parted,  ii.  208,  n. 
PubliuM,  his  death,  i.  132,  n. 
Punningy  remarks  on,  i.  403,  n. 
Pupiusy  ).  407. 

Puteolw,  a  maritime  city  in  Campania,  now  Poxzuoli,  ii. 

10,  n. 
Puteolanus,  Cluvius,  i.  344. 
Pyramus,  a  river  in  Cilicia,  ii.  23. 
Pyrrhusy  king  of  Epirus,  a  great  soldier,  ii.  15,  n. 

Qwtstor,  was  receiver-general  of  the  provincial  taxes,  i.  20. 

iii.348. 
Quindecimvirs,    presiding    magistrates    at    the    games,  and 

keepers  of  the  Sibylline  oracles,  i.  305,  n, 

RaciliuSf  Lucius,  i.  94. 
RagdzoniiUf  i.  89,  n. 

Raphael,  his  paintings   in   the   little  Fai;nesc  retouched  by 

Maratti,  i.  ISO,  n. 
Registers,  public  regulated  by  Numa,  i.  82,  n. 
Rcgium,  a  maritime  city  in  Calabria,  iii.  53, 
Rex,  Cicero's  letter  to,  ii.  467. 
Rhodes,  an  island  in  the  Mediterranean,  ii.  37,  n,  204,  n. 

—  ill  behaviour  of  the  Rhodiaus  to  Lentulus,  ji.  314,  332. 
il^orfo,  i.  471. 

Romans,  their  manner  of  settling  affairs  of  state,  i,  6S,  n* 

—  public  entertainments,  i.  1 16.  ; 

—  magnificence  of  their  roads,  i.  12  J,  n. 
^~  progress  to  ruin,  i.  141,  n. 

—  civil  war  not  occasioned   by  the  enmity  of  Caesar  and 

Pompey,  but  by  their  former  friendship,  i,  IS6,  n. 

—  divided  into  Curiae,  whose  votes  were  considerwl  a&  tke 

voice  of  the  people,  i.  202,  n^,»  ...  swr.j  .r^^.,^\SL^r 

—  military  function  conferred  by  the  people,  i.  203,  0. 

RojttanSf^ 


IN  D  E  X 

Romans,  affairs  in  confusion,  occasioned  by  Pompey  anl 
Caesar,  i.  243,  n.  245. 

—  elections  carried  by  bribery  and  mobs,  i.  256,  n. 
•—  law  to  prevent  commotions  at  elections,  i.  268,  n. 

—  increase  of  bribery,  i.  281,  n.  292. 

—  severe  laws  against  false  accusers,  i.  353,  n. 

—  soldiers  could  not  be  compelled  to  serve  more  than  Un 

years,  i.  36'2. 

—  how  divided  by  Romulus,  i.  474,  n. 

—  united  under  Pompey,  ii.  28.  ^ 

—  when  first  supplied  with  water,  ii.  30,  n. 

—  tendency  to  a  civil  war,  ii.  71. 

—  immense  wealth  acquired  by  the  governors  of  the  pro- 

vinces, n,  99,  n, 

—  convention  of  senators,  ii.  121, 

—  reclined  on  couches  at  their  meals,  ii.  351,  n. 

—  state  of  patriotism,  ii.  404. 

—  divided  into  thirty-five  tribes,  ii.  421,  n.  -A^t;i  k 

—  critical  state  of  the  republic,  ii.  447. 

—  governors  obliged  to  visit  the  principal  cities  in  their  pro- 

vinces, iii.  28,  n. 

—  citizens  cast  into  three  general  divisions,  iii.  75,  n. 
'^—  centuries  explained,  iii.  75,  n. 

—  senators  could  not  be  long  absent  without  leave,  w.  84,  n 

—  capitation  tax,  iii.  358. 

Ross,  Mr.  his  sentiments  of  Pompey,  i;  95,  n. 

Rjifus,  Lucius  Mescinius,  Cicero's  letters  to,  ii.  91,  138, 

^—  his  character,  ii.  91,  n.  ^ 

—  on  the  expences  of  Cicero's  government  in  Cilicfefii.  Oi. 

92,  n.  "^ 

Rufus,  Sempronius,  convicted  of  false  accusations,  i  353. 

Rufus,  Servius  Sulpicius,  i.  320,  n, 

Rufus,  Sextilius,  Cicero's  letter  to,  ii.  188. 

Rufus,  C.  Titiu«,  Cicero's  letter  to,  i.  474. 

Ruilus,  i.  441,  n. 

Rupa,  i.  236.  '^  »'^ 

Rupilius,  Publius,  i.  407. 

Sabata  fens,  account  of,  iii.  289. 

Sabinia,  a  city  in  Italy,  iii.  99,  n. 

Sabinus,  ii.  46'7.  qmcS. 

'Salamis,  a  crty  in  Cyprus,  i.  346,  n. 

Sallustius,  Caninius,  Cicero's  letter  to,  ii.  57, 

Samarobnva,2iCiiy  in  Belgic  Gaul,  i.  2ZS,  229. 

Samo^y  an  island  gn  the  coast  of  Ionia,  i.  ti7&. 

Z  Sardinia, 


r  N  D  E  X. 


Sardinia,  island,  ii.  246,  n.  iii.  49,  n.  A 

Sardinian  laugh,  iii.  55,  n. 
Sardis,  a  city  in  Lydia,  i.  400. 

Saturninus,  his  law  that  the  senate  should  ratify  whatever  the 
people  ordained,  i.  181,  n.  <. 

—  prosecution  against,  ii.  66. 
Sccevola,  Quintus,  ii.  205,  267. 

—  compiled  a  body  of  laws  in  18  volumes,  i.  267,  n. 
Scaptius  besieges  the  senate  house  in  Cyprus,  i.  379>  ni  i  >/. 
Scantinian  law  explained,  ii.  63,  n. 
Scaurus,  M.  ^roilius  accused  of  a  traitorous  correspondence 

with  Mithridates,  i.  182,  n. 

—  his  speech  before  the  assembly,  i.  182,  n. 
Scipio  Afncanus  and  Laelius,  their  friendship,  i.  4,  n. 

—  his  death,  ii.  267,  n, 
Scipio  Metellus,  i.  318,  n. 
SeguUus  execrated  by  Cicero,  iii.  339« 
Sejanum^  the  true  reading  of,  i.  117*  n. 
Seius,  i.  229. 
Sdicius,  i.  70,  ii.  262. 
Selius,  i.  404. 
Senate,  forms  of  proceedings,  i.  62,  64. 

—  power  of  nomination  of  candidates  for  the  magistracies,  s. 

188,  R.  -  "^^ 

—  singular  custom  of  lengthening  debates,  ii.  31,  n.u 
Seneca,  eulogy  on  Cato,  ii.  268,  n. 
SerranuSy  i.  178,  n. 

Servilius  the  father,  account  of,  ii.  290,  n.  <^ 

Serxilius  Isauricus,  i.  47»  n.  53,  328,  n.  356.  -^ 

—  Cicero's  letters  to,  ii,  289,  ^<>9y  360,  ZGly  379r  384, 

396.  •  t^i>t: 

—  why  called  Isauricus,  ii.  290.  *^* 

—  his  death  in  extreme  old  age,  iii.  9I1  n.  ♦: 
Servilius,  Marcus,  convicted  of  extortion,  i.  355.       *" 
Servilius,  Strabo,  i.  394. 
Serviusy  his  opinion  on  will?,  i.  261.  — 

—  tried  and  convicted,  i.  306. 
Sestius,  ii.  96. 

—  Publius,  Cicero's  letter  to^  i.  20.  tixi^^^^  — 
SextiuSf  P.  i.  35,  d. 

—  account  of,  i.  168. 

—  Cicero's  letter  to,  i.  248.  ♦ 

—  professed  friendship  of  Cicero  for,  i.248.  -H 

Shakespeare,  quoted,  i.  152,  n.  282>*Q. 

Sj/bils,  i.  53,  D. 

Sicca,  i.  30. 

Sicinius, 


it 


INDEX. 


fi 


Sidnius,  i.  231,  n. 

Sicj/on,  a  city  of  Peloponneses,  ii.  419. 

Stda,  a  sea»port  of  Pamphylia,  i.  336. 

SUanm  returns  to  Lepidus,  iii.  293. 

Silius,  Publius,  i.  26l. 

—  Cicero's  letters  to,  i.  366,  370,  383,  393,  408,  475 

•--  governor  of  Bithyniaand  Pontus  in  Asia.  i.  366,  n. 

•Vj^^iM^,  1.  296,  310,  ii.  36. 

Sophists,  besides  the  arts  and  sciences,  pretended  to  a  know- 
ledge of  the  meanest  crafts,  ii.  253,  n. 

Sosis,  Luc\u%  Manlius,  recommended  by  Cicero  to  Acilius. 
11.  164.  ' 

Soul,  Cicero's  opinion  enquired  into,  ii.  232,  n 
Spain,  government  of,  renewed  to  Pompey  for  five  years,  1. 

383,  n. 
--  how  divided  by  the  Romans,  ii.  149. 
Spectres,  or  images,  ii.  453,  455. 

Stabite,  a  maritime  town  in  Campania,  i.  117,  n.  '^ 

iS^flr^e  entertainments  at  Rome,  i.  120. 
— •  the  Oscian  and  Greek  farces,  i.  121,  n. 
Statues  purchased  for  Cicero,  npt  approved  of  by  him,  i. 

106.  "^ 

Strabo,  Lucius  Titius,  ii.  349. 

Suberinus,  Caius,   recommended   by  Cicero  to  Dolabella. 
II.  459.  ' 

Suicide,  Cicero's  motives  against,  ii.  218. 
Sulla,  his  death,  ii.  446,  450. 

Superstition  ceremonies,  credulity  in,  at  Rome,  i.  128,  n.    ^ 
iiulptcms,  Pubhus,  Cicero's  letters  to,  ii.  3^8. 

—  had  a  thanksgiving  for  his  successes  in  Illyricuro,  ii. 

398,  n. 

Sulpicius,  Servius,  Cicero's  letters  to,  ii.  119,  136,  283, 

330,  410,  414,  416,  418,  419,  420,  421,  422,  424. 
425,  427,  429,  iii.  6,  13,  28. 

r—  account  of  him,  ii.  119,  n.  >^ 

--  aware  that  the  recal  of  Cssar  would  draw  on  a  civil  waK 
II.  120,  n.  ' 

—  his  skill  in  the  laws,  ii.  287. 

—  accepted  of  the  government  of  Achaia,  ii.  337. 

—  consolation  to  Cicero  on  the  death  of  Tullia.  iii.  6 
^mmmng,  a  polite  exercise  at  Rome,  i.  151,  n. 

^      at'  n'*""'"  regarded  by  the  senate,  i.  52,  62,  72. 

97»   yo. 

Sylla,  i.  2,  n.  109,  d.  1^4,  n. 


I 

f 


INDEX. 

Syllof  law  made  by  him,  i.  203. 

—  horrid  outrages  of  his  party,  ii.  285,  n. 

—  Cicero  intends  to  pwrcbase  his  house,  ii.  323. 
Syndics,  a  kind  of  solicitors  of  the  treasury,  i.  S**. 
Sfinnada,  a  city  of  Phrygia,  i.  373. 

Syriot  a  great  commotion  there,  i.  349* 
'^  cannot  be  entered  without  traversing  mount  Amanus,  i. 
415. 

—  report  of  a  war  in,  i.  4()5. 
Sp'us  Publius,  account  of,  iii.  66,  n. 

Tflrcowrf/»?o^w*,  a  prince  of  Cilicia,  i.  349. 

Tarentiimy  softness  and  luxury  of  the  inhabitants,  i.  229>  n. 

Tarqm'n,  games  instituted  by  him,  i.  354,  n. 

—  instituted  theLatian  festivals,  i.  440,  c. 
Tarsus,  the  capital  of  Cilicia,  i.  339,  ii« 

Terentia,  C\cero*s  letters   to,  i.   25,  30^  ii.  141,  151,  152, 
154,  156, 157»  162,  165,  168, 169, 176,  177*  179. 

—  andTullia-,  Cicero's  letters  to,  ii.  70,  100,  102. 

—  dragged  from  the  temple  of  Vesta,  to  the  office  of  Va- 

lerius, i.  32. 

—  divorced  from  Cicero,  i.  32. 
Tertu/iUj  wife  to  Crassus,  i.  130,  n. 
Thanksgivitigsy  public,  on  what  accounts  voted,  i.  422. 
ThcmistocleSy  account  of,  i.  81,  n. 

Thei^us,  Cicero's  letters  to,  i.  335,  344,  "399*  464,  465, 

471. 
Thessalonica,  a  city  in  Macedonia,  i.  34. 

Thraso,  i.  397. 

Thyreum,  a  city  of  Peloponnesus,  ii.  79* 

TigelliuSf  account  of  him,  iii.  48,  49,  54. 

Timwust  his  character  as  an  historian,  i.  77 • 

Tiwoltm,  account  of,  i.  84,  n. 

Two,  Cicero's  letters  to,  ii.  72,  75,  76,  77.  79.  81,  83,  87t 

105,  115,  116,  117,  iii.  1,  27,  31,  34,  38,  86,  90, 

154. 

—  a  favourite  slave  of  Cicero's,  account  of  hira,  ii.  72,  n. 

74,  n. 
^  Quintus  Cicero's  letters  to,  ii.  110,  118,  iii.  I69,  171> 

176. 
- —  Cicero  gives  him  his  freedom,  ii.  466. 
Titius,  Titus,  Cicero's  letters  to,  i.  290,  ii.  158. 
Tatutniiis,  Cicero's  letters  to,  ii.  210,  215. 
Torquutusy  Aulu^,  Cicero's  letters  to,  ii.  403,  4U,  437*, 

44?. 

Torquatits, 


INDEX. 

Torquatus,  Aulus,  account  of  him,  ii.  403.  n. 

—  Cicero  consoles  him  on  his  absence  from  Rome,  i.  404 

—  allowed  to  return  through  the  intercession  of  Doiabell'a, 

".  448,  n.  ' 

Trabea,  the  poet,  ii,  191. 
Tralles,  a  city  in  Asia  Minor,  i.  300. 
Trebanius,  Cicero's  letter  to,  ii.  304.' 
Trebatis,  i.  213,  n. 
Trebatius,  i.  134,  135,  136.  ii.  1 19. 

—  Cicero's  letters  to,  i.  138,  140,  142,  144,  147,  149,  154. 

221,  229,  232,  235,  239,  247,  26l,  266,  ii.  310.  iii. 
126,  129. 

—  Horace  addressed  one  of  his  satires  to  him,  i.  138,  n. 

—  advised  the  Roman  satirist  to  swim  across  the  Tiber,  i. 

152,  n. 

—  looked  on  by  Caesar  as  a  wonderful  lawyer,  i.  149. 

—  turns  Epicurean,  i.  229. 

—  his  arrogance,  i.  232. 
Treboniusy  Aulus,  i.  65, 

—  Cicero's  letters  to,  ii.  I8I,  324.  iii.  99,  195. 

—  account  of  him,  ii.  isi,  n.  182,  n.  hi.  99.  n. 

—  letter  to  Cicero,  iii.  102. 

~-  invites  Cicero's  son  to  Asia,  iii.  103. 

Trevirt,  a  warlike  people  bordering  on  Germany,  i.  233,  n. 

irevtn  momtales,  inspectors  of  the  public  coin,  i.  233,  n. 

Inbufies,  their  rank,  i.  137,  n. 

Triumph  could  not  be  claimed  without  having  destroyed  5000 

^      of  the  enemy,  i.  312,  n.  ii.  32. 

persons  demanding,  remained  without  the  city  until  it  was 

either  granted  or  rejected,  i.  371,  n. 
Triumvirate,  Octavius  treats  with  Lepidus  and  Antony,  and 

soon  after  joins  them,  iii.  345,  n. 
~  formed,  iii.  384,  n. 
Trojan  horse,  a  tragedy,  i.  154,  n. 

JSI/P^  recommended  by  Cicero  to  Munatius,  i.  148. 
luccius,  Marcus,  i.  354. 
Tullia  married  to  Caius  Piso  Frugi,  i.  28,  n. 
marries  Crassippes,  i.  104,  n. 

—  marries  Dolabella,  ii.  43,  47,  5%, 

—  arrives  at  Brundisium,  ii.  165. 

~  neglected  by  Dolabella,  ii.  l65,  n. 

—  divorce  purposed,  ii.  169. 
— -  her  death,  iii.  4,  n. 


« <  • 


INDEX. 

Tullia^  conjecture  whether  sb€  bad  been  divorced  from  D^ 

labella,  iii.  4,  n.  7i  n. 
— >  Sulpicius's  coQsoiatioD  to  Cicero  on  ber  death,  iii.  6. 

Vacerra,  his  death,  i.  148. 

Valeria,  Paula,  divorced,  and  a  treaty  of  marriage  with  De* 

cimus  Brutus,  i.  445. 
Valerius,  Lucius,  Cicero's  letter  to,  i.  212. 
ValeriiiSy  the  lawyer,  i.  227. 

Vardteiy  a  people  contiguous  to  Dalmatia,  iii.  33.  n» 
Varrius,  accuses  Scaunis  of  bribery,  i.  183,  n. 
VarrOf  M.  Terentius,  Cicero's  letters  to,  ii.  213,  234,  236, 

240,  243,  244,  248.  iii.  35. 

—  his  character,  ii.  213,  n.  329. 

—  retires  with  his  fleet  into  harbour,  ii.  252. 

—  recommended  by  Cicero  to  Bratus,  it.  326,  327>  n.  328. 
VatiniuSy  i.  91»  n. 

—  why  Cicero  became  his  advocate,  i.  l60. 

—  character  of,  i.  l60,  n.  iii.  32,  n.  59»  n. 

—  by  the  artful  examination  of  him  by  Cicero,  he  exposed 

the  iniquity  of  his  tribunate,  i.  1^4. 

—  bribed,  i.  l64,  n. 

—  defended  by  Cicero,  i,  190.  * 
VatiniuSf  letters  to  Cicero,  iii.  32,  6^' 

—  wishes  to  have  a  public  thanksgiving,  iii.  3!?. 
Vegetables,  luxurious  method  of  dressing,  i.  49. 
Veii,  a  city  in  Italy,  ii.  274. 

Velioy  a  sea-port  of  Lucania,  iii.  126,  n. 

Vtntidius  joins  Antony,  iii.  289,  292. 

Venusiay  a  town  in  Naples,  ii.  180. 

Vercelkty  in  the  duchy  of  Milan,  iii.  29^. 

Vettorius,  i.  355. 

Viarian  law  threatened  by  Curio,  i.  ^41. 

Vibutlius,  i.  168. 

Vicentiaj  a  maritime  city  of  the  Venetians,  iii.  291* 

Viniciattus,  i.  307. 

Virgil,  supposed  to  allude  to  Curio  in  vendidit  hie  awro  pM» 
triam,  i.  218>  n. 

Ulubrean  frogs,  i.  241. 

Ulysses,  story  of,  referred  to,  i.  214. 

Vocontiif  a  people  of  Narbonensian  Gani,  iii.  343. 

Volaterne,  a  city  in  Tuscany,  recommended  to  the  protec- 
tion of  Orca,  iii.  41. 

Voicatius,  i,  55,  61,  66,  ii.  349^ 

Vokatiiu^ 


I  njswx. 

Volcatiui,  his  noble  spirit,  ii.  339. 

Volumnia,  ii,  l63. 

Volumnius,  Cicero's  letters  to,  i.  401.  ii,  263.  > 

—  account  of  him,  i.  401,  n. 

Volusius,  ii.  94.  '  * 

Voluptuaries,  warm  advocates  for  moral  beauty,  ii.  457. 
Wit,  the  loss  of  the  trueoW  Roman  lamented,  ii.  319.  n, 
Xenomenes,  ii.  7g, 

ZoUus,  Lucius,  recommended  by  Cicero  to  Apuleius,  ii.  247. 


THE  END. 


t 


IX 


BOOKS 


PRTNTED  FOR  THE  PROPRIETORS  OF 


MELMOTHS  CICERO'S  LETTERS. 


1.  CICERO'S  CATO  and  LELIUS;  or,  Essays  on  Old  Age  and  Friend- 
ship, translated  by  Melmoth,  two  Volumes,  8vo.  12«.  boards. 

2.  FITZOSBORNE's  LETTERS,  on  several  Subjects,  by  Melmoth,  8vo. 
6s.  boards. 

:3.  PLINY'S  LETTERS,  translated  .  v  Melmoth,  two  volumes,  8vo.  12s. 
boards.  ' 


4.  ARIOSTO's  ORLANDO  F^'' 
lumes,  8vo.  with  elegant  Engraving  ,  1 . 


;SO,  translated  bj-  Hoole,  five  Vo- 
^s.  boards. 


5.  A  few  Copies  on  large  Paper,  five  Volumes,  Royal  8vo.  21.  12s.  6d. 
boards. 

6.  TASSO's  JERUSALEM  DELIVERED,  translated  by  Hoole,  two 
Volumes,  Pocket  size,  8s.  boards.  Another  Edition,  two  Volumes,  8vo.  12s. 
boards.  Or  with  fine  Engravinsjs,  two  Volumes,  Royal  8vo.  21.  2s.  boards.  A 
few  Copies  of  which  are  worked  on  a  large  Paper,  tv-o  Volumes,  4to,  Price 
51. 1 3s.  6d.  boards. 

7.  The  COMEDIES  of  TERENCE,  translated  by  George  Colman,  8vo. 
6s.  boards. 

8.  The  SATIRES  of  PERSIUS,  translated  by  Drummond,  8vo.  finely 
printed,  6s.  boards. 

9.  LEONIDAS,  a  Poem,  by  Richard  Glover,  Esq.  with  fine  Plates,  tw« 
Volumes,  8vo.  11.  Is.  boards. 

10.  ZIMMERMAN  on  SOLITUDE,  with  fine  Engravings,  a  new  Edition, 
two  Volumes,  8vo.  16s.  boards.  Another  Copy  in  two  Volumes,  12mo.  12s.  6d. 
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14.  DODSLEY's    A^^NtJAL  REGISTER,    from    its  commencement  in  V 
1758  to  1802,  inclusive,  forty-four  Volun>es,  boards,  191.  4s.  or  neatly  lialf- 
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The  Forty-fifth  Volume,  for  the  Year  1803,  which  is  in  the  Press,  will  speedily 
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